As a child I never quite understood why I wasn't allowed to live with my mother or why she couldn't live with us even though my parents they were married. It wasn't until I was a teenager that I realized that my paternal grandparents discriminated against darker-skinned people and why my mother wasn't allowed to raise me because she had dark skin and was also from the countryside. My grandmother was of Japanese descent but was born Jamaican while my grandfather was a dark-skinned black man with British ancestry and the main culprit of the families colorism. My grandfather always said "to gain respect and be successful in our country you have to have a lighter skin color", and I say that and laugh to myself today because even though I disagree with his quote there must be some truth behind this because from my point of view nearly ninety percent of the men and women of our Jamaican nation are bleaching their skin to have a brighter skin color, while the other ten percent are those who already have light skin. After the birth of my little brother, who was much darker than me, I remember my mother saying "maybe your grandfather will let us be now", but definitely when my brother was one year old, he lived with us. I criticized my father for not standing up to his father, but I loved him for at least trying, even unsuccessfully. My grandfather was a superintendent of the police force and in my country it is almost impossible to challenge a man of law and order and succeed; in other words, they do what they want when they want and there is nothing anyone can or will try to do about it. At some of my family gatherings I used to laugh at the stories they told about my father and his brothers, being... the center of the card... and wishing them the best in life. This type of prejudice still persists nationwide today; even some companies in the United States refuse to admit that they have shown bias in promoting African Americans to a higher hierarchy as a company's CEO or vice president. A lighter-skinned person would most likely be selected because they were considered “prettier” to represent the face of the company than a dark-skinned person with a more qualified education. The pop stars, athletes and public figures our children admire are whitening their skin. What are they doing to these kids' self-esteem? Making them feel like they weren't beautiful if they were born dark. This is not acceptable, we are beautiful no matter what color we were born. I can look past my grandparents' venial prejudice, but I will not inflict on my children or anyone else the same prejudice that my grandparents had on me.