The Role of Ricky Ricardo Will Now Be Played By Sammy Sosa

There are only a few things I know about baseball:

• I would lend my cervix to Derek Jeter to procreate at the drop of a dime
• The World Series interrupted two of my favorite shows over the past two weeks (House & Glee)
• Baseball players have yuck mouth from chewing tobacco
• Sammy Sosa, a black Dominican, is apparently Ricky Ricardo now

I guess the first three points aren’t as important as the last, well maybe Derek Jeter, but I’ll save that for another post. I was pretty shocked when I saw photos of Sammy Sosa, that were taken while he was attending the Latin Grammy’s 2009 Person of The Year Event recently in Las Vegas. From the green contacts, to the conked hair and newly whiter skin, I’m giving him so much side-eye, I don’t even know where to begin.

Apparently, Sosa has been doing a spa skin rejuvenation process that has turned his skin whiter.  I’m sure that could be true, especially if the spa treatment called for ‘bleaching’ and lightening of the skin.  Who knows if that’s true or not, I think I’d rather hear that he was suffering from vitiligo from all of the years of steriod use, than to hear that he could have possibly made himself casper-like on purpose.

Yesterday as I was walking down the ‘beauty’ section of my local David’s Market (a farmers/all natural market) I noticed an whole shelf dedicated to skin lightening and I immediately thought of Sammy Sosa.  I’d be lying to say that I’ve never used such a product to get rid of hyper-pigmentation that was left by a blemish, but I question anyone, especially a person of color, who uses products and other processes to purposefully lighten their body to achieve a ‘whiter’ look.

Even if Sammy Sosa did lighten his skin on purpose, the whole idea of skin lightening is something that is prevalent in a lot of countries. Take a look at the “Fair & Lovely” ad that airs in India:

The irony about the “Fair & Lovely” products, is that they’re made by the same company that makes Dove, who’s currently involved in a “Love The Skin You’re In” marketing campaign. Hmm..I guess you can love the skin you’re in, even if you want to drastically change it’s color. How about that for irony.

In Senegal, cosmetic efforts to become whiter have become more common & are seen as a way to ‘get ahead’. Bleaching products are prevalent and people women spend fortunes to bleach their skin.

So not only are women of color in various countries, paying top dollars to look lighter, Sammy Sosa could be doing the same thing as well. It’s a sad thought to know that self-hate & colonization are both running rampant amongst people of color, regardless of their economic status.

Tags: baseball, fungkeblakchik, oh boy you're so white now, sammy sosa, self-hate, skin lightening, skin lightening products