Hi Tyra, I was watchin your show on skin color. I am a mother of two teenage girls and one is bi-racial. my oldest daughter is also light skinned. but of cource my baby girl is lighter w colored eyes, and freckles and sandy long hair. they fight alot and call her names like white-girl, snow bunny ect. im wondering if its all just siblings rivary or what? I just feel like maybe i didnt think of the concequence. in the long run. Her self esteem is really low. i try to tell her in life she gonna be talked about. but when her own siblings treat her like that how is she suppose bounce back? so im askin for your advice on how to deal with this issue. thanks

Hey Tyra,
I am a 21 year old GORGEOUS dark skinned woman who struggled with low self-esteem since i was in middle school. As a child grouwing up in Georgia, I was always teased about my features and overlooked many times because i was dark skinned. In the past my light skinned friend would always get attention from boys and always had other friends. I felt so inferior to her because she was mixed and everybody around me put her up on a pedistol. I used to wonder why guys wouldn't ask me out and why the females at CHURCH, yes at CHURCH, wouldn't want to hang with me but would always hang with her. I hated it for a long time. My self esteem was broken for a long time because of what happened to me in my childhood. But then as I got older, I begin to love my self day by day. I began to look at everything about me that was posistive day by day and focus only on the positive aspect of me. I would pray and see myself as a beautiful woman that God has made me to be. I no longer care about the girls that did not want to hang with me but began to feel good about being by myself and enjoying me which was hard for me to do in the begining of my life. After I started to love being around me then I began to get a friend who like me for me. I no longer cared about what the media says about beauty! Outer appearance does play a part in society, but the real appearance is what is on the inside. I learned to be free and thank God for how he made me. So after doing all of this, then I started to get alot of guys attention. I started to get approached more and asked out. I was so overwhelmed that it took me by surprise. I sorta feel like a late bloomer, but thats ok, because everything is in God's timeing and I learned to accept that!!! I am now loving myself and living free, and I know that there is somebody out there for me. So to all of my sistas out there that feel like you're not good enough, just look deep inside yourself and know that you are wonderfully and fearfully made!! You are beautiful!!! No MATTER WHAT PEOPLE SAY!!!

Hi Tyra,
I watched your show and it educated me regarding the prejudice among the light and dark skinned blacks. I am a mother of two beautiful black children. Surprisingly yesterday I got a call from one of my kid’s teacher telling me that two kids(Mexican) were making fun of my daughter’s skin saying it was too dark, and made fun of her hair too. Tyra, my child is only five years old in Kindergarten!
I felt sick to my stomach when I heard this. I didn’t know what to do, or what to particularly tell my little girl. I have raised both my kids to respect people and not to say things that might hurt others. When my little girl told me that kids said she had bad skin, that it was too dark I just felt like crying I didn’t know what words to tell her apart from assuring her that there was nothing wrong with her skin tone or hair. I would love to get some advice on how to best handle the situation. And what I should do so this doesn’t affect my baby.
Thanks for the good work.
Kindest Regards,
Ruth

Hi Tyra,
I am a 26yr old dark skinned BEAUTIFUL BLACK WOMAN both inside and out. People often say that I look like Lauren Hill and Malinda Williams from Soul Food. Growing up I was teased for my dark skin. I would be lying if I said that it did not hurt me, but as kids we are all teased for something. The kids that teased me had very light skin and I'm sure they were were just repeating things that they heard at home. I think the problem with light skin vs dark skin starts at home with the parents and the parents learned it from the older generation. Of course it all started with slavery when black people were divided based on the lightness or darkness of their skin. This problem is never going to change until we start teaching our children that we are black and all equally beautiful no matter the shade of our skin. As a teenager, I noticed that some boys looked at the girls first with lighter skin and some looked at girls with darker skin. I realized that everyone has their preference and that's just reality. Everyone is not going to be attracted to you. Also, growing up I noticed that many times beauty had nothing to do with the guys liking you. Many of the girls that got attention from boys were the girls that had lots of confidence and were outspoken. If you are walking around with your head down with low self esteem, people are going to pick up on that. It will begin to make them feel uncomfortable around you and that's not attractive. I honestly don't feel like I get overlooked. I get attention from men of all races. I'm so serious. I'm FINE, SEXY, and SMART! I have beautiful features. I dress to kill and keep my hair done. My skin is beautiful and so is my personality. My hair is not naturally curly or straight and my eyes aren't light, they're dark brown and almond shaped! I wouldn't change it for the world. You have to love yourself first and know that you are beautiful before anyone else will believe it.

I'm a very fair-skinned Latina with dark hair and hazel eyes. It's sad because often times I am mistaken for white, and I hear the racist comments made against the Latino community.
But what's worst is that my own people don't consider me Latina because I'm not fluent in Spanish.

Please excuse spelling mistakes in my posting below, My keyboard is real bad!

Shayla I am really sorry to read what you have been going through, it sickens me that people think they can say what they like to others in that way! School can be a crule horrible place, where senseless things are just spouted out be un-thinking youngsters, as you gat older you will realise that way can move on and away from those people and be amongst those who are more like ourselves, but for now you have to try and dismiss such statements and love your self for who you are. If it is any consolation, I went to a school runion some years back and found that the group of girls who thought they were cool and bitchy had hardly moved on in life and were looking and sounding like Grand-Mothers before their time (No dis-respect to Grand-Mothers lol) whereas one or two who they had picked on had bloomed into Womerful Women and completely blanked them which I thought was so cool!

I'm amazed that in our Modern Multi-Cultural Society, having learned and progressed so much in decades past, that now in the past few years we are hearing these things amongst our youngsters, it's not just the USA, I notice it here in the UK also. I think maybe the recent and current music and fashionable image influences are encouraging young people to be less respectful of cultures and almost restricting themselves to their own groups of look-alikes and think-alikes, which is all very well whilst that culture is in fashion but not very progressive for society!

I am a White Guy, I have dated Black Skinned young ladies in my past of Jamaican,Ghanaian and Nigerian origins/heritage and i can assure you that to many Dark Skin Tone is not an issue and for many it is seen as attractive, so I hope that helps a little. The guy that said that to you is obviously a 'PIG' himself and probably says such things to others also, like saying someone has a Big Nose or suchlike, just remember that ok!

Wow I talk loads, I wanted to say that Katrina talks complete sense and put a wonderful posting below, I hope you read it Shayla!

Best Wishes to you and be cool about the real you and like-minded your friends!

Also...the angry, insecure woman on the show who didnt like [other] dark skin women needs to take a good look at the mirror, mirror, on the wall because she is not a light skin girl. I was so glad to see the dark skin lady stepping up to the microphone b/c I thought she was so much prettier than the woman who was spouting self hatred. I was curious as to what she would say to the prettier, darker woman, but I didn't get much of her stumbling, stuttering, rebuttal. Yeah...like I thought.

The last posting is the saddest thing I have read in a long time and it makes me wonder how many other people have felt that way. I'm a brownskinnish girl. I remember when I was modeling it was either "Make sure you stay out of the sun," or "Hmmm...I was hoping for a darker, more ethnic girl, but I think you could work." It was like either way I wasn't good enough or living up to someone elses expectations and I guess b/c of my life experiences I made it into a joke. I'd decided a long time ago that I would live up to my own personal code. On looks, on clothes, on make up, on morals, on anything. I go to bed alone and I sleep well. How is anyone going to tell me how I should look? I mean, seriously...
I really think that the girl below me's pain is caused by her environment. I hate that it's black men who are doing this to her. Especially b/c there are probably a flock of white men who would love her dark skin and her african american hair. Sometimes I think we get less love from our own men. It's not right. I hope she can go to another school.
Latin women have issues, too and so do white women. A Colombian girl around here was told not to get any darker by her sorority. The lighter girls are favored and the darker, curlier haired girls are not. White women have issues too. The fairer skin girls are made fun of in a very similar way as the girl whose post is below mine. I know. It's brutal. Ask almost any girl with red hair. Asian women have issues too. Most skin lightening creams are sold for African and Asian americans--some contain heavy metal which is why the FDA had to get involved in the sales of those creams. Everyone has "something" but really it doesn't matter. Everyones aware of it, but we still play by "the rules." If it's wrong, then why are we still doing it. Evil triumphs when good men do nothing.

Hey, tyra...ummm..i'm a 16 year old darkskinned girl and i DO believe that lightskinned girls have it easier than darkskinned girls, not in jobs, but in relationships. I do feel like i'm uglier than lightskined girls because i'm darkskinned. Ive had boyfriends who would dump me and try to get with my lightskinned girlfriends and because of that i stopped talking to them. I kind of....."hate" my darkskin. I always get teases by other guys. not girls. guys. and that hurts the most. i'd rather get teased by girls, and say there haters than to get teased by guys cuz they can't hate on me because they're boys. I've never felt this way before i entered highschool and started liking guys. In middle school i didnt care about boys and a lot of guys had liked me but i didnt go with them cuz i wasnt interested and NO ONE teased me about being darkskinned. It seems in the 9th grade and in my 4th block class where all the BLACK boys (3 black boys) teased me EVERY SINGLE DAY about being dark and they teased ONLY me. i cried almost everyday cuz of them. I remember when we had a substitute teacher and we were taking a test, we had to mark down our race on the test. One of the black boys raised their hands and said, Mr. So~So, how can shayla mark down a race...CHARCOAL isn't on the TEST! it was funny, but EVERYONE started laughing at me including my teacher. EVERYBODY laughed except me. they laughed at me for 10 mins. i skipped school for the next 3 days cuz of that. Another time i was in front of my classroom and these were this group of black guys in the corner and one of the darkskinned guys said and i quote "I'd date an ugly lightskinned girl over a cute BLACK girl anyday". i will never forget that. that made me so mad and made me hate myself SOO much. I cant stand my skin color. and i hope when i get older i'll learn to love it like these other females have learned to love it. but right now, i'm at my lowest. I try SOO hard to love myself and i try to dress nice and keep my hair done and that does work and i do track guy's attention. but its still not enough. i still feel inferior towards my lighter skinned friends. I dont care about that "girl, its only self-hate. the media did it. love the skin your in LINES". THE FACT IS: LIGHTSKIN IS PRETTY, AND DARK SKIN IS CONSIDERED UGLY!. i hate that fact, but its true. i hate my skin tone. I love me but i hate my skin tone. i kno i'm frowning in God's face but its SO hard to love my skin, when others dont. I WANT TO BE LIGHTSKINNED AND TRYING TO TALK MY MOM INTO BLEACHING MY SKIN! I WANT TO BE PRETTY! PRETTY AND LIGHT! I WANT TO BE ABLE TO GO TO A PARTY AND BE SEEN AND NOTICED (dont think i'm that dark, but i am dark). i want to wear bright eyeshadows and still look good. I dont care about long hair, i got weave. i just want guys to take one look at me and say "she's pretty". i dont want them to have to get a closer look and to stare at me for a long time to realize that i am pretty. i hate my darkskin!!! IT'S SO UGLY!! Y COULDNT I BE LIGHT LIKE MY COUSINS. I DONT EVEN HAVE TO BE LIGHTSKINNED...I'LL BE THANKFUL IF I WAS BROWNSKINNED!! EVEN MY WHITE GIRLFRIEND GETS CUTER GUYS THAN ME!!! I'M JUST SICK OF BEING DARKSKINNED. WHY DO I HAVE TO BE DARK?? WHY DO I HAVE TO BE THE UGLY COLOR?? WHY COULDNT I BE LIGHT AND HAVE A PRETTY COLOR!! I HATE MY DARKSKIN!! I WANT TO BE CONSIDERED PRETTY WITH LIGHTSKIN. I HATE MY DARKSKIN AND THATS MAKING ME HATE MYSELF..sorry tyra, i kinda rambled. but i do feel better

Hey, tyra...ummm..i'm a 16 year old darkskinned girl and i DO believe that lightskinned girls have it easier than darkskinned girls, not in jobs, but in relationships. I do feel like i'm uglier than lightskined girls because i'm darkskinned. Ive had boyfriends who would dump me and try to get with my lightskinned girlfriends and because of that i stopped talking to them. I kind of....."hate" my darkskin. I always get teases by other guys. not girls. guys. and that hurts the most. i'd rather get teased by girls, and say there haters than to get teased by guys cuz they can't hate on me because they're boys. I've never felt this way before i entered highschool and started liking guys. In middle school i didnt care about boys and a lot of guys had liked me but i didnt go with them cuz i wasnt interested and NO ONE teased me about being darkskinned. It seems in the 9th grade and in my 4th block class where all the BLACK boys (3 black boys) teased me EVERY SINGLE DAY about being dark and they teased ONLY me. i cried almost everyday cuz of them. I remember when we had a substitute teacher and we were taking a test, we had to mark down our race on the test. One of the black boys raised their hands and said, Mr. So~So, how can shayla mark down a race...CHARCOAL isn't on the TEST! it was funny, but EVERYONE started laughing at me including my teacher. EVERYBODY laughed except me. they laughed at me for 10 mins. i skipped school for the next 3 days cuz of that. Another time i was in front of my classroom and these were this group of black guys in the corner and one of the darkskinned guys said and i quote "I'd date an ugly lightskinned girl over a cute BLACK girl anyday". i will never forget that. that made me so mad and made me hate myself SOO much. I cant stand my skin color. and i hope when i get older i'll learn to love it like these other females have learned to love it. but right now, i'm at my lowest. I try SOO hard to love myself and i try to dress nice and keep my hair done and that does work and i do track guy's attention. but its still not enough. i still feel inferior towards my lighter skinned friends. I dont care about that "girl, its only self-hate. the media did it. love the skin your in LINES". THE FACT IS: LIGHTSKIN IS PRETTY, AND DARK SKIN IS CONSIDERED UGLY!. i hate that fact, but its true. i hate my skin tone. I love me but i hate my skin tone. i kno i'm frowning in God's face but its SO hard to love my skin, when others dont. I WANT TO BE LIGHTSKINNED AND TRYING TO TALK MY MOM INTO BLEACHING MY SKIN! I WANT TO BE PRETTY! PRETTY AND LIGHT! I WANT TO BE ABLE TO GO TO A PARTY AND BE SEEN AND NOTICED (dont think i'm that dark, but i am dark). i want to wear bright eyeshadows and still look good. I dont care about long hair, i got weave. i just want guys to take one look at me and say "she's pretty". i dont want them to have to get a closer look and to stare at me for a long time to realize that i am pretty. i hate my darkskin!!! IT'S SO UGLY!! Y COULDNT I BE LIGHT LIKE MY COUSINS. I DONT EVEN HAVE TO BE LIGHTSKINNED...I'LL BE THANKFUL IF I WAS BROWNSKINNED!! EVEN MY WHITE GIRLFRIEND GETS CUTER GUYS THAN ME!!! I'M JUST SICK OF BEING DARKSKINNED. WHY DO I HAVE TO BE DARK?? WHY DO I HAVE TO BE THE UGLY COLOR?? WHY COULDNT I BE LIGHT AND HAVE A PRETTY COLOR!! I HATE MY DARKSKIN!! I WANT TO BE CONSIDERED PRETTY WITH LIGHTSKIN. I HATE MY DARKSKIN AND THATS MAKING ME HATE MYSELF..sorry tyra, i kinda rambled. but i do feel better

I love trya banks even though shes light skineed. I wouldnt call me a red bone even though some boys do im a brown toned girl and i love my skin ,but however it is true i believe that lighter toned african americans with loser curled hair have it better than i would. my hair is natrually fro and i believe i would be considered as lowered class. There are no real darkskinned romodels for african american dark complected girls. Beyonce wouldnt even be cloe alica keys and rihanna .they all are light and if you enter the entertainment bussiness i believe you have to lighten your skin or so i believe, many african american famous artist i have seen them do that. There needs to be a romodel for us , if you watch the rapper videos they minimize the usage of dark tonned sistahs, the darkest the`y get to is brown but they dont go any further then that. Thas why i love treysongs he says he notices that and he trys to use darker tone sistas lol i love him and give him respect for that but if i eva became anyone famous i would make sure to have every tone and hair type in my magazines cause race isnt a issue to me but for other teenage girls they`ll start using bleaching creams and harm their bodys just to get that redbone look its amazing how people still discrimintae and its sad.hope full we all get better someday =)

Hi Tyra, I have been reading these comments and some do make me ask myself "What goes on in these women heads". I LOVE ME!!! I have a few things about me I would like to change but nothing major. Oh to let you know I am a DARK SKINNED WOMAN. I love it, although I do get the discrimination all the time when people approach me and say "YOU ARE VERY PRETTY TO BE DARK" or "ARE YOU FROM AN ISLAND, WHAT RACE ARE YOU?" I will sometimes ignore them or just play with their head and say im Ethiopian or something just to be silly. I am african american, and yes I am DARK SKINNED with CURLY HAIR, PRETTY TEETH, NATURALLY ARCHED EYEBROWS, and I am TALL. What is the BIG deal with your skin tone. If you are gorgeous[such as I :-)]u are gorgeous. You are as Beautiful as you feel. And EVERYONE should feel beautiful. I have this attitude and I am sort of conceited because I have been TEASED all my life and I still go through it and I am 21yrs old. I have a friend who is light skinned and she thinks she is the best thing smoking. When we are together people call us NIGHT & DAY, SALT & PEPPER, and VANILLA & CHOCOLATE. I turn every "BLACK JOKE" around on the "LIGHT SKINNED". I am BEAUTIFUL, GORGEOUS, EXOTIC, PRETTY, and DARK&LOVELY. I have no kids but when I do get married and have children I do want them to be what I have been all my life... CHOCOLATE. I LOVE ME***WHO doesnt love CHOCOLATE*** ~~~Its deeper than the SKIN its whats WITHIN~~~

Hello Tyra,
I am a 20 year old, pretty, dark skinned female,nicknamed COCO as a child, whom believes strongly that a light skinned woman has it easier. I say this because although i am pretty, guys tend to look at the lighter woman first because it's easier to see their features. Men don't seem attracted to me until they hear my voice and actually take the time to kno my PERSONALITY. As far as jobs, I think it's 50/50 unless you're in film or sometimes modeling. I HAD the dream of being a star but all i got was NO. I was told by a friend of the family that a dark skinned girl like myself would never make it in the film industry because people can't see me anyway. I asked then "why are dark skinned men the lead roles in movies," I was told that it was because they had sex appeal. As far as modeling goes, I went into a photographer's shoot and he didn't know that I was as dark as I am. He went over to the lady whom set me up with him and said, "the make-up I have will make her look like a ghost." That was prom night and my make-up was horrible. That man sent me out the door with that cake on my face and I had no time to wash it off. How humiliating is that? It's hard for a dark sknned woman to find the PERFECT MATCH of make-up. There's all shades except ours. EVENTUALLY I found mY SHADE. I can go on and on about how much a dark skinned woman like myself has been teased. I will say this, try having another girl in your 5th grade class compare you to a black window shade over the window and colored on w/ a white crayon in front of everyone. That's some hurtful things. The guy on the show said that he preferred a light skinned girl because of their long hair, I have the longest, prettiest hair in my family (no extentions), and can do the same thing a light skinned woman can. And to the light skinned woman, who beleives she's the HBIC, MA'AM I'M DARK WIT GOOD HAIR AND NO NAPS. GOD LOVES A DARK SKINNED WOMAN AS WELL AS LIGHT. YOU CAN KEEP ON WIT YOUR DISCRIMINATION, BUT AT THE END OF THE DAY YOU'RE NO BETTER THAN THE NEXT LIGHT, DARK, YELLOW, OR MIXED PERSON. She really pissed me off. But anyway Tyra. This is a very sensitive topic for me and I think if I keep typing I wil have carpal tunnel from typin so long and hard. Be Blessed ALL PEOPLE!!

Dear Tyra, I am mixed with black and white my skin is light brown in the winter and I am dark brown when it's summer time. my mom is white i have her hair type.Long hair but I just like being called mixed. Because i am usually mistaken for an indian or a mexican. it was kind of flattering at first but i am tired of hearing it now. I am not mexican I am not indian I'm mixed. That's my color and I appreciate it. some people would love to be my color. In Hannibal white girls (most of them but not all of them) use spray tans and come out orange looking not to be mean but it's kind of funny because they can't get my color or a darker color than that. That's a big part of mypersonality i don't like copycats. i Love my individuality it makes me who I am.

light skin black women don't have it easier than dark skin black women.

I'm black and light(yellow)skin.I had lived in Philadelphia(7th poorest US city,blacks are the majority)for many years.In Philly many brown and dark skin black young adults prefer brown and dark skin blacks.I lived in cities that weren't like this.My light skin and my brown skin black young adult cousins lived in some zipcodes in Philly that have many sex offenders and none of the black men would date my light(yellow)skin cousin and many black men wanted date my brown skin cousin.There are few light(yellow)skin and brown or darker skin black young adult couples in Philly.

I am an Light skinned African American female and I am all black.My mother is black as well as my father. I do not understand why skinTONE is a problem. I understand the diffrences in th blacks whites mexicans,etc. etc. but that all has to do with culture. If we are in the same race, braught up in the same fashon why does my TONE matter? I am exactly like any one of my african american piers but I am segrigated from them and I hate it. I only have ONE dark skinned friend, all of the others see me as 'snooty' and call me red boned(whatever that means) and all of the darker boys see me for a phisical beauty I dont even see as opposed to these darker skinned girls whom I think are much more beautiful than I.
I am 15 and I have experienced things that people in their 30's go thrugh so I know it's now a phase this is a real problem that many women need to understand by segrigating your own race your sending a ripple thrugh your bloodline that says "Those who arent like me and that are prettyer in my eyes should be cut off from my friendship because I am intimidated by their confedence and beauty and I am too insecure to look past that and into their kindness thats in their heart"
I will not accept this And those who do are idiots in my eyes.
Sorry for the brutality but it just shows how passionate I am about it

Well, I would say that in the African American communties lighter skinned people has it easier. For some reason blacks see lighter skinned as more attractive, more educated, and more presentable. Often within the workforce you will get hired faster if you are lighter because lighter skinned is associate with passiveness and more friendly while dark skinned people are look at as more aggressive or unfriendly. However in the eyes of white people we are blacks and that's that. With myself being a light skinned girl inside of a mostly white workforce I still have to prove myself more, but the funny thing is that some of the white girls feel envious because I am light skinned with features that America view as beautiful. So they feel that they have to continue reminding me that I am black and I shouldn't feel as attractive as them because they are white. So with that being said it all balance out no matter what tone of black you are.

I only watched this show tonight as a repeat because of it being a topic at the office that everyone is talking of constantly.
The show was really amazing but felt it could have been in two parts as 1 hour was not long enough. As a black person I am light skinned black woman. The color of my skin has been my story for people more than who I am as a person inside with personality.
As a child being light skinned, people always built me up on my looks calling me a beautiful red skin person or always telling me that my skin was ripe as a paw paw. The sad thing of it all, is that I have a brother who is darker than me. He is extremely dark and I mean dark. When we go out together as a family, people are shocked to know we are related. From the time I have known myself people have been telling me that kind of stuff and today as a 24 year old woman I still get people telling me the same thing over and over.
But for the show I found the lady that was derogatory towards dark skinned black women as someone who has identity problems. Looking at her she is not even near light skinned. But to answer the topic, I say no that light skinned women do not have it easier than dark skinned women. We go through the same problems as them and face the same challenges that they deal with. I can tell you, with that paper bag experiment and if i was alive 200 years ago, I would have been granted access to a party. But do I care? No. One thing I shudder is how my child is going to feel when she comes to realising that her color is played against her. I rather not go through the same cycle of crap with her that I have to go through in telling people I am related to a dark skinned person no matter me being light skinned.

Hi Tyra
I am a dark-skinned black woman and I remember as a child being made fun of because of my complexion. My mother and brother are lighter skinned than I am and I use to (and sometimes still) get questioned on why I am so much darker than they are. In high school, when I told people who my brother was, they immediately say "oh well yall must have different daddies".

My brother, like I said before, is light skinned with green eyes and is always being complimented for being sooo hansom. When I get complimented, I get that infamous "you're pretty for a dark skinned girl" comment. My brother and I went to a model search event one time, and he got chosen and was doing modeling for awhile. I wasn't chosen. When I went to school and was telling one of my "so called friends" about not being chosen they said it's because "his skin is prettier than yours, your too black". Growing up I had self esteem issues because I was constantly teased about my skin. I’ve always felt that I wasn’t pretty enough and all of the boys seemed to like the lighter skinned girls when it came to dating. I am now in college and I get complimented and hit on all the time and I act shy around boys because I never felt as pretty as they say I am. Even though I am older (I will turn 20 soon) and feel more comfortable in my skin, I still have issues about my color. For example, I live in Missouri and during the hot summers I avoid going outside during the day so that I won’t get darker. I've also discussed with my mother about having biracial children, just so they wouldn't go thru what I went thru growing up.

My mom's side of the family is darker skinned and she is constantly asked why is she so light compared to her brother's and sisters. On my dad's side, they are primarily lighter, have reddish hair and freckles. I was once told before that I look like a darker-skinned version of my daddy.

I found it interesting that other women of color face the same light-dark issues. I also find it interesting that in the white community, its better to be darker. I hope you do a follow up to this show Tyra, and when you do I hope to be able to be in the audience. TO ALL THE DARK SKINED WOMEN OF COLOR KEEP YOUR HEAD UP BECAUSE WE ARE BEAUTIFUL TOO! AND TO THE LIGHT SKINNED WOMEN WHO ARE TEASED KEEP YALLS HEADS UP TOO BECAUSE NO MATTER WHAT SHADE OF BLACK, INDIAN, HISPANIC, ETC YOU ARE, YOU ARE BEAUTIFUL!!

Tyra, My name is Jamie I'm 25% native american and 75% white. My boyfriend is black he is actually from Africa born and raised. I get a lot of people that look at us when we go out somewhere. I don't get it why does it matter. I kinda think to myself does it hurt your feeling that I am with a black man? You can not help who you fall in love with. So I was watching the show on how light skin black people have it made I guess you could say the darker skin black people I can't really say much about that beacuse I don't know about that. I just know that we are all people and it should not matter if you are dark or light skined or white or hispanic. inless that person has done something to you that you did not like you should not take it out on all the other people like them just because that one person hurt you dose not mean they are all like that... I like everything but right now i'm kinda stuck on the saying once you go black you go back... lol my parents love my boyfriend a lot and even if they didn't I wouldn't care because it my life and you can't change it. We are even expecting our own baby... my baby will be half black and I am sure my child will have some problems with this contoversy but they will have to deal with it... I don't know if he or she will be dark or light skinded because he pretty dark and thats more dominate but eather way I will love them no matter what... Thank you for hearing me out... Sincerly, Jamie Martin

I just want to say that was very interesting to watch this particular show. Also as sad at the same time since it really is a problem. The lady that wason the show stating that she did not like dark skinned women should be ashamed of herself. To me, complexion really should not matter.

Hi Tyra I am a 23 year old black female i wouldn't consider myself light skinned but i'd say i'm caramel...but the reason ive felt so pin pointed out is because my skin tone is a little different...i wear my hair jet black most of the time and my eyes sort of slant so if i have a long hair weave or if i just wear my natural hair out curly i will get are you mixed and what are you because you're not just black...my late grandmother was indian, white, and black so i guess i get a lot of my characteristics from her...and when i flat iron my hair i get a lot of you got white people hair, which is really dumb to me and the guy i am currently dating calls me white girl...but i'm not light!!! lol well thats my story i just find it amazing that after all we've been through as a race we can be racist against each other because believe me my friends can make up the rainbow, i hang out with light, dark, asian, etc i don't care...as long as you are real and true to yourself....oh yea i love you tyra!!! lol thanks

PS-Isn't it interesting that in the white community the darker your skin is the better, and in the black community it seems the lighter you are the better? Maybe you should do a show on tanorexics next, because that is becoming a huge issue in America