When I was younger, I wanted blue eyes. Not for the aforementioned reasons, but because I didn't feel the brown was enough. 99.9999% of all the little Black children I knew had brown eyes (I remember seeing only a small number of those without brown eyes). All of the little Asian children I knew had brown eyes. But all of the little White children? Green, gray, blue, hazel. I wanted to be like them. I wanted to dye my hair and have it not look unnatural. I wanted options. I did not have those as a Black boy. Not like the White kids.
I do feel that part of my desire for blue eyes is that blue eyes are often treated as a standard of beauty. You more often hear about 'beautiful blues' than 'beautiful browns.' Why did I have that message? Where did I get it from? How could I be spreading it to people around me? Without any analysis, we do treat White, and the qualities attached, as the norm and as beautiful. And I tell you that just because White people are the majority here does not mean such views are justified. We have a standard of beauty and appeal that is based on White norms (straight hair, lighter skin), and that is only multicultural or ethnic when such things are appropriated, rather than truly accepted, rendering them caught in a cycle of trendiness.
Despite all this, I, one day started to love my kinky hair (it is the perfect length right now, one that feels magical inside and outside of the shower). I loved the color of my skin (except under fluorescent lighting, which makes it appear dull and lifeless), especially in the summer. And now I look in the mirror and I see that my eyes are a beautiful brown. And, honestly? I really don't think I'd change them.
You see, I came to understand that, despite the more overt variance you see in eye color of White people, the eyes of Black people have their differences. Mine and my father's are lighter than my mother's and my siblings. The darkness in their eyes is solid and strong. We vary in skin tone. Our hair isn't all jet black. Basically: there is far more to us than meets the superficial eye. We are transformers. Our eyes glow in the sunlight, too. Our skin becomes beautiful in the sunlight. We are the color of the nurturing earth upon which civilization has built a foundation. Though many of us have been abused as the earth has since the dawn of man, we are a strength that has endured and continues to.
I do not know the subtleties of skin and eye color that exist within other cultures. Yet, I know it is there. I know that Middle Eastern men and women aren't all a phenotypical monolith. I know that there is nuance in the features of each Asian man and woman. Why have we, for so long, done ourselves the disservice of blindly assuming 'They all look the same,' whoever they may be?
Why can't we step back and realize that our eyes are a beautiful brown or blue? Why can't we appreciate the differences in each others bodies and start building there? I'm not advocating colorblindness. It's much more like color appreciation, seeing my Black, Native American, Asian, Latino, Arabic, Jewish and White brothers and sisters as beautiful variations of the same species?
I am going to take the time to look, and see, what the differences are and teach myself to appreciate them.
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