In her essay, Sumpter explains that she began to really experience prejudice over her dark skin as an adult, especially when it came to dating. She explains that much of the criticism she received in the dating scene came from Black men.
“Of course, I did experience my share of hurtful reactions to my skin color, but thankfully only after I was an adult,” Sumpter shared. “Who hasn’t heard the obligatory, ‘You’re pretty for a dark-skin[ned] girl’? Or my personal favorite, ‘I usually don’t date dark-skin[ned] women, but you’re so beautiful.’ That one really warms the heart. But in reality, the most disturbing aspect of all of this is that those comments were most often made by men with exactly the same skin tone as my own.
“Still, I always knew there were far too many other people who saw my beauty and embraced every part of me with open arms to think twice about what was said. It hurts me to know that so many young girls today are growing up without that same realization and reassurance. I also regret that so many are forced to seek their self-worth between the pages of mainstream magazines or in the background of a rap music video.”
