Orange County Register

Black is beautiful, say the advocates of ethnic pride.

To a white guy, that sounds right and proper.  Just try to disagree as you look into the face of Rubina Ali (pictured), the young star of “Slumdog Millionaire.”

But former baseball slugger Sammy Sosa doesn’t agree.

The Dominican Republic native has been using a skin-bleaching cream each night, and the results are depressingly dramatic. (The photos below show him in May and November 2009.)

He had always seemed to have a lovable dark face, but no more.

The new Sammy Sosa is pale, and he seems to believe that lighter skin is more attractive. It’s an attitude that is pervasive in many cultures, especially ones that aren’t predominantly white.

Unlike many white-skinned Americans who strive for darker skin, lighter skin is often preferred by many dark-skinned natives of countries stretching from India to the Caribbean and Sosa’s home in the Dominican Republic.

Not to mention America’s late, great skin-bleaching superstar, Michael Jackson.

“Sammy Sosa’s new vampire complexion is a jarring reminder that, from the Dominican Republic to Dakar to New Delhi, white is still right, yellow is still mellow and if you’re black, get back,” writes Shiwani Srivastava on the Newsweek-affiliated Web site “The Root,” which is devoted to black viewpoints.

She adds, “To be fair, it’s certainly not just Sammy Sosa, the Dominican Republic and India. It’s Japan, Malaysia, Cuba, Iran, Britain, Singapore, Mexico, Sri Lanka … the list goes on and on. The skin lightening cream industry is a $432 million a year industry in India (perhaps an underestimate), $7 billion a year industry in China (perhaps an overestimate) — and it’s growing globally.”

Sosa says he might sign up as a celebrity endorser for the so-far-unidentified bleaching cream that he’s using.

SUPERSTAR

That’s the approach taken by another skin-lightening celebrity, Shahrukh Khan, who is a superstar in India despite being relatively unknown in the United States.

Having lightened his skin color from when he became a star in the mid-1990s (pictured at right), Khan endorsed a skin bleach called Fair and Handsome two years ago.

Khan was criticized for reinforcing age-old prejudices that favor lighter skin, but he wasn’t deterred. In his latest ad (pictured below), he simply explains that the product is named to attract male consumers who would be reluctant to buy the popular women’s version known as Fair and Lovely.

“Most of the men buy a cream like that, but they’re embarrassed to ask for it by name,” Khan says. “That’s why it’s called Fair and Handsome.”

Bloomberg News reported recently that sales of skin-whitening creams exceed $2 billion a year in China.

“White skin certainly looks better,” Bloomberg quoted a Shanghai student as saying. “Dark skin belongs to farmers and makes people think you do tough work and have long exposure to the sun.”

Meanwhile, white Americans spend an estimated $5 billion a year or more to make their skin darker by means of tanning lotions and tanning salons.

What’s going on? I’m baffled, and I’ll bet Sammy Sosa is too.

READERS’ SUGGESTIONS

Readers who commented on my blog posts about Sosa had some suggestions.

One reader proposed that, however people look, they want to look different.

“The fact that darker-skinned blacks are bleaching themselves is no different than whites who tan themselves to excess. It’s not about the color of one’s skin. It’s about low self esteem and (pun intended) being comfortable in one’s own skin,” the reader said.

Some people believe that deep racial prejudices are at work.

A reader who identified herself as a native of the Dominican Republic commented, “In D.R. the majority are very racists. The ‘light skinned’ citizens even consider themselves ‘white.’ They look down on ‘dark skin’ citizens, and is very normal to make ‘black’ jokes. It is something that’s been going on forever.”

Jada F. Smith, a writer at “The Root,” stated, “Both dark- and light-skinned blacks continue to be cast in roles that perpetuate stereotypes within our own community. Light-skinned people are good; dark-skinned people are bad. Light-skinned people live comfortably; dark-skinned people live in the projects.”

She cites the new movie “Precious” as an example: “Call it overanalyzing, but is it a coincidence that Precious’ dark-skinned mother is physically and verbally abusive, her dark-skinned father is a drug addict who rapes her, and the main character herself is a dark-skinned 16-year-old mother of two? Meanwhile, the teacher, social worker and nurse who uplift and bring positivity into her life are all light-skinned.

“The biggest black entertainers right now could probably all pass a brown paper bag test,” she said, referring to a guideline that light-skinned African-Americans in the past have sometimes used to decide who’s too dark to be acceptable. Smith’s celebrity examples: Beyoncé (pictured at right), Rihanna, Halle Berry, Mariah Carey, Tyra Banks and Alicia Keys.

Barack Obama could also pass a brown paper bag test, but he inherited his complexion at birth, with no skin bleach necessary.

Readers rightly objected to Smith’s list of light-skinned stars, noting that it leaves out such darker-skinned stars as Bill Cosby, Oprah Winfrey, Tyler Perry and Will Smith (pictured below).

At the other end of the spectrum, fair-skinned stars such as Nicole Kidman and Cate Blanchett flee from the sun so they won’t get a tan.

We don’t think ill of them for trying hard to stay pale. Dermatologists cite them as role models.
Still, Kidman is a bafflement to dark-skinned Rubina Ali, 9, who appeared in a French beverage ad with Kidman after her role in “Slumdog Millionaire” was done.

Young Rubina told interviewers that she was puzzled by Kidman’s insistence on staying in her trailer to avoid the sun.

But I find Kidman the least puzzling of the whole crew. She at least is trying to keep her skin color unchanged.

Sammy Sosa is more puzzling, but also more typical. He’s one of the millions of people who are spending billions of dollars trying to turn themselves into someone else.

This post also appeared as a column in the Orange County Register on Sunday, Nov.  22.  That column was based on — and expanded on — my earlier post, “Does Sammy Sosa think ‘white is right’?”

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