White Skin, Black Face: Why bleach brown skin?

See full article beneath pictures. Pictures from official Afro Hair and Beauty Show brochure 

Above: Skin Bleaching Cream For Sale and Use

Is the above woman attractive or does she need to whiten her skin ?

Skin Bleaching Cream on Sale at Afro Hair and Beauty Show 2009

An event supposed to recognise and celebrate black beauty had a large stand dedicated to selling skin whitening/bleaching cream. Brands available were Whiter than White and Sure White. Sure White was available as a Serum with Kotic acid and ‘extra strength’ formula. The advert from the official show brochure is shown above .Even the Daily Mail , not known for its deep understanding of African culture, thinks skin bleaching is out of order just read this lengthy article from 2007 http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-428541/Dying-whiter-The-black-women-risk-lives-lighter-skin.html

 The stand was large and had prime position as you entered the exhibition. Thousands of African/Caribbean people attended. Dee Marshall was appalled “ I was just shocked! It was so blatant! At an event where you’re supposed to find out how to be maintain or enhance your African beauty they are selling you products that make black skin white. Shyla Jaffrin was sad and disappointed . “I’m Asian and I have two daughters that are mixed African/Asian I went there specifically to find out exactly how to care for my childrens hair. When I asked at various stalls I got no help whatsoever. To make it worse there’s this stall telling me to whiten my skin." Abi Adeogun stated, "I'd never been before and went there thinking I'd get something like Adornment. All I got was wigs, weaves and skin bleaching. It was trash. I was realy annoyed. My skin is dark brown what message does that stall send to me?

Leyla Hussein and Aisha Phoenix set up Inpsired Black Women as a result of the experiences they had in Senegal where they encountered numerous women who were bleaching. They ran a Black Beauty workshop at the Museum in Docklands last year and were initially criticised for screening a film which explored the issue. Some of the audience felt that things had “moved on” since the ‘old days’ and the topic of 'light skin/dark skin' and 'good hair/bad hair' was no longer relevant. The fact is that there are primary schools where African children when asked to draw themselves, colour themselves pink and give themselves long straight hair.

The Afro Hair and Beauty show was set up by Dyke and Dryden with Tony Wade in 1982. Dyke and Dryden was the most successful black business at the time. They had a strong Garveyite business ethic . After seeking a buyer from the black community with no success the company was sold to Soft Sheen in 1997 and is now owned by L'Oreal. Dark and Lovely is a brand of L'Oreal. It is surely ironic that Dark and Lovely promotes skin whitening cream sales.

Tony Warner has been runnning Black Women Hair Skin and Beauty workshops since 2004. He states "Clearly I am not doing enough if this is happening. Those who know their history will have no problem indentifying where this attitude came from. That's why I run monthly film shows on history. Sadly the majority of people never attend such events which means their ignorance is passed on to their youth

At a Black Women Hair, Skin and Beauty workshop in 2005 Ken Barnes of www.kenbarnes.co.uk  made the following statement, "The fact is this, irrespective of the perception other people have of you, you as an individual control the perception you have of yourself. Unless you give others the power, they cannot make you feel bad. To see the full speech click here http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iG-Y7udnHKk

 If you wish to comment/complain write to the organisers at info@afroshow.com  and send a copy to etf@100bmol.org.uk