A pigment of your imagination

By Garth A. Rattray

'Black' History Month is celebrated in February annually in the Americas. Great importance is placed on the colour of our skin, even though it's only a result of natural selection.

When human beings migrated away from sunny Africa (where the protective, ultraviolet light-blocking skin pigment melanin was needed to reduce the DNA damage caused by sun rays) to areas with far less sunlight, nature (the environmental forces that control what happens in the world) selected skin with less melanin to allow for the absorption of more sunlight so that those human beings could manufacture needed vitamin D for bone strength and other physiological functions.

Therefore, the hue of our skin is a far throwback to our ancestors. We have no more natural control over the amount of melanin that we produce than we do over the number of fingers on our hands. And, there is absolutely no relationship between the hue of our skin or the number of fingers on our hands, and our intelligence or our penchant for crime and violence.

A multiplicity of factors, including inherited traits, intra- and extra-uterine nutrition, upbringing, social and economic factors, all go into determining our behavioural patterns. This holds true whether we have dark brown, red, yellow or pink-coloured skin.

Genocide has occurred in several areas of the world. Those atrocious, degenerate acts of hate and violence were carried out by people of just about every race and colour on Earth.

common perception

The perception that many Jamaicans have is that having a light-coloured hue is advan-tageous, superior and facilitates power and control. This fallacy was perpetuated by our former slave masters and former colonial overseers.

I must admit that they have done a superb job at brain-washing our people. The effects have lasted for hundreds of years and remain engrained in many of us to this very day.

Our concept of beauty has been strongly influenced by the Europeans. Even God is depicted as a muscular, Caucasian man with a pointy nose, thin lips, a white head of hair and long, white facial hair. In many circles, any other depiction of God borders on the absurd and on blasphemy.

Jesus, the Christ, is also depicted with European features, even though the people of His time and from His geographical region were certainly not Caucasian - they were a hardy breed of people with thick hair and more copper-toned than pale-pink skin.

Preposterous though it may seem, many people have been inculcated into believing that the reserve of earthly and, indeed, heavenly power - the control over our mind, body and even our soul - rests in the hands of beings with a light skin hue.

Skewed belief systems

As far as the significance of the colour of your skin is concerned, it's only a pigment of your imagination. If you imagine that the hue of your skin is detrimental to you, it is. If you imagine that the hue of your skin is a badge of honour to be displayed with pride, it is.

If you believe that the hue of your skin will hold you back, it will. If you believe that the hue of your skin will propel you forward, it will. And if you believe that it does not matter, it won't.

If you perceive people with a lighter skin hue as being endowed with the power to control your life, they will. But if you see the lighter skin hue for what it really is - merely a natural adaptation to an environment, a beneficial mutation ONLY for the absorption of more sun rays - you will determine your own fate, as you should.

We must dismiss this myth that we are restricted by the hue of our skin. We must be proud of our natural advantage and we must act accordingly to honour our beautiful gift. If we respect the colour of our skin, others will, too.

Garth A. Rattray is a medical doctor with a family practice. Email feedback to columns@gleanerjm.com and garthrattray@gmail.com.