In a conversation about blackness and being Panamanian, Anthony Palanco's grandmother spoke about her mother, who had fair skin, and her father's dark skin and features that's traditionally associated with blackness.
Panamanian Anthony Palanco author of Verses from the Diaspora: A Poetic Tale of the African Diaspora sat down with Latin Post and spoke about his mixed Panamanian roots, his upbringing in the United States of as a Spanish-speaking Latino with a dark complexion, and Panama's gaParze when it comes to skin politics.
"(1) Drop: Shifting The Lens On Race," a project headed researcher Dr. Yaba Blay and photographer Noelle Théard, examined culture, ethnicity and attitude about race and questioned the perspectives of 58 people who identified as being some degree of "Black."
In 2012, sales of skin lightening creams in India alone totaled 258 tons, and the global market for skin lighteners is projected to reach US $19.8 billion by 2018 based on sales growth primarily in Asia, Africa and the Middle East, according to Andrew McDougall of CosmeticsDesign-Asia.com. Many of these skin-whitening products use active ingredients (such as mercurous chloride) and hydroquinone, which can be harmful. In fact, hydroquinone is banned in Europe; and skin lightening creams available in Nigeria has caused mutations in bacteria, proved to be possibly carcinogenic.
The application of melanin-concentrated chemical creams that strips away color, and otherwise whitens, lightens, brightens or bleaches skin is a emerging process that's often marketed to remove blemishes or abnormally high pigmentation such as birthmarks and moles, but historically and continuously, these creams are used for the overall whitening of dark skin tones in Africa, the Middle East, Asia, South America, and even in the United States. The desire to eradicate "unflattering" parts of one's lineage begins with altering one's skin color for many dark-skinned men and women.
