![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjL__nMFP2slxU6q-99TrwEzpqzq5bMuuKzOtTjusrVHwKN-vYB0HlGztu52F_YCiGBnBSDueDjoQ86hQf5tfN7meVsb4ASir8JjtX6B6ZU0LF18Lc-wERcOn6T_baj_gmi3awCV7vxfl4/s200/Tyra+Banks+on+Light+Skinned+people.jpg)
Tyra Banks isn't the first person to pose this question and she surely won't be the last.
Our country has questions like this ingrained in the fabric of our society and one look at our past serves as a clear reminder why. But this is exactly why it's important to have more minority voices emerge and make their way into public discourse so we can tackle our tainted perceptions and aspire towards something better.
In the picture above, Tyra talks with two sisters as the dark-skinned sister shares the hurt she felt over being seen as less favorable than her light-skinned sister. While her light-skinned sister got all the attention and compliments she wondered when it was going be "her turn" to be considered beautiful. Her pain is real like many other dark-skinned women who live with the wounds of racism in our country.
As a light-skinned woman I cannot deny that there isn't a certain privilege that is associated with fair-skin. Yes, I have reaped some benefits from my genetic make-up but I didn't ask to look the way I do, God made me that way. However, God did give me a choice on how I would define myself in this world.
I can't speak for all light-skinned people but I must point out that our struggles and hardships come in a different form. It's not that one is better than the other because we are all equal in God's eyes. Jesus didn't die for "just" white people or "just" for black people. He died for ALL people.
Sin doesn't have a color line, it invades people of every ethnicity and every skin hue and sometimes it rears its ugly head in the shape of racism and prejudice. But when good people stand up to it like Tyra did on her show it's a step toward healing and a step away from all the negative mess.
[Hat tip to the
Tyra Banks Show]