So what if Sammy Sosa takes a walk on the white side?

http://www.suntimes.com/news/cepeda/1885899,CST-EDT-esther16.article

So what if Sosa takes a walk on the white side?

November 16, 2009

BY ESTHER J. CEPEDA

　

So what about Sosa? If he wants to be what the kids today call "light skinned-ed," well, is that so wrong?

The blogosphere is burning up with beastly, snarky comments and pictures of retired Cub Sammy Sosa, who has denied he has a skin disorder and instead credits his new hue to a skin-hydrating cream he's not ashamed to admit accounts for his stunning skin lightening.

I've seen people react with rabid disgust to Sosa's new look, with the main theme of the outrage centered around the idea that he's "making himself white" ostensibly because of some sort of self-hatred toward his dark Latin-American roots.

The filthy rich ex-slugger was born in the Dominican Republic, a land of lots of white sandy beaches and dark coffee-bean-colored skin.

But why is Sosa's desire to be lighter-skinned self-hatred?

Or better yet, why does it represent -- to some -- any more self-hatred than the adults who get braces to straighten their naturally gnarly teeth, or the man who gets a hair transplant to replace his long-departed hair, or the woman who can afford to de-gravity her once-perky bosom?

Sosa, who is making international headlines once again -- this time on a topic unrelated to cork -- has gotten so much heat about this he felt the need to tell an inquiring Univision television reporter, "I'm not a racist. I'm not like that. I'm just a happy person."

Sheesh.

My dad is from Ecuador and he is a very dark-skinned -- excuse me, a verrrrrry handsome, dark-skinned -- man. His whole life, our entire family and all his friends have called him by a nickname that referred to his dark caramel color. My mom is from Mexico and so very light she fries like a potato in a McDonald's deep fryer after being outside for 10 minutes.

I'm the lucky one: I get to be dark in the summer and light in the winter.

But what if that weren't so? What if I were really dark all the time -- would I be a "freak," "ashamed of my race," "disturbing" or "self-hating" if I were to lighten my skin?

Maybe I should go to the tanning salon -- like my white friends do to get their skin golden brown -- in the winter to stay closer to my "roots."

And by the way, would you say it was an affront to my lineage or a mark of low esteem when I asked my dentist to pull four of my teeth to get braces? I love myself plenty, thank-you-very-much.

The guy is rich, and when you have lots of money, you get to spend it on basically anything you can think of. When I first heard about his new skin color, my mind jumped to wondering whether he has also purchased any Beatles songs or large ranches equipped with carnival rides and the like -- but no, he seems to be mostly the same old Sammy.

He's just a Sammy who maybe looked in the mirror one day and said, in his best Lou Reed voice, "Hey, babe, take a walk on the white side."

Doot do doot do doot doo doo doot . . .

C'mon, it's the year 2009 and we have a black president in the White House. Black is beautiful, brown is all around and white's still just right. Isn't it about time we stop judging people by the color of their skin -- or by the color they choose their skin to be?

　

Esther J. Cepeda will blog about her darkening skin color right from the beaches of the Dominican Republic this December on

www.600words.com.

Comments

In the 1999 season, Sosa hit 63 home runs, again trailing Mark McGwire who hit 65. However, Sosa became the first major leaguer to hit 60 or more home runs in back-to-back seasons. In the 2000 season, Sammy finally led the league by hitting 50 home runs.

[Ashley Martinez]

This post is amazing. I was thinking the same thing, "what's the big deal?" And I think you articulated it perfectly here. I like your in-your-face style, it made me laugh.