Ghanaian Pop Star Wiyaala and Embracing Black Beauty in Fiji - from a Facebook post

Shauneille Blair shared a video.

Admin · October 25, 2018

I love this! Ghanaian pop star Wiyaala refuses to deny her own natural beauty! I'll be showing this video to my students.

For many decades in the U.S. and in Fiji, British colonizers restricted access to education, jobs and government positions. Only white or light-skinned (mixed-race) people were allowed in higher education, office jobs, and government. If a person wants to be successful, they still have a much better chance if they look closer to white. This is especially true for females. If a woman failed to be light-skinned, many try to at least have lighter children to give them the opportunities they couldn't have themselves. Some women get pregnant by white male tourists who they know are only passing through just to have a lighter-skinned baby.

Popular media in Fiji features light-skinned people with long, straight hair. Imagine my surprise to arrive and see that most Fijians look just like me and my black Indigenous American family with dark skin and tight, curly hair.

My young primary students have already been taught to dislike their own dark skin and curly hair. These 6-12 year-olds lament that they can't play outside at recess because they are "already too black" and many use relaxers to try to straighten their hair. Local television ads show dark-skinned girls unable to marry until they use the skin-bleaching product being sold and the preference for light skin is still very prevalent among those in government and hiring positions. It breaks my heart to see dark-skinned adults like my college-educated host mom teasing, pointing and laughing at her own very intelligent, high-achieving niece and nephew just for being "so black".

Sadly, Fijians know that the closer to white they look, the more likely they are to get a good job and to live a comfortable life.

As part of our post's Diversity Committee, I asked my group members to please help counter that internalized racism by specifically telling their students (and their parents) that their black skin and curly hair are beautiful.

I am so happy to see Wiyaala embracing her own natural beauty! We need more examples like her!



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