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Intraracial Division and Black History Page 2 by Roger Smith In a society whose ideal beauty is someone with blonde hair and blue eyes, it is not to hard to figure out why many black people, especially women, spend their lifetime denying their own physical characteristics and embracing the characteristics of white society. Embracing whiteness is a common practice among black women, and in some cases black men, although many will state that their purpose is not to look white but to become more beautiful. However, it is reported that in the United States countless black girls fantasize about being white. Maya Angelou in her autobiography I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings talks about her own desire to be white when she states, " Wouldn't they be suprised when one day I woke out of my black ugly dream, and my real hair, which is long and blond, would take the place of the kinky mass that momma wouldn't let me straighten?... Because I was really white and because a cruel fairy stepmother, who was understandably jealous of my beauty, had turned me into a too-big Negro girl, with nappy black hair, broad feet and a space between her teeth that would hold a number-two pencil." Even psychiatrists William Grier and Price Cobbs, authors of Black Rage, state that every black girl experiences some degree of shame about her appearance. This is in part due to painful hair-combing rituals that try to make them look, if not more "white", then at least more presentable. And as they grow older, they begin to use special products designed to straighten and manage kinky, unruly hair and to use bleach to lighten their dark skin. Not only does hair texture identify a person as being black, but so does eye color and the shape of the nose. To offset this, black people have turned to contact lenses and cosmetic surgery to give them the appearance they want. Since the invention of tinted contact lenses, there have been whites as well as blacks, and men as well as women, who have opted to lighten their eye color. In the black community, most print and television ads do not talk about correcting the wearer's vision but instead they promise to improve eye color. The message that comes across to black people is simple; brown eyes are unacceptable and blue and green eyes are better. To alter the shape of the nose, all a black person needs to do is have money. For a few thousand dollars, an undesireable nose can be surgically reshaped into a narrower one which has just the right upward tilt. However, because surgery is expensive, many black women choose to use makeup techniques that hope to concieve a broad nose. The application of darker shades along the bottom and sides of the nose and lighter tones along the top are supposed to "do the trick." Unfortunately, if it is overdone the person may be in for some ridicule and criticism. Some black women have even gone to the extreme by sleeping with a clothespin clipped over their nose. Needless to say, the only thing that resulted in that was a sore nose. Hair texture, eye color, nose size, and skin color are all features that black people can modify if they want to and are able to pay. The book "Color Complex" states:
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