It saddens me that we still have to have discussions about prejudice. I am a white / part native american middle aged woman. By some standards I am light, by other standards I am dark. It is all in the perpective of the individual. There was an episode of the old Star Trek series that I think is very appropriate in showing how judgemental people can be. The race on the show was distinctly half very light skined on one side of their bodies and half dark skin on the other half of their body. There was a war between the people that outsiders could not discern what the issue was. It was finally defined as prejudice between who was light skined on the right half of their body against who was light skined on the left half of their body. While this may seem petty to us, it clearly represents that people will make a judgement on anything. We need to accept each other for who we are as we are and for what's inside.

Hayy Tyra!

My name is Savannah and I am 15. Well ok I just got done watching your show,which by the way i am a huge fan of, and I really find it weird how black people want to be lighter yet white people want to be darker. I mean I am white and I see how so many girls go crazy at tanning beds trying to get darker and actually its the lighter girls that get made fun of. If a white girl is really pale they might be called a ghost or something like that. Its like a flip flop through everything. I dont know I just really feel that people should stop worrying about how dark or light they are white or black or any other race. And just look at them selves as beautiful

I am a white person and, i have several black friends. I think that all of the arguing amongst each other over what happens to be the same race(black), is ridiculous. All of you are black, whether you are light-skinned or dark-skinned. If you want us to treat you all like there is no color, then you must first treat yourselves as if there is no color. I do not consider myself to be a racist person but it is instances like this that make me sick. Everyone needs to get over themselves and just accept who they are.

Dear Tyra,
I just got done watching your show today and thought it was interesting. I think maybe it would be nice to have a show on spectrum of races. I am a white girl and we always are tanning to become darker. Being pale is not the look and isn't viewed as pretty. In fact, most of us tan to look skinner(the illusion does work)! I have a friend who is half Indian and she says that they try to whiten their skin to look lighter. I think it's unusual within races how color is a mark on attractiveness. I wish we could just embrace our differences and view them as being beautiful. That's one of the reasons I like your show because it sends out that message. Thanks!

Hi Tyra,
I am from Barbados and unfortunately people who are light skin on a whole are treated differently. My grandmother and grandfather are dark skinned and my aunts and uncles are all light skin and they get treat better. My cousins and I however are brown skin and because we are we are treated differently. My mom's friend is dark skin and her husband is also but her great grand father was white so her daughter came out light skin with pretty hair and pretty eyes and her own family is jealous of her because she is light skin, Aria is 5 and is lost to why her aunts,cousins and even her grandmother are jealous because she is light skin. I feel that because there is so much hatred around that this will never stop. I right now am job hunting and went to a business and they told me that they are no openings but I sent my light skin friend to the same business two hours later and she got an interview. I am proud of you for being so bold to bring up this issue.

Your loving fan
Shannon

Tyra, after reading some of the other comments, I felt I should comment. I am white but I love all people...black, white, asian, etc. We should all be friends. There are ignorant people out there and those are the ones, as you said, that are not comfortable in their own skin. They have been hurt and now feel like they have to hurt others.

Everyone should remember, God made us ALL like him, so regardless of your color, you are beautiful.

Tyra
I just finished watching your show on light skinned black women and do they have it better. I myself am white, married to a dark skinned black man, and have to beautiful biracial childred (3 and 7 wks). I remember when I have my daughter that a white woman that I worked with looked at my daughters ears to see "how much colour she would have" and was appauled by it. I grew up with a racist father and when he and my mother divorced is when I felt that I was able to date inter-racially. When my sent a pic to my father of my daughter and my new husband (he was not invited to the wedding), we spoke several months later after receiving the photo and he never onced asked about his grandchild(he has other grandchildren from my siblings), nor does he know that he has a second from me. Though my father was racist, I never looked at colour growing up, I just looked at the person for who they were. I remember when my father told me that if I ever dated a black person, that was it. Your show has made me hope that my children will not have to deal with some of these issues and can be part of helping our society change. I believe that your show has brought a lot of light about racism within the black community, that I never really knew existed. I would like to see more on how the black community feels towards bi-racial people. And for the lady that feels she is better then dark skinned women, she (like my father) is part of the reason today that society can not close the gap of racism towards others, whether it be colour, religion, or gender.

I believe every took part in racist actions today on your show. When the man proclaimed he loved the dark women everyone cheered uproariously, then when the next man said he liked light skinned every one booed. Racist is discriminating against anyone, with the dark skinned lover against lighter and vice versa.

Tyra!
I am really enjoying your show today. I identify and feel the frustrations that the dark skinned women on your show have expressed. I am from Lacey, Washington, a suburban community in Washington State. I then went to an HBCU in Raleigh, NC to go to college. This is where I first endured this type of prejudice ness. Although I have endured some pain from comments I have received from people I always remember how my parents raised me and especially how my mom always reminded me how beautiful, special and intelligent I am. I know my heart and what I have to offer and that is what makes me walk around with my head in the air and not compare myself to light skinned women. A man on your panel said that he likes dark-skinned women because they are easy to approach. Well he might not want to step to me because I am confident in myself and I will be looking for what he has to offer as a person and not be "grateful" that he came to talk to me. I am a beautiful, intelligent God fearing woman and I pray that out people get rid of this type of discrimination and remember to look into people's hearts and not their skin tone.

God Bless!!!

Hey Tyra my name is Nicole I consider myself to be a brown skin women. In my home my mother father and I are all the same skin tone where as my brother is much lighter. I have noticed that my brother has been treated different than myself outside my home but in our house we were taught that black was very powerful our race makes the darkest people possible but also has the ability to make people that look as if they were white. This is very evident in my family. I had to write because I thought the lady who said light skin was better than dark skin was very ignorant. First of all she was not even that light skin in my opinion. She needs to wake up and realize that we are all in this fight together. Light skin high yellow brown whatever we all have the ability to make babies of all shades and because of this it is important to love our race and teach our children to do the same, because if we as black people can’t see the greatness we steam from we will only be able to relate to the misconceptions taught to use by the outside world. Like I said before my brother is much lighter that I but we have the same mother and father so we are the same and I embrace that because its taught me to love my race and all its capabilities

Hey Tyra !!

My name is Laura Elliot and I am a HUGE fan of your show. I am in grade 9 and today I was so touched by your show. This year in english class we have been learning about the civil rights act and how african americans were treated"back in the day" Seeing how african Americans are treating each other now is so hard to see because back then everyone of the black race joined together to be as one as the fought against the white people to have their rights. Seeing now that all of these people are hating on eachother so much upsets me because they were the strong ones, I am white and I was so proud of black people for sticking to their race. I think the way you found the real problems behind why people acct the way they do towards other people was so great and I look up to you for that!!

Love you so much Tyra you are truly an inspiration. I watch ALLof your shows and will continue to.

Laura

Britney, did you actually watch the show? It was about light-skinned and dark-skinned African-Americans. Caucasions were not part of the topic of the show. Think before you post ignorance.

It is true that you never get to old to learn something new. I had not heard of the paper bag implication or checking a baby's ear. I had been told about light vs. dark skin favoritism. My best friend ever was Rosiland Staples who was my friend- period. We could discuss our differences in culture, life experiences, hair care, religion and even the use of the "n" word among her own people. She was the most gracious, caring, honest, loving person I have met. Thank you for the show because as long as the subject is not discussed, we will not overcome discrimination of colors, height, weight, etc. Yes, I am a 60 year old light white (never have tanned-just burned),and Roz was a medium brown woman.
Rosiland Staples l948-1992

Dear Tyra,
After watching your show today and reading through a few comments; I have begun to ask myself: What is color anyways? Well, the answer is, "It's COLOR"!! Thats it!! I think if everyone could look beyond the color of someones skin and more into their personality then the world could be racial free!!
I do know one thing though, that no matter what your skin tone is, to teach your children to hate or dislike someone because of their skin color is the most horrific thing I have EVER heard of! And after 27 years of life I have come to realize that most black people hate white people just as much as most whites hate black people! Either way its stupid! I have listened to a black person with a felony record say they didn't get a job because the person that was hiring was white; now if you ask me, thats just BS! And I've seen a white person with years of experience that would be perfect for "the job" get passed over and a black person with entry level expeirence get the job instead, and a black person was hiring!! So I mean whats racial and whats not, I think theres a thin line!
But like I said, if we would stop juding so much over color and start juding more on personality then the world would really be a better place! Also, I heard a couple of times while watching your show today, the mention of SLAVERY! And theres one thing that I think you, every black person and every other color person in the world needs to remember ONE piece of what you said about that; and that's that it HAPPENED OVER 400 YEARS AGO!!! It's time to move on! Every person that is still holding on to the slavery card just needs to let it go! Because it's at the base of all the racial hate and it really is getting old! Slaves were originally sold from black people in "The Mother Land" aka Africa, to the whites in America. And no matter the way they were treated, black people wouldn't have been in America as soon as they were if the white people wouldn't have bought them from their fellow black people!! Now tell me why the white people get the blunt of the blame?? Black people are not happy about having been owned by white people but yet black people are completely proud to say they're African-American! Which speaking of African-American; I think it is politically incorrect and an insult to the United States of America! Why?? Because, if you have NEVER lived a day of your life IN AFRICA and you were born in AMERICA, then you are NOT African-American; YOU ARE AMERICAN!!! Knowing that going back in your family tree to 400 more or less years ago, that someone you were (are) related to DOES NOT MAKE YOU FROM AFRICA!!! There are White Americans, Black Americas and Hispanic Americans! There's NO African-Americans and Mexican/Spanish-Americans! There are people that were born here, Americans and people that came here which are Illegal-Aliens!!!
Get your ethinics right people and figure out where YOU ALL really come from and what YOU ALL really are!!! I have traced back Irish in my family but I do not now say that I am Irish-American; BECAUSE I'M NOT, I WAS BORN IN AMERICA, SO THEREFORE I AM AN AMERICAN!!!

One more small note... If we count the times that we let our closest friend, or a family member hurt us or let us down, and compare that to the number of times we let someone of another race hurt us. What will we find??? Chances are even our parents, siblings, or best friend has let us down more. Why is that we can give them another chance? Why is it that it don't matter? Because they are our friend, or they are our family, but since when did the other races not get a chance with you? Since when did one/two times of pain all of sudden throw them into the enemy category, and another of the same race into the "let's give them another chance category"?

Are we that afraid of 2nd chances?
What if no one ever gave us a second chance in life?

I challege us all to start again, walk up to a person of another race and ask them to coffee. Give them a chance, regardless of if you are afraid of being hurt emotionally by them, chances are they are equally afraid.

Hello Tyra,

Firstly, I must say you are a remarkable individual and along with your producers this show is a success.
I am presently watching your show and I am not even going to wait for it to end in order to comment.
With regards to today’s topic, I can identify with the dark skin light skin issue, or should I say battle. However, I want to express my opinion by stating that this is a social issue. In this modern world this discrimination should stop. The differential treatment was created by slavery. We cannot prolong the consequences of slavery. The features of a black woman are features we were taught to hate. Short nappy hair, thick lips, full eyes, curvy body…and the list goes on, were said to be ugly. Anyone associated with these features were shun years ago and even today based on there country. But we are learning, and it seems as if some still need to be educated, on the value of blackness.

I am not racist… but even white people these days are dying for our prominent features. The increase in plastic surgeries is living proof. Men and women should value themselves for who they are. Not undermine or over rate. The underlying factor is self respect, and self acceptance. The most important is what is on the inside. I am a true testimony of that.

Hi Tyra!

While I know there are stereotypes and prejudice towards different looks, it really is so important to love who you are and what you look like. I am as pasty as they get, and always wanted to look like my best friend who is a gorgeous medium brown. I always loved black men of all shades (the inside matters more). I wanted to look different to fit in better. Eventually I realized that just as I wished I looked like my friend, she admired me; we should just be happy with what we have. There is always somebody who thinks you're perfect. :D

Sometimes I think that we forget where the true beauty in a woman lies. It is in her heart and I have to remember this every day as I care for many elderly residents of all ages and races. I must forget the way that the darker culture treats me. It would be so easy for me the hate them, but that would not be right, as they were just a few of many colored people in this world. Just because a few treat you wrong, gives a person no reason to generalize and say that they are all that way.

I used to work at a facility where I was the only white girl in that department. Now, you got to understand that I spent my younger years in California and Colorado, but the vast majority of my life and school years were in Nebraska. Now there is a scarce amount of colored where I graduated. There was one black in a school of 150. Now, I know he felt out of place, as did we around him. Sometimes we aren't exposed to other cultures often, and sometimes our parents don't set the best example. I am like that boy that was on your show Tyra. My step-father told me that if I brought home a black man, or a man of any color other than white, then he would scalp him and then beat me. Now, I was used to beatings and such for things I supposedly did wrong, but for loving another race I never understood. I actually dated a boy in junior high that was colored but I kept that from my parents, I knew my step-father would keep that promise. The first thing I notice in a person isn't color, it is their eyes. That is what someone should be looking at when you talk to another, not their skin. I have to remember that in caring for people. Yes, a section of the black population wronged me, they called me the "white chic" and would laugh, say "we are just kidding" but to me that was no joke. They kept telling me, "girl you need a tan, no black man would date you without a tan" and "you look so outta place with that shine off your white skin." I never told my boss, I simply found another job, got out, but until then I had done what I had learned best from my parents. Don't let them know anything is wrong, if you cry you aren't strong, don't let them know you are weak. That is what I did, and with the help of the Lord, I was able to forgive them, and I was able to forget what my step-father had said about the black community. My best friend and upcoming maid-of-honor in my wedding next week is Korean. My parents would have the biggest fit, if they knew. It is because of differences, and the lifestyle they led, that I went against what they said. I have made friends of different cultures, I have gone on mission trips to Mexico, things that they would find appauling. All because color don't matter. Yes, that is who we are, that is our history. I know I am the white girl, but I grew up being taught, like that lil boy, that the other race is bad. It isn't, God treats us all as one, and says to love one another... NO WHERE DOES IT SAY LOVE ONE ANOTHER OF THE SAME RACE... Tyra, I thank you for that show today, you opened the eyes, and I pray, the hearts of many people. I wish that there were an organazation that we could do that would revolve around bringing sisters together. A country divided will fall, let's not be divided by race. The war ended long ago, must we keep it going?

Dear Tyra,
I would like to say that I am Native American and I know what it's like to be judged for not being "light skinned". Growing up in a all "white" community and being the only person of colour while growing up, I have grown to hate who I am and what I look like. Where I am from, people are very prejudice towards Native Americans. Growing up, I had people make fun of me for having "brown" skin. I had the nickname of "brownie", like having brown skin was a bad thing. I started to hate the colour of my skin so much that I started to wear coverup that was a lot lighter than my actual skin colour in hopes of making my skin look lighter in colour. I even go so far to keep myself completely covered up when I go outside in the sun so I don't tan and get even darker. Being Native American, I tan very easy and very quickly. I would rather be very hot and uncomfortable than get darker than I already am. I hate feeling the way that I do, I wish I could just feel comfortable in my own skin.

I have a comment about the woman who wrote the article about her life as a dark-skinned African-American woman (Adrienne?). She said that other kids tried to make her feel ugly when she was young. I would like to suggest that it was because they were jealous. Because my first impression when I saw her was how pretty she was, followed by sensitive and smart. I hope that she knows that what those kids did had more to do with their upbringing than any attribute of hers.

Hi Tyra
I just watched your show and was appalled by the light skinned woman that thought she was better than dark skinned woman. Eventhough I am in fact a white woman as a human being I was offened. I cannot know what prejudice black people have experienced but I have all the compassion in the world for them. As a human race, people need to become spiritualy conscious of their beliefs and behaviours, I think that if you do have these prejudicial thoughts I think you really need to explore your own psyche and really discover where they come from, because they do not just manifest on their own. I know as a white person a lot of white children are inadvertently subjected to racism by their parents and family memebrs. My parents raised me in an environment where it was absolutley unacceptable to judge people based upon their race, religious views, or ethnicity. I believe that there needs to be a movement toward spirituality and the commanalities and differences that make us all wonderful beings. These differences need to celebrated not condemend. People need to awaken their spirits and realize that all the negativity and judgments do not come from the true person but the ego within that has been socialized and hurt and therfore lash out. This topic is not only race related but is the underlying factor for all the problems in the world...hate. hating people from other countries with other beleifs. We all need to STOP take a step back and question is this really making the world a better place for us our children and grandchildren. Love, have compassion and be the best person you can be, and you will be surprised how much good energy comes into yur life. God bless!
Nancy!
24yrs old
Canada

HEY TYRA!!!

I just finished watching your show nd OMG!! a LOT of things were running through my mind..

i once heard a lecture (as i am a muslim) in which the man speaking said (something like).. "if you think you can discriminate based on colour, or religion.. whether you be black white or whatever.. you will perish" and i think that is soooo true..

i have manyy black friends.. and i have seen many GORGEOUS black people (guyz and girlz..) and i dont see why people gotta hate..

i really think that this stupidity and ignorence NEEDS to stop..isn't that why people go 2 skool..2 learn.. but i guess all those making these stupid comments haven't learned a thing..

bye-bye

I feel this show is a joke! White people do not have an advantage over dark people! This is another way of beating around the bush and putting white people down! Thanks for showing your true colors Tyra!

I loved the show. When it comes to men, its not the skin colour. It's the figure. Black women have the most amazing curves in the world. For women, skin is important as an indicator of social status around the world, which is sad. With white women, tan women have a high social status because they have the money to fly to the Carribean and tan in the winter. For most other races, the stereotype is darker skinned woman works in the field as a farmer, hence the tan, and a ligther skinned woman works in the office or at home with a bigger paycheck. Men see that bootie and think who cares, status, schmatas, I want some of that bootie. It's always their mamas who say, "You should date a proper girl (to bring up the status of the family and mama's stauts)." The same is true of Arabs. I am half Arab. You could do the show in the middle east with blonde blue eyed Lebanese, brown Omanis and black Sudanese and it would hold true. I am half white, so yes, everything about lighter skinned black people is true with among lighter skinned Arabs. But men will always go for the "ghetto bootie", no matter what country they come from. I had tried to eat up to gain one. Then I figured, I am not J-Lo, and a man is going to have to like me for my soul. So far its a lot easier to date that way.

Hi Tyra
I just watched your show and was appalled by the light skinned woman that thought she was better than dark skinned woman. Eventhough I am in fact a white woman as a human being I was offened. I cannot know what prejudice black people have experienced but I have all the compassion in the world for them. As a human race, people need to become spiritualy conscious of their beliefs and behaviours, I think that if you do have these prejudicial thoughts I think you really need to explore your own psyche and really discover where they come from, because they do not just manifest on their own. I know as a white person a lot of white children are inadvertently subjected to racism by their parents and family memebrs. My parents raised me in an environment where it was absolutley unacceptable to judge people based upon their race, religious views, or ethnicity. I believe that there needs to be a movement toward spirituality and the commanalities and differences that make us all wonderful beings. These differences need to celebrated not condemend. People need to awaken their spirits and realize that all the negativity and judgments do not come from the true person but the ego within that has been socialized and hurt and therfore lash out. This topic is not only race related but is the underlying factor for all the problems in the world...hate. hating people from other countries with other beleifs. We all need to STOP take a step back and question is this really making the world a better place for us our children and grandchildren. Love, have compassion and be the best person you can be, and you will be surprised how much good energy comes into yur life. God bless!
Nancy!
24yrs old
Canada