This is in response to Sunita Singh (Letters, #89), itself a response to Joyce Sliverstein's (Letters, #87) critique of the fairness cream ad published next to the Under My Hat column in previous issues. Since "Joyce Silverstein" is an Anglo-Saxon name, Ms Singh automatically assumes her to be of white-Caucasian race stock. But for all Ms Singh knows, Ms Silverstein could be...an Afro-American? A West Indian? An Australian Aborigine? You name it. In her myopia, Ms Singh makes a stand for the "virtues" of fairer skin, therefore denying parity of value to those races, numbering in the billions, (Black Africans, Melanesians, Dravidians, and more) who will never possibly have, and hopefully never wish for, fairer skins on themselves. The issue is ultimately about accepting people for what they are, and not through the bias of their external appearance.
Elisabetta Piomarta
Kathmandu