Darkness. No Parents.

The other day during my daily scripture reading, I came across 2 Nephi 5:21, which discusses the cursing of the Lamanites with a "skin of blackness." This idea of being "cursed" with dark skin has always bothered me, especially because in 2 Nephi 26:33 it's states that "all are alike unto God," whether they be "black [or] white." It didn't sit right with me -- and I know many others that have qualms -- that God would consider darkened skin a curse. I mean, there's been all sorts of extremely kind and wonderful people of color, and Christ himself was Middle Eastern, not "white," so I decided to look in the footnotes to see if I could gain any insight into what the Lord meant by a "skin of blackness." The footnotes took me to 2 Nephi 30:6, which mentions "scales of darkness...[falling] from their eyes." This leads me to believe that the cursing of the "skin of blackness" didn't mean literal dark skin, but rather a shroud of spiritual darkness falling over the people. For me, this insight helped ease my confusion and reaffirmed my testimony of God's love for his children, regardless of what they physically look like, and I feel like others with similar concerns and questions may be able to gain similar comfort from it as well.