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First Place Renathur Noel
WHAT IS THE BEST THING TO DO IF SOMEONE CALLS YOU A NAME YOU
DON’T LIKE? GIVE EXAMPLES OF WHAT YOU DID.
Some people are just plain mean as this girl in my story. Her name is ‘Herk’. She is a bully and since I am the smallest child in my class, she thinks that she can treat or call me all kinds of names as ‘Shortie’ or ‘Polly’.
Whenever she calls me Polly, I will shout and say ‘my name is Pauline’. But she continued to tease me and I tried my best to avoid her as much as possible. Things went ok for a while. Then one day our teacher made an announcement that we are going to have a new student and to my surprise there in the doorway stood Holly but everyone calls her Herk. We all settled down to do our work but I could not concentrate because my mind was on Herk who sat right behind me.
I gave up going on the netball court because she was there and would try to boss us around by taking the ball away from friends and I. My parents also noticed a change in my behaviour and began to question me as to what was the matter. My best friend Sandra would pay me a visit and I will refuse to go down to the court with her to play.
The next week, the teacher gave a Maths test and I had studied for it because I had more time on my hands since I gave up going down on the court to play. When the result came back I was happy to see A+ on my paper, but Herk glanced over and saw my score. She was very upset especially when the teacher announced that who did not do so well in the test had to stay in during recess and after school to do extra studies.
Herk did not like this at all because she loved the court just as much as I do. This was my time to show off what I can do on the court. Everyone was surprised and tried to find out why I did not come and practice anymore. Then one day the teacher announced a competition between the two grade V’s. I was happy when I remembered Herk was from the other Grade V and will now be playing us. I was then surprise when I heard our teacher say ‘Herk will be playing for her own class’.
On the court, Herk tried to make fun of me but I was prepared for her because I had talked to my dad and he had given me some advice about setting my boundaries dealing with hatred and raising my self-esteem. He also told me to ignore her even if she said the meanest thing to me then he told me to look at a monkey in a cage he cannot get out and no one could get in. Just so people can set their boundaries and use it as their cage.
I was taught by my parents that my body is my own and that no one had the right to touch it. I have the right to stop anything that makes me feel uncomfortable and that no one should control my life or make me feel sad or bad about myself. My dad had given me some good sound advice that I had never thought about.
I should be nice to Herk even though she is mean to me. At school, I went over to the Math teacher and asked her if I could stary for extra lessons. She was surprised but said yes. That afternoon I stayed back in school and to the teacher’s surprise, I told her I wanted to help someone. I was afraid but I slide beside Herk and took a seat. Her looked up and said ‘I thought you were an A student?’. I then told her I wanted to help her and to my surprise she accepted my help and then I understood why she could not pass the test because one one helps her at home.
The next day at school we were on the court with Herk as captain and the first person she picked was me, Polly and then on we became very good friends. Thus it pays to be kind and to do good to those who may try to hurt us along the way.
Second Place Chelsea Pierre
IF I HAD NO RADIO, TELEVISION, VIDEO FOR A WEEK, HOW WOULD YOU SPEND YOUR TIME?
Can you imagine if you had no radio or TV/Video games for a week? How would you feel to just sit around and do nothing? I guess you will feel bored, lonely and exhausted, if such thing ever happened to me, I am sure I will not feel bored, lonely and exhausted. Thinking careless that it will never happen to me I was so glad.
It all began on a Sunday afternoon when I was watching my favourite cartoon called Winx Club. While enjoying the show and anticipating what will happen next. Suddenly a blinding light the television just went off. I was shocked. I thought that I had pressed a button on the remote control but I did not, not been aware that the current was gone. I sat there just waiting and hoping that the current will come back soon. It seem that I was wrong. Then my mother said that it was time for bed so I went off to bed.
I then woke up the next morning with the anticipation of playing a video game thinking that the current had returned. As I rushed to the living room ready to play the game I realized that the current hasn’t returned. I was so upset then the phone rang. My mom answered the phone and was having a conversation with someone. When she hung up the phone, she told me that the current won’t be back until the following week. I was feeling as if I was going to be bored for my whole life because we were not going to get current for a week.
Suddenly, I had a brilliant idea. I decided to invite my friends to have a sleep over for a week. I started calling my friends. Each friend I called their parents agreed because they also did not have current as well. I was so excited. When they arrived the exact same afternoon I invited them to my room skipping in excitement I had a lot of plans. ‘Lets have a party” then everybody shouted ‘yeah’. Then we started to make preparations like dressing up, setting the tables and making a list with who to invite. It was a lot of fun. When we finished, we notice that the night was falling so we all ate dinner and got ready for bed.
Tuesday arrived, we got up brushed our teeth, washed our faces and went for breakfast. After breakfast we changed our clothes then decided to play checker s to see who will win. It was really fun and we all got a chance to win. Next we went and slid on the slides and swung on the swings. We also played a game called SOS. Before we knew it, it was time for lunch. We had chicken and pie. It was delicious. Then we played a racing game and we read a lot of interesting books. While we were reading a book the night was approaching nearer and nearer and we all were very exhausted so we read a bed time story to go to sleep.
The next morning was normal as any other morning. Be we like it just the way it was. We just wanted to have a great time that day and also for the rest of the week. So we did our grooming as usual and went for breakfast. After that we started to play games such as domino, skipping, riding bikes and going to the beach and stuff like that. We tried to do as much as we can because it was only a few days before weekend. During our activities my Mom informed us that it was lunch time. The food was delicious. After lunch we read some story books to occupy the rest of the afternoon. As the night fell, we were happy as we went to bed because we had a great time that day.
Thursday came; we were so excited because of all the wonderful things we had planned for the day. We played hop scotch, moral and simon says. It was really exciting. Then lunch time arrived and we were very hungry so we ate our food. Then we sat down to digest our food and while doing that we read story books. We were finished and we went outside to continue to play our games. We played until the night was falling. So we got tucked in and went to sleep.
The bright sun shined brightly in all its glory the next morning. It was beautiful day to relax and have fun. So we went on the beach and take a swim. It was a lot of fun and we all met new friends also. We met two girls called Lorna and her sister Sherlorna. When we arrived back home, we rinsed ourselves and got dressed. When we finished, we read a book. We played all sorts of games after reading the book. As the sun set we went and make a little pretend in the bedroom that we were camping outside in the moonlight. It was a lot of fun.
Saturday morning has arrived. The day when my friends had to go back home. We had some spare time and decided to play some games. We played some of our favourite games like moral, hop scotch, skipping ing and swinging. We even had time to go to the beach. When it was time for my friends to go I was really sad. But I was happy that we’ll be getting current the next day. I was so excited.
Third Place Gaynel Barry
Read below the top three winners for this age group as decided by our excellent judges.
First Place Mluleki Mvubu 12 years old
What contributions have people of African descent made to Western civilisation?
Introduction.
Civilisation is the refinement, education and enlightment of a society, be it scientific, political, cultural, legal or religious. So have people of African descent made contributions to western civilisation in the areas I mention here? Yes absolutely! For the purpose of this essay I am going to refer to people of African descent as black people. This refers to African, African Americans and Caribbean people.
In this essay I am going to tell you about the historical contributions black people have made towards western civilisation. I am going to tell you about black inventors and scientists, I am going to tell you about slavery and then about other contributions black people have made e.g. in the music industry.
Although most black people were denied a proper education, from as early as the 16th century there were a number of pioneering black scientists like Benjamin Banneker and George Washington Carver. Banneker taught himself mathematics and astronomy and later on published an almanac. Carver was a researcher and educator, he developed innovative agricultural methods. He also developed a lot of different uses for certain agricultural products such as the peanut.
Another great black scientist was Alexander Mills who invented the elevator. Without him there would be no cities or tall skyscrapers and great difficulty in reaching high floors.
Without the brilliant inventions of Richard Spikes and Joseph Gammel there probably would have been no cars because Richard Spikes invented the automatic gear shift, and Joseph Gammel the super charge system for internal combustion engines. To support his fellow black inventors Garret A. Morgan invented traffic signals. Without these inventors there would be very poor transport systems.
Writing is a very important aspect of modern day society, it is one of the best means of communication. John Love invented the pencil sharpener, William Purvis invented the fountain pen, Lee Burridge created the typewriting machine and W.A Lovette invented the modern printer. William Berry invented the post marking and cancelling machine. William Purvis also invented the hand stamp and Phillip Downing invented the letter drop. All these clever inventors were black people. Without most of these inventors we wouldn’t have stuff like magazines, newspapers and books.
John Smith invented the lawn sprinkler and John Burr added on to this invention by inventing the lawn mower. W. Steward invented the mop and Lloyd P. Ray the dustpan, these were invented so that we are able to clean up wet mess and brush up.Walter Summons invented the comb. George T. Samon invented the clothes dryer. Sarah Boone invented the ironing board, so that after clothes are dried they can be ironed, Jan E. Matzelinger invented the shoe lasting machine. All of these inventions link up because without them it all leads up to the same thing, poor hygiene. Without these inventions we would be very dirty as would our clothes, lawns, hair and our floors. And imagine living in a pig sty. I certainly couldn’t live without a comb because my hair is my pride and joy.
We all love our creature comforts and we do have a number of black greats who contributed to the comforts we enjoy today. Frederick Jones invented the air conditioner and Alice Parker the heating furnace. Lewis Latimer invented the electric lamp.
Michael Harvey invented the lantern and Granville T.Woods the auto cut off switch. These are similar because without heating or lights in your house just think of what life would be like at night! Especially in Britain where it can get icy cold, some people could even suffer from hypothermia if they didn’t have a fire place.
Imagine a hot summer day, as hot as Jamaica, you are hot and all you need is a ice cold drink. Well when you slowly sip that ice cold drink you have John Standard to thank, a black man who invented the refrigerator.
Charles Drew [1904-1950] was a world renowned surgeon and medical scientist from the USA. He invented a new method for storing blood, and set up the world’s first mass blood bank. The irony of all this is that Charles Drew died after being refused blood transfusion at his nearest hospital because he was black.
On top of all the scientific inventions that I have already mentioned black people have made very significant contributions to the Western way of life for example in the music industry. Without these contributions there would be no hip-hop, and I am glad that they have made that contribution because I like hip-hop so much that without it I would be bored stiff. From blues to jazz, gospel to do-wop, black people such as Ray Charles and Chuck Berry mainly found all rhythm rock and roll and funk and my favourite hip-hop
Other contributions that are important are from people like Dr. Martin Luther King Jr, Rosa Parks and Malcolm . I don’t think I would probably have all these luxuries I have because they fought for black civil rights.
On December 1, 1955, Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat to a white passenger on a racially segregated bus in Montgomery Alabama. Even though she was arrested and fined, her actions led to the mass boycott of buses by African Americans. In 1956 December 20 the Supreme Court ruled that the segregation of Montgomery buses was illegal and therefore they were officially desegregated. Rosa Parks is known as the woman who single handedly spear-headed the civil rights movement in America. Although racism and segregation was and still is a very painful experience for black people, their fight for justice has enlightened the world about black people, that they are equal and deserve a proper education and have their rights. Many famous black people like Nelson Mandela have shown the world humility, tenacity and great statesmanship as shown in one of his famous quotes “During my lifetime I have dedicated myself to this struggle of African people……….. I have cherished the ideal of a democratic and free society in which all persons live together in harmony and with equal opportunities. It is an ideal which I hope to live for and achieve but if it needs be it is an ideal for which I am prepared to die”
Slavery has played a enormous and extraordinary part in contributing to the wealth of the western world. Slaves were taken by force from Africa, and brutally forced to work in plantations of the United states of America, U.K and Europe. This event is painfully illustrated in the movie ROOTS. The Roman Empire wouldn’t exist if it wasn’t for the backbone of slaves. For me this is not only a contribution to the western world but a gigantic sacrifice.
Conclusion
As stated above you can see that black people have made an enormous contribution to the western world. People like Rosa Parks and Nelson Mandela endangered their own lives in their fight for justice. People like Alexander Mills elevated the black race with their scientific inventions. Without black musicians like Chuck Berry music wouldn’t be what it is today.
I am proud to be black and to know my history, my background and my culture.
Second Place Ruby Faith Nothando Aworinde-Smith, Age 13
Peer Pressure
Many Teenagers are going through Peer pressure at school and amongst their friends away from school. Although Peer pressure can start as early as in primary school I feel that the bulk of it is mainly felt in high school. This I state from personal experience.
My definition of peer pressure would be when you feel obligated to follow a trend or fashion of other people that surround you in your day to day life. These people are usually those of the same or similar age to yourself. The definition and meaning of “Peer”, in the “Collins English Dictionary”, is “member of the nobility; person of the same status, age, etc”. There is also a definition in “peer group”, which is “group of people of similar age, status, etc”. This would explain why peer pressure is rife in social such as schools and out of school activity learning centres such as dance schools/brownies/guides etc.
I would consider peer pressure to be a natural part of the growing up process. I believe it is only natural that children, teens and some adults (if they haven’t grown up yet!) may be competitive amongst social groups. An example of peer pressure can be if friends/peers were asking you do to something that you were not comfortable with but felt obliged to do so in order to be able to fit in
.
I believe that there can be good and bad peer pressure, it must be advantageous at times and quite worrying at other times. A typical and worrying example of peer pressure among the young generation is when teens may be having a try at smoking or worse still drugs. If your circles of friends have agreed to try it altogether as a group, you may feel like you’re letting them down or not fitting in if you don’t try it yourself. I believe you have to be strong enough and wise enough to know that going along with such things is in fact silly and naive. Thankfully I am pleased to say that I haven’t been put in such a situation as yet, but do know if I am put in a situation like this, I will be strong and remember that I do not need to put my health at risk by trying to impress others. There is always the concern that if you don’t do what others are doing, then they may not want to hang around with you any more. For me I believe that such people cannot be true friends in the first place, so there’s no loss. There is also peer pressure when it comes to fashion and trend following.
I will now talk about my personal experiences with peer pressure, mainly in a school environment.
In year seven my mother sent me to a school called “Harvington School for Girls”, a private school in Ealing. Prior to that I was at a mixed state primary school In Greenford. My primary school was quite largely sized and there were approximately thirty two or more children per class with three classes for each year.
At Harvington School there were approximately fifteen children per class with only one class per year. So this school was very small. On my first day I didn’t really talk to others that much as everybody seemed so different from me! The first thing that seemed to stand out as different was the way the other children spoke. They all seemed to be so posh! My mother has always encouraged me to be well spoken but this was beyond that! I felt obligated to speak the same way in order to fit In. At the beginning I found myself trying to be like them, dress like them and behave like. Later on I discovered that I didn’t really need to do that as I started being myself as I became more confident. People did accept me for who I was and they probably liked the fact that I was different in a way. I noticed when it was my friends birthdays I felt very much under pressure to buy expensive gifts as they did for me at Christmas time. It was difficult as it was too expensive for my mother. Even though I began to fit in gradually I still wasn’t totally comfortable. I was struggling to keep up academically as well and I felt my grades suffered here too as I wasn’t happy.
Eventually my mum said she was going to apply to send me to another school. Mum got me a place at “Douay Martyrs”, a mixed catholic school in Ickenham. I started this school in September 2006 in year eight and I can say that I am a lot happier now, more relaxed and my grades have improved so much! Don’t get me wrong, peer pressure is a rife in this school too. I started to follow a trend and of wearing baggy tracksuits again feeling pressured to save pocket money in order to buy them! Luckily mum helped me out in Christmas time. It was so also important to have the latest trendiest trainers and ended up asking for new trainers for Christmas from various family members and ended up with so many pairs! The girls that hang around with also use gel to style their, which I had rarely used before, but have learnt to style my hair like them with my baby hairs gelled to my face using creative designs, I know you know what I’m talking about!
At the moment I am finding it difficult as most of my school friends meet up on a Saturday to go shopping, well at least window shopping! The are always asking me to go with them, but I need to say no as I have other commitments at “Vuka Arika”, where I learn Southern African dance and music. I used to feel pressured to follow them as I didn’t want to let them down, but these are good friends who are very understanding. At school I am more relaxed as I feel I don’t have to hide things.
At Harvington School I would tell people that I lived at my grandparent’s house in Greenford rather then telling them I lived in a split level maisonette with my mum. Its not that I was ashamed of where I live but everyone in my class lived in big massive in Ealing and their parents drove big Mercedes Benz and BMW cars! When I invited friends over, they would visit me at my grandparent’s house! A large three bedroom house with a big garden, animals and a music room with a drum kit and keyboards! At my new school my friends will meet me at home, know where I live and nothing bad to say about me. I’m so happy to be at ease at school, I do like going and I feel for those peers of mine who are under so much pressure to impress that they forget who they are.
There is also such a thing as “good peer pressure”, well at least I think so. I believe it can also be in the form of encouragement. An example would be that I may ask a friend to come to my church and they have never been to good per pressure. I’m only trying to encourage my friend to have faith and trust in God as I do, you can only benefit from having a faith. I would however respect their wishes if they didn’t want to attend or if they were from another religious background.
Also, sometimes I feel embarrassed to eat in front of friends, especially when you’ve just met them. A good friend will encourage you to eat regardless of whose around, I find this person will encourage self esteem and not lower it in any way. I believe this is a good form of peer pressure and the right sort of person to hang around.
I hope you have enjoyed reading my views on peer pressure. To those who are suffering with bad peer pressure I would say to them, be strong, keep your head held high, know who you are and where you’re from, be proud of who are, don’t be ashamed or embarrassed to say no, be strong enough to tell your parents if things are getting out of hand, its nothing to be ashamed of.
Third Place Sonia. T. Nyathi 12 years old
Peer pressure
What is peer pressure?
Firstly what is peer pressure? According to the English dictionary Peer pressure is a social pressure on somebody to adopt a particular type of behavior, dress or attitude. In order to be accepted to be part of a group.
Teenagers get into a lot of peer pressure although it’s a hard position to be in, you always have the opportunity to make your own choice and make the right choice. Some teenagers think it’s cool to do particular things such as taking drugs, cheating, stealing or even just skipping a class. They try to force someone or persuade someone into doing these things to be part of a group. The victim always feels under a lot of pressure and has a lot of things running in their mind. They
Usually say yes, when asked if they want to join in but later on they feel guilty about the choice they have made.
How does it affect the community?
According to the news England is the worst country for a child to grow up; one reason is because peer pressure is a very common thing. It leads to black on black crime. Police are now keeping a close eye on this kind of crime, and young people. Why should you be pressurized to kill other people? Peer pressure is now becoming very brutal now black people are joining gangs and forgetting what they’ve been taught. Families feel ashamed to see their children doing what they do. In Africa the whole village brings up a child, whereas a child in London has less advantage. When I visited my country people made me feel as though I was the lucky one although I felt that it was them who were lucky to have such a big community who cared about them.
Children usually go to their friends for advice. It is normal to listen and ask for things from people in your age group, when on the other hand you could go and ask from people with more experience like your parents, teachers or grown ups that you trust because after all grown ups also do get into peer pressure. Making decisions in life is not easy, when friends try to force you into doing things you know you are not allowed to be doing in your free time, it is quite hard to find a clear answer. They often try to make you feel small, and tell you what a good time you would have if you do what they ask; after all you wouldn’t want to spend your free time at home. Peer pressure affects people in many ways and there are many consequences of what can happen. People often want to be cool usually the things your friends do seem cool, still on the other hand seems wrong.
Why do people give in to peer pressure?
People give in to peer pressure because they just want to be liked, fit in or not have people laughing at them. They never seem to realize what they are getting themselves into, and don’t often know that peer pressure is happening to them.
Conclusion (how can peer pressure be stopped?)
There is not really that much that grown ups can do to help you besides giving you advice. There is a very simple way of getting yourself out of peer pressure simply just by saying “no”. It may seem hard but you have to have confidence in yourself. You should never do what your friends tell you to do, you should do what you think is best for you. At the end of the day you would be proud of the fact that you stood up for yourself. Then you’d be seen as an independent person. You are less stressed out and don’t have to worry about bad things happening in the future. There are other things that you could do in your free time that won’t result in bad endings. Believe in yourself and you would not rely on bad peer pressure.
Sindiwe Mvubu 15 years old
Skin bleaching and African beauty: Why do some people of African descent bleach their skin? What does this say about them?
To ask someone the purpose of skin bleaching, the most frequent answer to receive is to look lighter and more beautiful to the eye. But is skin bleaching really this simple or is it just to look lighter than the colour God gave you, or to compete with other people to have the beautiful status symbol.
I say No.
Something in one’s mind tells them they are not beautiful. Many dark skinned women think they are not beautiful as they are regarded as mean, evil and stupid unlike light skinned who are perceived as attractive, intelligent, moral and fair skinned. Because confidence lacks they cannot say I look good today or God made me beautiful and I know I am beautiful. I therefore do not need to look for chemical products to enhance beauty.
Is this just the only reason why people of African descent bleach their skin? I want you to keep this question in your mind whilst I elucidate more. There is no doubt that things like, people, TV, magazines, films and so on, influence millions of people worldwide to think whiteness and lightness is a symbol of what is attractive, adorable, desirable, pure and loveable. Physical attractiveness is associated with social, intellectual, dominance and potency and this usually has more bearing on women than men. This explains why more women buy the skin creams and bleaching products. It's been reported women are perceived as more feminine and attractive, the lighter their skin colour is the more attractive they are.
We all have something in our minds that wants us to have everything picture perfect, the perfect home for families, perfect job, even perfect food. Imagine yourself in the supermarket with your trolley ready to pick vegetable and fruits; when you pick up a pepper you go for the one which is the most perfect looking, not one with black bits or other bad qualities but the perfect one. It’s about being perfect.
Being perfect is the worst thing you could try to aim and achieve, no matter how hard you try, it just never is enough. One source of influence I mentioned that works hard at being perfect are magazines who only feature the top prettiest famous people. Someone passing by one of these magazines has that immediate thought that these people are perfect, even if they weren’t perfect the magazine would make them perfect with new technology such as Photoshop and Airbrushing. An argument would be they aren’t always this pretty or light but it's a rare occasion when you see a famous person without all the make up and see the true them unless it's a name and shame game, famous people want to be remembered as having the really good looks and so do readers and fans.
Most black famous role models are pictured lighter, the studio lights are adjusted so that they appear to be lighter skinned. This could simply be an attempt to appear lighter. What we have to understand though is that these people are seen as perfect to the eye, pale skin is shown as perfect skin. If lighter wasn’t perfect why do they appear lighter? An argument could be to clear blemishes and spots but you have to think by clearing the blemishes and spots it makes them more perfect. That influences people of African descent to do the same, to use bleaching or skin creams to make themselves look perfect.
So how do we know that lighter skinned people are in fact what the world thinks is beautiful? Stereotyping. Stereotyping that has been passed from older generations down to present generations in their family. Everybody has their stereotype of the beautiful people in the world and you just can't help to compare yourselves to them, whether they are of a totally different race and background, you will compare hair, body, and features. In their mind that idol is beautiful and nothing is wrong with them. However the downside though to comparing is that God made us all different, nobody is the same but this is forgotten and when that person find no similarities to their idol they instantly think they are ugly. Idols change as stereotypes of beautiful people change and that person who once compared themselves to their own idol will soon compare themselves to many others and this just begins the downward spiral of disliking themselves even more.
Is skin bleaching really about beauty? If so what is the root cause of this? To answer these two questions we need to look at the history of black people. From the time black and white people came into contact, black people were always the underdog. White people managed to overpower black people and establish their race as the supreme race. Even today there are many examples of white supremacists like Eugene Terblanch of South Africa. White people believe themselves to be supreme in terms of colour, culture, intelligence and religion. Thus racism was born. Therefore centuries and centuries of white dominance over black people particularly through slavery led to white being equal to goodness, lightness and angels etcetera etcetera; and black being equalled to evil, darkness and badness. This has resulted in a black race that is undermined, undervalued and basically seen as no good. The whole fabric of black culture, language, religion, customs, just the very essence of being black has been torn apart over centuries of white dominance.
The impact of this on black people’s self esteem, self worth, self identity has been devastating. When my cousin was younger she told her mum that she wanted to be ‘white because she wanted to be sunny’. This illustrates the devastating impact that white dominance has had on black people. She was young and it tells us a very disturbing fact that young children think and believe white is beautiful. Skin bleaching is the most accessible way that black people can try to copy white people. Even among black people themselves skin tone can play a devastating part in families. Lighter skinned children can be favoured over darker skinned children. Imagine then this situation in the racist world that we live in. Some black people have seen skin bleaching as a means of being successful. An advert in India illustrates this: a dark skinned woman is seen as a disappointment by her father, she then buys a skin lightening product and the resulting lighter skin colour gets her a good job, she is successful and her father is happy. We live with these sort of images everyday of our lives. No wonder some black people have resorted to skin bleaching in order to survive.
A bad role model about skin bleaching is Michael Jackson, the rumours about his colour change were undoubtedly the biggest issue for skin bleaching there ever was and probably ever will be. As the question of whether he did it to change colour or because he was ill still bothers many minds. If famous and rich black people like Michael Jackson can resort to skin bleaching what does this say about the self esteem confidence and self worth of black people in general.
Skin bleaching goes to show that people of African descent need to have 4 main things when growing up to stop the high numbers of African people bleaching their skin:: self worth, self belief, self confidence, self esteem and self actualisation. As my mother says ‘the first step to solving an issue is recognizing it’. I hope that reading my essay will encourage children, youth, young adults and elderly to recognise there is something that’s not right around us. We must take action, we must build our race. We must support each other to see that we have a history, culture and background that is worth any other history culture or background, and that we as a race are beautiful as we are.
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