How black is black enough?

I'm from New Orleans, Louisiana. Born and raised. Home, where the creole's originated. The black people down here are literally all different shades. To be completely honest, it's to the point where its hard for us to distinguish pretty much any other race from black. I remember having a debate with one of my friends years ago about whether Eva Longoria was black or not when Desperate Housewives first came on air. She looked just like SO many of our friends. I knew she wasn't black, her last name was a dead give away for me, but Lacy swore she was black. After some research of course we discovered she isn't black. Same with Christina Milian, especially when that movie with the boy who's married to Mariah Carey came out. I even remember how devastated i was when i found out that Carmen Electra and Fergie WEREN'T at least half black! Seriously, it may sound crazy, but that's just how light skinned our blacks get down here in Louisiana. I always joke that i could never go anywhere else and have a race discussion because being from here has seriously altered my idea of what light skinned and dark skinned is.

For some reason or the other Beyonce and her skin color has been a hot topic this week. At one point people were actually saying she "bleached" her skin. I swore i wouldn't read comments under Necole Bitchie and The Young, Black, and Fabulous anymore, and i definitely should have gone wit my better judgment. Look, we have this issue every year with her. Beyonce lives in New York City. And in case you didn't know, when its cold outside, and the sun isn't out as much, people of color miraculously get lighter. Its not a very hard equation. Does Beyonce tan? OF COURSE. So does every person of color when they want to be a bit darker. Whats the big deal? Of course her new blond hair didn't help any. So because she's so light, she's of course...Michael Jackson.

"She wants to be Gwenth Paltrow's sister."

"She wants to be white."

"She just set black people back 100 years"

Now Beyonce is catching slack for having a black face in her most recent photo shoot with a french magazine L' Official. In the shoot she was dressed in African themed clothing, and wore a black face in tribute to a famous African Activist Fela Kuti. Well apparently Beyonce wasn't black enough to do this. The comments sections ERUPTED. And i again, went against my better judgment and read the ignorance. It's really to the point where you just have to laugh to keep from crying for our people. Beyonce is BLACK. She has never claimed to be anything else. Her grandmother, who's from New Orleans, was creole. Need a history lesson?

Creoles are the descendants of the french and Spanish colonial settlers before the Civil War. Of course, they mixed and mingled with the blacks, and the term Creoles of Color came about around the 19th century. So it comes down to a mix of french, spanish, black and some native American. Now a days the word is thrown around so loosely its appalling. Is creole black? YES. Its a sub-culture. Of course the one drop rule is very real in Louisiana, so if you look ANYTHING but white, white people consider you black. They get it. Why don't we? Halle Berry said it best. She defines her race by how America is going to view her. Yes she's half white, but we all know she can be called a "nigger" just like the rest of us. She isn't denying her other half, its just about being realistic. Now of course I'm sure in a conversation she would go into detail, but to the world, shes black, so she says shes black. Its not like Lala Vesquez who actually ISN'T black at all,but can play a black role in a film because she looks black. Halle looks black because she's half black.

I don't understand why WE can't seem to move past this color barrier. Every time a black person belittles another about their skin color we take another step backwards. Its like a domino effect. And i can't for the life of me understand why we can't move past this. We come in all shades and colors. No color makes you more beautiful or attractive then the next. Like i said, being from New Orleans can really alter how you view color and race. I won't lie and say that I've never been told "I usually don't date people as dark as you." But i feel like, hey, that's your loss. Lil Wayne who's from New Orleans, thinks "I betcha she looks better red". I'd be surprised with all the drugs in his system that he can even still distinguish the color of grass, let alone the skin color of the multiple random women he meets in the club at night and ends up sleeping with. But that's his preference, and his loss. I've meet people in this city with serious color complex issues, and i have to be so thankful that my mother raised my sister and I to believe we are beautiful no matter how dark we may get over the summer. I've meet people who only date light skin people, I've meet people who only date dark skin people. There are people who think if you have light skin and a different grain of hair your more BEAUTIFUL then others, even if you look like a pit bull. And then I've meet people who HATE every light skin person with a different grain of hair for the simple fact they themselves are not light skinned with some "good hair", because that's what they believe is beautiful, and they aren't satisfied in their own skin. Its crazy how we give something as SKIN COLOR and HAIR so much POWER! Especially when we have so many other issues we can be dealing with in our community. Why don't we put that same energy into trying to educate our black people. The number of black men in jail is rising more and more every year. Lets talk about that. But no, that's not what we want to talk about. We want to talk about how Beyonce is to light so she must want to be white.

I've said this before and I'll say it again. Sometimes i think being black is just one big social experiment. Made for the white people to sit back and laugh at us. Laugh as we tear each other down about who's hair is better or who's skin is lighter. They laugh at how when our people make money we spend it on cars and clothes and $50,000 chains instead of investing. We're never satisfied with what is done for us, we always want more. We are crabs in a bucket. And its disgusting. I would love to say "I can't wait to see the day when we as a race will do better", but being as real as Beyonce's pale skin, i know we won't. This is it for us. I don't think I've ever realized how TRULY bliss ignorance is, until now. I know we will never move past these issues. We will always see the short comings of the Oprah's and the Tyler Perry's of the world. Not the leaps and bounds they've made to be where they are today, or the barriers they have broken FOR us. Lil Wayne won't stop swearing that he bet his bitch looks better red, nor will he stop drinking whatever the fuck that is in his cup. The glass will always be half empty, her hair will always be "good" and her skin will always be to light to be right. And that's just that. Let the coonery continue.

**This is the que for the church choir to start singing**