by Cheli English-Figaro, Esq. (Michelle Obama News & Notes | MommyTrack'd)
Skin color is a mine field for African-Americans. It is the proverbial pink elephant in the middle of the room. When I was young, skin color was discussed in either hush tones or not at all in polite company.
I am a brown-skinned African-American female attorney with two Ivy League degrees. So, from that standpoint, Michelle Obama and I have a great deal in common. Mrs. Obama and I were born within a few months of each other so we were in college at about the same time as well. I can’t speak for Mrs. Obama, but I can speak for myself and for many of my friends, when I say that being a brown-skinned black woman at an Ivy League university in the 1980’s was no bed of roses.
Notwithstanding the brief interludes when Americans were encouraged to appreciate the beauty of Iman, Beverly Johnson and Naomi Campbell, we have all been fed a steady and very healthy diet of “light is right” when it comes to the standard of beauty for African-American women. One only needs to think of the most popular African-American actresses, models, singers and even TV news correspondents to know what I am talking about.
But after maneuvering through the land mines of my youth, sprinkled with generous portions of “you sound light-skinned” and “you are pretty for a dark girl”, the issue of skin color took a back seat in my psyche. I met and married my devoted physician husband while still in my mid-20’s, who, like Barack Obama, is tan-skinned. We have three lovely children who dodged the “color bullet” and more closely resemble their father (and my mother) than me, as they each, whether easily or by a slim margin, pass the proverbial “brown paper bag” test. The majority of my friends with whom I most frequently talk to and socialize with are happily married African-American women of all complexions and hues. Skin color is a non-issue in my life.
So when I heard my friends’ children, who ranged in skin color from light to dark, trying to decide if “dark skin was back in style”, I almost fell out of my seat. We haven’t come such a long way after all. I wanted to jump into their conversation, but I knew that if I joined in, the discussion would be over. I also knew that my intrusion would seem completely out of line since my own teenager was not even part of the conversation.
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Cheli English-Figaro is a cofounder and President Emerita of Mocha Moms, Inc. She graduated from Yale University and Columbia University School of Law. Prior to leaving full-time employment outside the home, she practiced law in New York and Washington, D.C. She currently works part-time from home. She has been featured in Ebony Magazine, The Washington Post, The Washington Post Magazine, The Prince George's Post, the Washington Afro-American and The Gazette. She has written articles for numerous Mocha Moms, Inc. publications and is a featured writer for the Proctor and Gamble website, HomeMadeSimple.com. She was also a regular guest on National Public Radio's Tell Me More with Michel Martin. Cheli lives in Bowie, MD with her husband and their three children.
