Cake Soap Philosophy

Image retrieved from: www.dancehall.mobi 

Fans have been noticing that dancehall artist, Vybz Kartel, has been getting lighter and lighter thanks to cake soap! My mother is Jamaican, and my father is Guyanese, so I had a quick informal interview with them to learn more about this cake soap. My father was able to tell me that it is a bar made of copra (from coconuts) and costic soda, which is a chemical that holds it together, and it is used to whiten clothes. He also mentioned that it can take the whiten a crocus bag. You know! The big bags that rice comes in. When I mentioned that people use it to bleach their skin, he was appalled! As anybody should be! When Vybz was confronted about his skin, this is what he had to say:

"When black women stop straightening their hair and wearing wigs and weaves, when white women stop getting lip and butt injections and implants, when bald men stop getting hair transplants, and when people stop getting nose jobs and cosmetic surgery then I'll stop using the 'cakesoap' and we'll all live naturally ever after." -Vybz Kartel 

Personally, I like this comeback simply because he was creative in his delivery: "AND WE'LL ALL LIVE NATURALLY EVER AFTER". I don't care about what shade of chocolate he is; I just find it sad that people in general feel that to become successful, their image must change. The type of change is quite irrelevant, whether its from skin color to hair color. Skin color is more delicate because of the history it carries, and in many cases, people have been conditioned to believe that the lighter the skin, the better. It is simply unfortunate that another music icon feels that lightening his skin is the way to make it in the industry.

"It's like tanning but reversed." -Vybz Kartel

Besides the horrible effects that cake soap will have on the system, I'd hope that more people are proud of how they were created and that more people would be happy with their natural hair, butts and lips, that bald men would accept the course of nature, that nose and cosmetic surgery would become a thing of the past. Thus, Vybz Kartel and those like him would no longer use 'cakesoap' to destroy their pigment and essentially part of who they are. 

A Few February Facts

What is interesting is that the United States of America and Canada are the only two countries that nationally celebrate Black History Month in February. The United Kingdom has the decency to celebrate it for a full THIRTY-ONE days in the lovely month of October! On the other hand, however, the United States acknowledges THIRTY days from September 15 to October 15 to celebrate National Hispanic Heritage Month. I have nothing against celebrating the Hispanic heritage and culture, but let's be reasonable here. It was Queen Isabella I of Spain who funded Christopher Columbus's voyage to the New World. All those who took a course in Caribbean History would know this much. His first trip led to the enslavement of the indigenous people of the New World, and after they died out from the harsh conditions they were put under, the Europeans turned to enslaving Africans and bringing them to this side of the world. I'm sure that after my first post, I do not need to begin describing the gruesome conditions they suffered through for over a century. 

Now, maybe it's just me, but I think that the heritage of those who helped enslaved my people should not have the luxury of thirty days of celebration while the history of those who were actually enslaved get twenty-eight. But then again, it may be none of my business since I am neither an American nor Canadian, but I just made it BABZ's BUSINESS.  

Food for Thought during Black History Month

After well over 100 years of slavery, what is sufficient compensation? After ripping people away from their homes and families? After having our ancestors crammed into slave ships, starving, defecating and dying on top of one another? After selling them as property to a white man, to cook, clean and work for them with nothing in return? After beating them, raping them, murdering them, and enslaving their bodies and minds? After making the Europeans richer, since they were able to rape not only the people but the land of Africa of her riches and wealth, reducing them to almost nothing? After attempting to take away their heritage, customs and culture? Plus, years of discrimination from thereafter? What do we get? Black History Month! The shortest month of the year! TWENTY-EIGHT DAYS! Sometimes twenty-nine when we're lucky and a leap year rolls around. OK! We're even... think about it!