I am a human being. First, foremost, and forever. I share that quality with every other person on the planet. Make no other assumptions about me. Yes, my skin is brown, my hips are shapely and my lips are full. I love that. I am proud of that and I celebrate that, but enough about me (for now). There has been much ado on the internets recently about Raven Symonne’s comments about colorlessness and labels. I get what she and many other “new blacks” are trying to say. I appreciate and accept that they have the right to feel, speak, and do as they please, but I have seen so many people saying thinks like, “Well I just think that’s dumb” or “She’s delusional” etc. and I wonder when listening to some of the these opinions if they are even stopping to consider what they are saying. Now, I COULD be way off base and y’all might get me out of here, but this has been on my mind more and more. Let me preface the following with this: It is extremely possible that Raven’s delivery WAS WHACK.
I’m going to share my views on the subject rather than her comments to perhaps shine some light where the whack delivery of recent celebrities may have fallen in the shadows. Let’s start by getting some terminology in order. Personally, black =/= African American. (Even the government makes a distinction). I’m not offended if someone calls me African-American, but if I am asked, “What are you?” (and I am asked often) should I chose to be a decent human being, I will say “black”. my nationality is American.
“Why not African-American?”, you ask. Here’s why. I do, indeed, have roots that trace back to Africa at some point, however, I also have roots that trace (more recently) to Italy as my maternal grandfather was born there and came to America on a boat. with that, I do not identify as an Italian-American so why would I then identify as an African American with my roots there even further removed? Furthermore, if I were going to identify as either, why not both?
So now, I’ll just be the asshole who goes around listing all my roots? Helen is now African-Italian-American. BUT WHY? When American should suffice. You can SEE my blackness. I don’t feel I have to announce it in order for other black people to think I’m proud of it, because what anyone else thinks of me is really none of my business. @Beauty_Jackson made the point, on The Good And Terrible Show, that famous white people are out here claiming all their heritage back to Jesus’ time and this is true, but let’s take a step back and recall what happens to people of African descent who want to claim ALL of their heritage. Tiger Woods comes to mind. He tried to let us know all that he is an what did the black community do? “Aw, you still a nigga.” It seems to me that we would celebrate all of who we are rather than tearing on another down for embracing it. It has happened to me on social media. I was bashed for listing the parts of my ethnic background that I am aware of (because I was asked about it). People said things like, “You don’t look ‘other’”, and “You’re just a regular ass black girl.” etc. I never claimed to look ‘other’ or ‘exotic’, and I AM a black girl, but my blackness does not take away from every other part of me. I feel like I should be able to be proud of my blackness AND every other part of me at the same time. But when I’m proud of the non-African parts I’m accused of trying to be “less black” or “new black”. What IS ‘BLACK’ anyway? All black people and all black people’s experiences are not the same. Here we are trying to lump all people from America of of a certain completion together and that just seems the opposite of productive. Black American culture is so vast that it is impossible for every person to fit into every part of it.
I think that our heritage and culture can speak larger volumes than the actual color of our skin. There is such a wide array of colors within black culture from the fairest of the fair to the darkest of the dark that it really comes down to how each person represents his/herself and his/her culture. I come from a rainbow coalition of a family (both of my first cousins by blood, yes I only have 2, who identify as white) So while I still see color, I see it a bit differently than a lot of people in this country.
I'm from the south and I know that my "black" culture is different than someone who grew up in Cali or New York or Iowa. We are a spread out people, we don't have the luxury of having a uniform culture, and I think that within the black community if we realize that we are all different and acknowledge those differences and move on from them and find what IS common (values, where we want to be as a people, and how that fits in (or doesn't fit in) with the rest of the country) then we would be all good, but too often the focus is on the wrong thing.
I think the issue here is people shying away from being black because of the negative connotations that are associated with it when what we should be doing is disproving those stereotypes and living our own truths, oh, but wait...then that makes you a sell out, right? See the cycle? I say "be you" and don't apologize for it and at the same time let others be who they are/want to be just as unapologetically. *shurg*
