so this ain't so much of an absolute to me as it is me picking my offramp (as w/ music, fashion, whatever) and saying, this is what i rock with, good, bad or indifferent.

>from you. The name of the region and country that you come
>from was suppressed, and you were re-identified as Negra or
>Black, to be presented as an existence that was less than
>European Caucasians.

i know this, man. (i know you know i know, but still, it needs saying).

there's nothing magical about 'Black', and it certainly exists within a whole ass eurocentric worldview replete with negative connotations and denotations. but idgaf.

when Black people said, we know all that shit. but Black is Beautiful, that was cool.


>Black isn’t even a color. It is the non-existence of color.
>Black absorbs all of light wavelengths and reflects nothing
>but darkness. White reflects all of light, which is why white
>is perceived. It is basically describing something that is
>nothing, or something that is non-existent.

i know. don't care.

>
>You have African-Americans who don’t even know that. They
>are just repeating what they have learned, and choosing to
>accept it, or rebrand it as some type of honorable identity.

i think there's more intentionality to it than that, but grant that that's an interpretation.

>Africa exists, and my blood descends from it. My people
>descend from it, so that must be reflected in my identity.


this is like indians, i mean, American Indians, i mean, Native Americans (who never gave a fuck about Amerigo Vespucci, really)... they are Sioux, they are Cree, they are Iriquois, they are Wampanoag, they are Lenni Lenape, they are Lumbee. and yeah, there are gonna be some who were snatched from their people and miseducated and have no idea to which nation they belong. (i like 'First Nations' as a designation, don't know how universally they rock w/ that).

Black to me is like the X in Malcolm X (or Louis X, or Clarence 13 X or whatever X you prefer).

it's a signifier, a placeholder, a vessel into which we've poured the contents of our culture, our pain, our history. i can put it in the African American bag, too. i don't like having to tack on American to add specificity. 'African' / 'Afrikan' (why it feel more 'Black' to spell it with a k? ) is coo, but only my pan african ppls feel me on the definition and i don't be having time to explain to everybody else.

it's a tragically interesting ass conversation to even have.

peace & blessings,

x.

www.twitter.com/poetx

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I'm an advocate for working smarter, not harder. If you just
focus on working hard you end up making someone else rich and
not having much to show for it. (c) mad