Viewpoint by Anderson Colemon/tr news editor

Fifty years ago, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. said he had a dream ­— a dream that one day his four children would live in a nation where they would not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.

I had a similar dream. I was wrong.

My culture, the very culture degraded throughout history and even to this day for its skin color, judges my own skin.

Through media and personal experience, I can see how members of the same race can be divided by skin pigmentation.

I never thought after high school I would have to deal with the harsh laughter and verbal beatings from my fellow people, but it has happened.

In our culture, the message is relayed — the darker one is, the more one is seen as a pariah.

Pop culture and the media have put the notion in our heads that lighter is better. Why?

From skin lightening creams to makeup, it seems my culture is trying to keep up with famous light-skinned individuals, and the media don’t do a good job of showing the different shades of African-Americans.

The media show the contrast of how beautiful it is to be light-skinned whereas dark-skinned individuals are seen as a comedian or the criminal. What’s so wrong with being a few shades darker?

It’s time for us as a community to accept and encourage one another, rather than reject and discourage.

We spend too much time trying to prove how much we have or what we look like compared to those less fortunate.

We have become commercial in the way we view ourselves. We have become unlike King’s dream.

As African-Americans, we should not have to isolate ourselves by the shades of our skin tone but rather come together in unity because we all hail from the same ancestors.

I have a new dream.

I dream one day our culture will come together as one.

We will not bring each other down by the choices of our words but rather will decide to help one another strive to be better role models for the next generation.