Black Authors Ashamed of the Beauty

We have beautiful eyes.

Hollywood, jagged as it is, might be the solution to the problem of defining characters in black novels because black authors seem to be under strict instruction from publishers like Dafina Books and Urban Books, not to describe characters as black.

“His deep-set sexy brown eyes were piercing,” P. 21, Breaking All My Rules, by Trice Hickman is one example. Most black folks, from Argentina to Canada have black and white eyes like millions of Africans in Africa. They are not brown, gray or blue.

Yes, there are people with brown eyes Dafina Books and Urban Books are propagating but they are not the norm. It is largely due to family history as explained in Trevor Noah’s book Born a Crime, Barack Obama’s book Dreams From My Father, and what Meghan Markle and Prince Harry’s son Archie will look like, when he grows up.

Then comes skin colour. Black authors who write black novels also don’t describe characters as black. They are ‘caramel’, ‘honey’, ‘chocolate’ anything but black like Pascal Siakam or O.G. Anunoby, players for Toronto Raptors, the reigning NBA champions.

Black Panther, the Disney/Marvel movie directed by Ryan Coogler minted money all over the world because people with black skin and black and white eyes saw themselves holistically, in a supernatural film for the first time.

The suggestion that Hollywood might be the answer to describing  black people as they are, is based on this quote. “Not only did he look like an older Khamun, but he looked like his own blend of Idris Elba with a walk that could threaten Denzel,” Page 416, SINEATERS by Kai Leakes.

Bham! The reader gets the message immediately, and continues reading. This is much better than writing ‘caramel skin’ or ‘honey skin’. Black authors should understand that color is not that important in telling their story, the black story. White writers mention green or blue eyes, brunettes and blondes because the story is about their race, and the colors god gave them.

Black authors should not mimic that. It implies that they don’t appreciate how nature made them, which is different from Europeans, Japanese, East Indians etc.

Black authors should understand that they might be damaging a lot of black girls and boys by not acknowledging their skin color and beautiful eyes. This sometimes leads to an inferiority complex that scars them for life.

The movie Black Panther restored that self-esteem. Black authors and black publishers must do corrective surgery, by saying he looks like a younger Bernie Mac or basketball legend Michael Jordan (‘MJ”). She looks like Lupita Nyong’o or Zozibini Tunzi, the 2019-2020 Miss Universe.

Writers of Asian descent do not have this fixation with color, why are black authors ashamed of who they are? Black!

By: Nonqaba waka Msimang.