I was able to catch this show today and all I can say is - I'm dumbfounded! As a white middle-aged woman, I had no idea that this was even an issue within the black, bi-racial and/or hispanic community. My exposure to racial prejudice(s) has come from situations that bring race against race - never situations where one's own racial community does not accept them because of their skin color. It was a very eye-opening and informative show for me but one that made me wonder exactly how far we've come if people of your own race can not/will not accept you for who you are.

Hi Tyra,

this topic is one of the best that has come about in a long time and im glad that you brought it to television. in Jamaica it has been a big issue. Their are young black women they are literally bleaching their skin to be lighter because they feel that lighter skinned men and women do get farther in life and more attention than darker men and women its utterly ridiculous. people should feel confident,beutiful and motivated to be whatever they want to be in their own skin. doesn't matter what shade of black you are embrace it and love it

Thanks Tyra for a wonderfull show keep doing a great job

well i'm looking at the show now and i just have to say this the lady that's on there now that say light skin girls have long hair and no big nose.Well when i was in high school i was treated like a different b/c i'm dark skined and i had long hair and a lil nose some ppl would call me white ppl nose or was i half white b/c my nose.i would go home and cry and hate who i was. but now i love who i am.and i can do anything a light skin women can do.

I have been around some of my light-skinned family members who brag about their skin tone, their hair being "good" hair, and all the compliments they get. I never say anything to them when they say things like this because I feel its best to ignore people like that. I have noticed in my own personal experience and through observing people that some light-skin women feel as though they are better than darker skinned women but I always ignore it, because I feel that by ignoring them I am not giving them the attention they what. I am comfortable with myself being a brown skinned woman that I do not stoop to the level of people who have nothing better to do than compare themselves to other people. I also notice some men give light skin women more attention that darker skin women and I think that's sad, but if that is what they prefer that's their business. Life is not based on skin tone. I always hold my head up high knowing that I am beautiful no matter what anybody says about me and I believe we all should do that. Bottom line is we need to not give people the attention they are seeking on something so petty and ignorant. Its a waste of time and energy. Just be the best person you can be.

I do agree that people judge you by your skin color, some people do it without even notice. When I was growing up in the Dominican Republic, I notice that the white kids or kids with light skin wont hang out with the dark skin and one time a guy told me I'm sorry Jenny I don't date dark skin girl, and he was dark skin!. I guess because of that I was jealous of girls with lighter skin and with straight hair. In the Dominican Republic the society teach you that you need to straight your hair, put lighter make up to look like a white woman. I'm glad that we are talking about this because we need to stop this. WE should be judge by our work and our personality not for our looks. Because I grew up with this around me, I feel really sensitive about it, when I had my baby My mother in law (who is half Japanese, half white) said to everybody:" My grandson has the most beautiful brown skin", the first few times I loved the comment but later I felt a little offended because I felt that she was just noticing his color, My baby is olive color, he look Japanese. Even my mom sometimes said things like OH MY GOSH, YOU ARE GETTING SO DARK like if that was something bad, my mom is just a little lighter than me. I love my skin color now, I still issues wiht my hair because I like straight hair but I DO BELIEVE WE ARE BEAUTIFUL AND THAT THE WORLD NEEDS MORE VARIETY (COLORS).

As a white woman, I wondered if any of the many-shades-of-beautiful-'black' woman knew how much time and money white girls spend trying to get tan. At great risk to their health might I add! Ahhh, vanity, such a distraction!!! Am I too dark, too light, too old, to fat? Imagine what we might do with our lives if we quit pouring our energy into such foolishness.

I wish this wasn't an issue - for any of us. Why can't we just be the 'human' race instead of 'different' races? Now more than ever we, as conscious spirit-bearing creatures of intelligence, need to pull together and learn how to accept and love all that we have to offer eachother. Every culture on Earth has important knowledge, tradition, and value to share.

Love to all, Mary

I am a medium brown skin woman. I have personally felt the differences that we as a race place against each other. I have had a young man see me in the winter when my skin is slightly more pale or lighter who tried to talk to me. This same young man saw me in the summer, after I had been swimming and became very tan try to talk to me again. When I did not respond to him at that time he stated that "dark skin black women" have an attitude and are all angry. He did not even know I was the same person until I told him. He then stated "wow, you really get dark in the sun".

As well I have a "light skin" daughter who use to have hair down her back. At the age of five she had a "dark skin" girl get mad at her because the girl asked my daughter if her hair was fake. When my daughter stated no the other girl told my daughter that my daughter thought she was better than the other girls. My daughter stated she got quite and then the other girl, who was sitting behind her in class, cut a chunk of her hair.

This problem within our race, as I have seen, starts at a very young age. What are we teaching our young at dealing with one another? How does this calculate in how they feel about themselves and deal with others outside of our race?

We as a people have let the "Willy Lench Law" and old slave owners still designate how we deal with one another within our own race. But if any of us have a problem from outside of the African American race the first "card" we pull is the "race card". How do we deal with the color problems within?

Tyra, i watched your show on light skin vs dark and i was shocked to know there is an issue within people of the same race. i myself am white but i have never seen color, as a young girl i had a close friend that is a dark skinned black female and i never realized she was a differant color than i was untill one day on the buss when two young men called her the n word and i saw the look on her face i then realized she was differant then me. but it hurt me to know someone would treat my friend badly just because she was differant, but diferant isnt bad. i think people of all races are beautiful. my grandfather and i have this discousion often about race on who he thinks i should date or even who i can be friends with. he belives that noone should ever go outside thier own race being just friends or more, and this subject has torn my grandfather and i appart. and the lady on your show today reminded me of my grandfather telling her son he can not date a dark skinned female is denying her son to love whom ever he wants it really hurt me even as a white person to know that there is still so much hate in this world even among those we think should acept us. i heard someone say once that america is like a deck of cards no matter the color, number, or simble. without just one the deck is not compleat. i enjoyed the show thanks Tyra

My name is Tana and I watched your show today and just wanted to say that no matter what color tone your skin is we are all people. One thing that stands out to me is people are always complaining about one rase does this to them or this color does that to them, for one, that is sterio-typing and two, EVERYBODY deals with it. No matter what race, color or size you are, people all deal with one issue or another. I am half white and half Tongan, and people think I have it easy cuz the say "I have the best of both worlds", but that's just it I have the worst as well. As a kid I would get teased by white girls because I have brown skin, and then on the other hand, I would get made fun of by my Tongan cousins cause I am half white. So either way I didnt fit in. So when I got older I just learned to exept who I am and play it. Your whole life people are going to try and put you down no matter your race or color, but who are they to you. I know who I am and I own it.

I loved your show today I only saw the last 15 minutes but it was very interesting. I am a light skin black woman. I got a lot of crap from even some of my family when I was younger. I always have people say are you hispanic or are you mixed, they are shocked when I say I am black. I think that anybody with a different race has some type of problems in life because of their race. I just know what I am and what I stand for so you have to just let others stupidity go. Again I loved the show.

Hi Tyra, first I want to commend you on bringing up a subject that we tend to forget that is still out there. I am a hispanic women who has three beautiful kids that are from different ethnic backgrounds. My older two children are half polynesian (Tongan) and my youngest is full hispanic. But the issue of being dark is in every ethnic group that you would think it wasn't. My ex husbands family how would you say don't like their dark skin and in turn they would marry out of their ethnicity so their kids weren't dark. Or so their kids wouldn't be big boned with thick legs and a thick body. To me I think they are beautiful. My oldest daughter who is 10 years old already has a complex about her legs because they are thick. I call her my Nani because her body shape is basically like the sister on Lilo and Stich. She is very slender on top with big beautiful hips and thighs. But her dads family looks down on that. I have to constantly remind her that she is beautiful and the color of her skin and the shape of her body is something that came from God. I always think to myself what kind of world would this be if everyone was the same body shape, the same color and had the same opinions about life. It would be really boring. Each DIFFERENT ethnicity is what makes this world go round and makes it so beautiful. I wouldn't change that for nothing.

Hi, Tyra:

I watched the show today and I was most disturbed by the mother who said she didn't want her son to bring home a dark-skinned woman. One can't help who they fall in love with. What if her son meets a woman who makes him happy and is who HE wants to be with. Is he then suppose to not be with her. He then meets a light-skinned woman who may end up making him unhappy. I bet his mother wouldn't like that. I've some dark-skinned women who are absolutely beautiful.

Hello Tyra, I am lightskin. The skin tone issues became apparent to me when I was in middle school. There was this puerto rican boy that I had a crush on and I told him. He said that he liked me because he thought that I was hispanic. Growing up, I have always been mistaken as being biracial, either being half white or hispanic. I am just black, that happens to be lighter than other blacks. I, myself am not prejudice. My friends range in different skin tones along with different ethnic backgrounds. I just wish that this was not such a big deal within the black community.

Wow what a great show. Although I am hispanic, alot of what was said today kind of hit home. The skin issue in the black community of wether you are too dark or too light, is also a big issue in our community. Hispanics with dark skin get discriminated just as much as people with light skin. For example some people think dark skin hispanics are not good enough in some way, yet if you are light skinned somehow you are thought of as not being hispanic enough. I dont agree with either of the stereotypes. I wish that in the black, hispanic, and all the communities there are, that SKIN COLOR WOULD STOP BEING AN ISSUE. Only when that happens will what race we are stop being important

Tyra,
The show on light skinned blacks touch my soul my childhood was just like the sisters story.There are four diffence between my sister and me, being the oldest I remember my grandma telling my sister several times never make a baby with a dark skinned guy, alway keep lipstick because she wasn't pretty,there was so much treatment between us and not to long along my sister exploded and told my grandma about how this made her feel. Tyra today my sister and I are not not close because of this reason PREJUSTICE I now know my grandma did not ruin our relationship as sisters our skin color did

hey tyra I'm a 36 yr old white woman and I feel that someones skin color does not define them as a person. Idated dark and light skinned black boys in school I am now engaged to a wonderful white man I have a friend who is black and will only date white men says she was abused by black men I also wanted to comment on the fact that those of us who are different are treated bad by all colors of people can you do a show on turner syndrome which is what I have not enough is known about it. I think you are such a wonderful beautiful caring woman I would like to meet you but live in arizona. not pretty or thin enough to be a model though it is my dream you can contact via e mail or phone would love to be your pen pal

ONE WORD:WOW!!! I JUST FINISHED WATCHING TODAYS SHOW AND I WAS SHOCKED ABOUT SOME OF THE THINGS I HEARD. I AM ACTUALLY A GAY AFRICAN-AMERICAN MALE AND FOR ME I TEND TO DATE OR BE ATTRACTED TO NOT DARK OR LIGHT SKINNED, FOR ME I LOOK FOR WHAT KIND OF PERSON YOU ARE INSIDE. I CALL MY SELF DARK SKIN AND I HAVE A SISTER WHO IS LIGHT SKIN AND WHERE EVER WE WERE PEOPLE ALWAYS SAID THAT SHE WAS SO CUTE AND IM SAYIN TO MYSELF "IM RIGHT HERE WHEN IS SOMEONE GOING TO TELL ME IM HANDSOME." DONT GET MY WRONG I LOVE MY SISTER BUT SHE GETS MORE "FAVORTIZM" OVER ME, MY SISTER AND PARENTS HAVE A BETTER RELATIONSHIP THEN ME AND MY PARENTS DO, BUT I DONT KNOW IF THAT HAS TO DO WITH OUR SKIN COLOR. PEOPLE WHO SIT AROUND THINKING THAT THEY ARE BETTER THAN ANYONE IS IGNORANT. US AFRICAN-AMERICAN ARE ON THE SAME PAGE WHEN IT COMES TO WHITE PEOPLE CALLING US THE "N" WORD, WE SAY THAT WHITE PEOPLE ARE IGNORANT FOR CALLING US THAT AND/OR THINKING THAT THEY ARE BETTER THAN US, BUT THEN WE SIT AROUND AND THINK THAT WE ARE BETTER THAN EACH OTHER BECAUSE OF OUR SKIN COLOR, WHICH I SEE AS US "CALLING THE KETTEL BLACK". I DONT THINK IM BETTER THAN ANYONE...DO I THINK IM MORE APPEALING THAN SOME PEOPLE...YES BUT THATS LIGHT AND/OR DARK SKIN. I AM SO GLAD THAT YOU DID A SHOW OVER THIS SUBJECT.

emm first off I'm brown cinnamon sugar and my parents are Eritrean! people like Iman and Liya kebede is who I could categorize myself with because we are from the same origin and facial features are more correlated growing up in middle school I was called Hindu! I was baffled for the fact that I was like liya kebede's complexion I was called Hindu? and the fact that I had long hair us east africans ethiopian and eritrean northern sudanes, somalians etc are always told by other blk african americans that we look middle eastern and less blk therefore we are ostracized for it and that we think were all that cause we have more european features sometimes it has absolutely nothing to do with who is lightskin and who is darkskin it's your facial features and how eurocentric you look for god sakes iman is as dark as chocalate yet she's looked at differently even by the white community because of her facial features you can be a light skin blk women less eurocentric looks and you would never get pinpointed like Iman does and Liya Kebede for instance and umm another thing I was made fun of other blk kids when I told them that I was african and pointing out my features they were not convinced saying that I looked more Hindu and that I was more like from india it's just all messed up how we go ahead and have to judge each other because of how we look!

Tyra,
I am a (very) white girl and I find it rather interesting that so many feel that lighter black skin is more beautiful, yet in the white community girls are striving for that tan to get darker. My best friends are white but able to tan very well. As for me, well, just the freckles get darker, and I am constantly made fun of for my extra white skin. My sister is just as white but doesn't have freckles, and she faced so much scrutiny as a kid that she won't even wear shorts out in public... and she's 28 now! We grew up in a white area, so the comments were always from other whites. Just goes to show, the prejudice within a race is more wide-spread than we all thought.

Hello Tyra,
I am a Puerto Rican & Dominican Male who is engaged to a white female. I was only able to catch a portion of your show today and i can see why darker skinned males or females can feel angry about themselves. Im a lighter skin tone but i appear african american. Some people may concider me a sell out but i have dated african american women in the past but i choose not to anymore because of certain things that most tend to come along with. Such as attitudes, the way certain women carry themseleves in public, the being lound and abnoxious, the lifestyle and other things. I dont want to come off as someone who is racist but as a darker male i dated lighter skinned women because to me you had to deal with less, and being i grew up as one of the only darker guys in a very suburban community. Lighter skinned women atleast to me carry themselves better than darker skinned women. Your show is a very educational program and its good to see a show that actually covers the truth in the world these days.

hi tyra i was so very intrigued by your show today. i am a black woman born jamaican and i have a muliracial family and also all different shades of black in my family. i am currently married my husband is white and we are expecting a baby and hurts me when i hear one of your panelist say that she dosen't want her son to be dating black girls. thats just crazy. i love being a hot black woman and ive dated black men, Hispanics and the only white man ive dated was my husband it had absolutely nothing to do with his skin or race.

Dear Tyra,

I watched your show today and I was not shocked at all from what I heard from not only the guest but the audience as well. I am a dark skinned female from Mississippi so I have experienced more than you can imagine. I do sometimes feel like light-skinned blacks get better treatment than dark skinned blacks but over all I love my race. Whether you are dark, light, caramel, cinnamon, or whatever. We are all one color in God's eyes. I am married to a guy from Guam. He is tan and a straight up Pacific Islander and I used to feel like I would not fit well in his family because I was dark. Or I used to feel like I couldnt stand up to the girls he is used to dating. But as time went on he made me realize that he fell in love with me because of me and not my skin color. His family loves me and my family loves him. So to all those people who think less of themselves because they are dark skinned they should look in the mirror and see that they are beautiful inside and out. Thanks Tyra and keep on working it girl!!

Hi Tyra, I just watched you show about skin color. I am a white Irish American. I don't know what it's like to deal with race issues however I wanted to throw in an opinion from the non African-American community. I have friends and boyfriends of all colors. Mostly white because I grew up in a white upstate new york community but when in college I had friends and dated people from other ethnicities. My friends who are African American have been all shades but now that I think about it mostly dark. However the thing I have noticed is that the friends I have had spoke somewhat proper english. I could understand them. My friends did not speak in slang. I find the slang to be rediculous and I did not hang out with people who talked "ghetto" as a lot of people call it. I feel bad saying that but I think it sounds uneducated and is not necessary. I am probably a horrible person for saying so. Personally I could care less what your skin color is as long as your a nice respectable person. Is that wrong? Anyway thanks for having such a great show. I love how you tackle things nobody else wants to talk about.
~Chrissy

Tyra!
I'm a 17 year old mom to a beautiful biracial boy, who is 18 months. When i got pregnant i wondered about what complection he would be like because i was white and his father was darker. It didnt matter to me if he was very light or very dark as long as i had a healthy baby. Turned out he was lighter than i expected. But, after watching your show it really made me feel somewhat mad about what people thought about lighter skinned blacks. Most people assume that lighter skinned blacks are cocky, too confident and are selfish. Never really looking at it like that really scares me for my son for when he gets older. I hate the fact that just for his skin color he will be catagorized. I wish people could just look past color and for what people really are. I really did enjoy your show, it allowed me to see people opinions and thought!
Thanks! Rachel.

I saw your show today and it surprises me about how much negativity goes on within races. I am very fair skinned. I have red hair and blue eyes. Being a very fair skinned white woman I received names in school. I felt that people were looking at me like I wasn't pretty because I wasn't tan. People would make huge scenes at school by closing their eyes and yelling at me to cover my legs because I was blinding them. In college, I entered a pageant and was told I needed to use fake tanner because tan legs look better than white legs. It has taken a long time for me to be comfortable in my own skin.