One


  • Photographer
    Collin De Murphy
  • Prize
    Honorable Mention
  • Company/Studios
    Collin De. Murphy Photography
  • Date of Photograph
    6/26/11

"Mom why don't I look like you? Why my skin is lighter than yours?" This is what I said to my mother while looking in the bathroom mirror at the age of seven. "You look like your father," she replied. I couldn't comprehend why my skin was as light as my father's but not my mother's. As a child I couldn't understand why my cousins were darker than me. I couldn't comprehend why we all looked so different if we were all the same family. As I got older I was exposed to the reality of being black in America means not being just black. I found out from my mother that my maternal great grandmother was of Scottish descent. I have no evidence, but oral history. I was told by my father's mother my great grandfather was Irish, which would explain my own light skin complexion and last name Murphy. Throughout both sides of my family there are light to dark skinned people. We are a people of many colors, but still one family. I couldn't understand racism because my heritage reveals what's true for many of us-whether we look it or not we are each other.

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