Beauty Queen Balopi
Same person / Before and After
Onumba.com – Most events of this sort come with themes, and this one was no different. “Climate Change and Migration” was chosen as the two-pronged theme of the recently concluded Miss Africa Beauty pageant held in Nigeria.
It was a suitable theme that highlighted the importance of combating a pair of global issues wreaking havoc on humanity, particularly the heartwrenching incidents involving hapless Africans who embark on what has become suicide missions to Europe swooning for juicier economic opportunities.
But in many ways, “The foolishness and Ignorance of Skin Bleaching” would have also garnered plenty of thumbs up as a fitting theme.
Why, you ask?
For one thing, this is about ‘African beauty.’
And for another, it would have offered a fabulous setting for discouraging ‘Skin Bleaching’ in Africa as well as an effective stage to underscore the profound stupidity of skin bleaching. Moreover, the optics of the event would have strategically played well given that Africans who splurge in this practice do so to reclaim the ‘beauty’ they say their innate Black skin deprives them.
The beauty pageant, which was hosted by the Nigerian State of Cross River, featured 25 contestants, all of whom really exuded class and beauty in their own unique ways.
But of the 25 women of astonishing pulchritude, Gaseangwe Balopi from Botswana came out on top, allowing her to pocket the winning prize of $35,000 along with a Ford Edge Sports Utility Truck.
Oh, there’s one little point of epic significance to add here. Observing Ms. Balopi up close, zeroing in on her beautiful Black skin, it doesn’t appear as though she is bleaching her skin, which leaves us with one conclusion: And that is, her natural Black skin not only crowned her the enviable 2017 queen of Africa but also fetched her a lorryload of dough.
How about that? Black skin and all.
“We are not gathered here to pick the most beautiful woman, but rather, we want to pick the true African woman who can use her beauty to change Africa,” said Benedict Ayade, Governor of Cross River State.
Africa, heaven knows, for more reasons than one, is in dire need of a massive revolutionary “change.” And it needs it now. (Burkina and Zimbab) Just the other day, a hodgepodge of toxic insult rained on Africa after President Trump lobbed a stingingly dehumanizing blow at the continent with the memorable “Shithole” jab. His pal Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, not to be outdone, angrily pushed for African “infiltrators” in his country to be forcibly deloused from Israel.
Back home, a sickening aspect of the “Shithole”, a potently destructive culture we mindlessly and unnecessarily created ourselves, and one that screams loud for change, is the hugely atrocious pestilence of skin whitening that has tragically roped in so many Africans, mostly women, into believing that all that is required of them to pass the beauty test is to lighten their skin. Really? If that was true, then logically, it would also be true that every White or light skin person out there is unquestionably the epitome of beauty. Be as White as Idaho picket fence to be the prettiest. If you believe that, I will sell you my sprawling Leveque Tower located in Downtown Columbus for a super good deal. Folks, please understand one thing. Beauty has absolutely nothing to do with skin color. Nothing. Beauty encompasses such natural visible and veiled nuances as the idiosyncratic contours of one’s facial and body framework. Then there’s also the matter of beauty being in the eyes of the beholder. Skin color is never an indicator for appraising beauty.
The truth is, beauty resides in every race and every color. To believe otherwise is flat-out unhinged and juvenile, and tantamount to harboring quixotic understanding of the whole matter rooted in extreme foolishness. Minister Malcolm X preached about “psychic conversion” as the only solution to this monumental mess. The late Jamaican reggae prophet Bob ‘Tough Gong’ Marley” agreed, when he brilliantly crooned, “Emancipate yourself from mental slavery,” in one of his mega hits. Interestingly, Marley, who despite being light-skinned himself, born so though, married a very dark-skinned sister, Rita Marley.
Marley, it goes without saying, found Rita’s dark skin beautiful, which reflects Governor Ayade’s wish when he said, “For us to tell the true African story, we need a face that’s appealing.”
Appealing? Hakuna matata. Balopi’s face, dark and all, is precisely what the doctor ordered.
For her part, a very happy Balopi vowed to use her position to “create awareness” on the dangers of illegal migration by youths across Africa.”
That goes without saying, she would have to do that to be in sync with the theme of the event. But hopefully, she will find even a modicum of time in her busy schedule to also promote the perils of skin bleaching by youths across the continent.
Taking the matter to the African Union would certainly be a good place to start. Beyond each African country deciding to ban the practice of skin bleaching or not, African Union must step up and declare a continent-wide ban to kibosh this profoundly oafish and irrational practice.
It is now way out of control, with Africa hopelessly awash in bottles of bleaching cream.
