>Black. Are we so ready
>to conclude that Black people
>want to become "White" by
>bleaching or is it still
>possible for a Black person
>to want a lighter complexion
>but not necessarily abandon their
>ethnicity?

you're right though, it's the individuals..feel like you've got three seperate issues that are all rooted in some form in 'false' class distinctions:

many white folks tan because they can, like if I say it denotes you've got the leisure time and will to relax despite all else. a white farmer in his field all summer every year is too tanned and the office drone that never gets out is too pale.

then you've got the black folks of way back..I think that paler skin was a rarity and a novelty, one without any real value outside itself like a semi-precious stone. some admired, some prolly hated and more than a few aspired to that easy route to easier life.

then you've got the effects of colonisation..one of my better friends at school was a mixed kenyan-english and he was one of the smarter kids in my year and my great-aunt loved this kid. she was like of 'course he's smart, what do you expect.'

and you'll get the tanning pills/beds, bleaching creams/lotions and peoples that are happy just to sit next to a white kid in class - because somebody always wants to take it further. the vast majority of people in each group don't think it necessary to take those shortcuts to whatever folks think they'll find on the other side.
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seize your time! - marley/wailers

sometimes I believe the hype, man - ice cube