Dr. Sandra Banks Miss South Sudan 2012/13 Speaks on Being Light Skinned in Juba

I often, maybe always talk about skin tone; I mostly talk about dark skin because that’s what I was blessed with. Today I bring you a different point a view, the light skinned. Who better than Miss South Sudan 2012/13 Dr. Sandra Banks to tell us about being a light skinned in Juba? No one. Sandra shares a part of her daily struggle in Juba. I hope it inspires you to be a better person, she’s definitely inspired me.
 
1.    Often we hear people saying “Sandra is not originally South Sudanese”, tell us about your background and where you come from.

Sandra: A lot of people say I am not south Sudanese. I actually can’t blame them because I don't look like one especially my skin tone and hair texture. Well, truth is I am half South Sudanese, my mother is from the Nyangbara tribe with Rokon, Central Equatoria state as her hometown and my father is a Canadian. That’s the simple truth. I am born to a dark mum and a light dad and I happened to be brown like what most mixed race kids look like. I was born in Khartoum, Sudan where I have lived all my life and moved to Juba in 2011. I proudly hold the South Sudanese passport as well and I have not been denied it being born to a South Sudanese mother.

2.   What is it like living as a brown/light skinned woman in South Sudan?

Sandra: Living as a light skinned woman in South Sudan is not easy I have to say. I am always, always mistaken for a foreigner in the streets, the market even my workplace, everywhere. They always mistake me for a foreigner which is not a problem at all unless you are being kind of harassed because you happened to be one. Many people just think I am an alien and when I speak Juba Arabic they think I have bleached my skin. Traffic police stop almost everyday to check my license etc. and they initially address me in English and when I reply in Juba Arabic they get amazed, and get more amazed when they check the nationality on my ID. One of them was like  “Ita junubia?, lala yakhi, amshi yakh ma magoul’’ another was like ‘’aslu ma mumkin, ita jebu lon de min wein’’ I ended up having a few friends so when I come across them they wave hello and sometimes stop me to say hi and the other colleagues ask for my license and they go like no she is South Sudanese, and again you see the surprise. It’s kind of fun actually. There was once a time I got slapped by a police officer because he thought I was a foreigner, which I found very inappropriate because as a foreigner in other countries I don’t get slapped. It sends the wrong impression and no hospitality. When they found out whom I was, of course by checking my nationality ID and telling them my titles and place of work they actually apologized, but my cheek still hurt. Lol. At the market you get called all sort of names because of your colour and it being attributed to a certain character, sometimes I ignore, sometimes I just talk back in Arabic and they get quiet. The point is people shouldn't really be going through any of this. It would be better if people just acted normal towards each other.

“Hating skin color is contempt for God's divine creative imagination. Honoring it is appreciation for conscious, beautiful-love-inspired diversity.”

Another one was after winning the Miss South Sudan 2012/2013 title. I got a lot of criticism from social media and sadly from people who knew me as well saying I do not deserve to win the crown etcetera because first I am light skinned and second I am born to a foreign father. Other minor accusations were fake color and fake hair. Well, I just hope South Sudanese all over know that there are many light skinned people in this country like the Zande’s and people from Western Bahr-El-Ghazal. So stating that a South Sudanese must be dark is not logic and not reality either. Another thing, there are mixed race people all over the world. It’s not a crime and in normal situations they are accepted, but with the title of Miss South Sudan it wasn’t. It is not the skin colour that determines your loyalty to a country or your hair texture. Lastly, I was created by God, the same God that created all mankind, be them white, black, brown or yellow, no color is better than the other and no color is worse than the other, we are all human, people!

It is sad that people get to judge you by your skin colour, and it is sadder when it is a wrong judgment. I feel sorry for people who make these judgments because it shows how uncivilzed they are. The world is a big place and it is one world, a world for all of us, there is no room for discrimination. And I believe that I have love for this country just like my other dark South Sudanese brothers and sisters, because patriotism lies in your heart and not in your skin tone. And no matter how much they try they can take me out of South Sudan but they can never take South Sudan out of me.
 
3. What would you want to say to young girls about skin tones in general?
 
Sandra: A message to my sisters out there be them dark or brown or whatever colour God has given them; you are beautiful, embrace your skin colour. Do not wish you were any other tone except the one you are because God has created you in the best image, and if that tone didn’t suit you h wouldn’t have given it to you. To the dark skinned girls, you are truly blessed and black is a beautiful and gorgeous colour, love it and make it shine. Being brown I don’t see myself any better than any of you because it is not external beauty that counts, its internal beauty. Beauty comes in different forms. Last but not least, I love who I am and I totally accept it, and whoever mistakes me for a foreigner, well, there’s not much I can do about it. 

Last word for everyone out there “I hope that instead of judging someone by the colour of his skin, judge that person by the content of his character”. 

God Bless South Sudan.