President Ibrahim Traoré has announced a controversial new policy: anyone who lightens their skin could face prison time.
“Melanin is a natural resource that belongs to the state,” the president stated in a recent address.
Any citizen who removes it will be treated like someone who destroys public property—such as roads or other infrastructure.
The policy has sparked outrage, with critics arguing that melanin is part of one’s private anatomy, not public property.
But Traoré stands firm.
“Those with suspiciously light skin may be required to take a medical test to prove their ‘melaninnoncence’.”
If proven guilty, they risk jail and “corrective labor”—including daily sun exposure for 5 hours to encourage repigmentation, and to remind them how melanin would have protected them from the sun’s burning UV rays.
Inmates would be released only after recovering their original skin tone. This will be verified using old photos and witnesses who knew them back when their melanin was still loyal.