Is black beautiful?

After the last article about white skin and beauty in Vietnam, I was determined to say no more. But it’s on my mind. So I will.

Brian Webb

I want to tell you something that I’ve told to most of my American friends who live in Hanoi (all of them are white except me). When I say what I’m going to tell you now, all of them look at me as if they don’t believe me.

But it’s true.

I’ve been here for just a few years.

Anyway, I returned to the US for a few months when George Bush was the President of the United States. The day after I came back, six months later, I watched Barack Obama being inaugurated live on television just off Hoang Hoa Tham Street.

That part is easy to believe.

What people don’t believe is that I noticed a tangible change in the way that Vietnamese people acted towards me after I returned.

Before this, during the Bush years? I would try to buy some water at a stall on the street, and could see that the person was looking me up and down.

There is no way I can say for sure what people think; one can only guess. But from the way they looked at me, my guess was they were thinking, “Is this guy an African? A Nigerian?”

In those days I quickly learned how to deflect this attitude. I would start speaking my American English, slip in the word My in a broken Vietnamese sentence. Immediately the face of the seller would change (although maybe the price would go up).

After I returned, and after the inauguration of the new American president, it was a different story. You can choose to believe me or not. But for me it is a fact: I have seen it with my own eyes.

I do not have to deal with this problem anymore.

There are many places that I go where they know my face. They never ask my name. They call me “Obama”.

Maybe that sounds like bragging or something. But it is not at all the case. I do not appreciate being called this, and am definitely wary of people who treat me differently now because they see that someone with dark skin can be considered a real “world leader”.

Really, it’s a shameful thing.

It’s not just in Vietnam. The Idea of class being tied to skin color is older than Egypt. Take a look at the caste system in India. The lowest classes always had dark skin. This is just one example. Research it for yourself.

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All those arguments about Vietnamese women being covered from head to toe during the summer heat for protection... All I’ve got to say about that is, there is the same pollution in the winter, and at night. But there are no jackets.

Sun? There is a product called sunblock which is much more effective than a jacket, and more comfortable. And all this skin-whitening stuff?

Whatever, best not to get into that.
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There is one point on which I think my last article was misunderstood. One or two careful readers pointed this out. This whole process of beauty works on a subconscious level.

I was with a Vietnamese friend when she got back from a trip. We met at a coffee shop, where she met with another Vietnamese friend of about the same age. The second friend said, “Oh, you’re so dark!” The comment was equal to saying, “You’ve gotten fat,” or, “You’ve gotten ugly”.

Is there anybody who has not heard comments like this, especially directed at girls? Honestly!

These comments drip slowly, one by one, deep into your mind.

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Now everyone can continue saying that I don’t have the authority to comment on these issues, or to compare them with the society I grew up in. But there is much to be gained from comparison between cultures. There are many things about my own country that I could not see clearly until I moved away.

So discredit this as an “ignorant foreigner’s opinion” if you like. Still, I’ll stick to it.

I’m half black, half white. Growing up, in school especially, it was clear among the black community that lighter skin was considered more attractive, both for girls and boys. Black girls liked my skin, white girls not so much. This also seeped into my subconscious.

It took me a long time to realize that. But once I did, and I felt okay with my brown skin and my black, curly hair, everything was better.

So now it hurts me to see other people trying to change to look like other people.

Here is some news that may be unwelcome. Vietnam is a tropical country. Vietnamese people are not white. Let’s take a look in the mirror and be happy.

Black is beautiful too.