Is “Black” a race, a skin tone, a nationality, or a way of thinking? Like all arbitrary terms, each answer could be true or false depending on who you ask. More insidious, is what this word can mean to one on a subconscious level. To some, the word Black is synonymous with deficiency, debauchery, salaciousness, and impulsiveness which become the bookends that confine their personal growth and development.
I would like for you to re-examine your Blackness and decouple it from a particular activity or state of being and instead view it as an ideology. An ideology where you cooperate with, advocate for, and prioritize like-minded Black people (from here forth referred to as “the code”). What is the benefit of this you may ask? Well to get to that answer, let’s examine the pitfalls of our old way of defining blackness.
Defining Blackness By Activities
“Brothas, don’t jet ski”, “Sistas don’t be doing yoga”, “Black people don’t eat organic” and etc are all self-limiting phrases that are spoken by those who define blackness by activities. The danger in this, is that blackness becomes dogmatic and confined to a group of socially acceptable activities. But what happens if that group of activities are self-destructive, unproductive, and/or salacious?”. It creates a cycle where the community participates in and perpetuates self-destructive behaviors while shunning everything that can break the cycle with the phrase: “that’s what those other folk do”. To make this tangible, we have:
Marcus: Smokes, drinks, listens to rap, gang bangs, and curses.
Jason: Well-dressed, doesn’t drink or smoke, listens to rock, and dirt bikes every weekend.
When blackness is defined by activities, Marcus can present as more authentically black due to his increased participation in socially approved activities. The limit in this thought is that it does not consider if any of these individuals abide by “The Code”. Marcus may have higher social participation than Jason, but Marcus is staunchly against cooperating with, advocating for, and prioritizing like-minded Black people thus making him an enemy to progress. Individuals like Marcus make the best government informants/agents as they have street credibility but no allegiance to the greater group.
Defining Blackness by State of Being
“Man you ain’t from the hood”, “you ain’t ever struggled”, “you don’t be in the hood” these are phrases we hear uttered by those who define blackness by a State of Being. These individuals tend to view their blackness based on where they reside, who they associate with, and their collective economic status. At first, this thought process does not appear to be problematic but what if the socially-accepted state of being is one of disrepair, disorder, and deprivation? Well, it results in individuals who perpetuate a cycle of poverty because the very thought of success, comfort, and abundance is an affront to their identity. This thought process knows no economic bounds and manifests itself in different ways. Let’s identify 3 different personas in the Black community and see how this mind state could potentially impact them:
- Marcus: Born into poverty and still impoverished — Individuals like Marcus are typically conditioned to view a life of lacking as how things are supposed to be. Any Black person living a life of abundance or comfort is typically viewed as an affront to their world view and spurns jealously and contempt. To rationalize success, these individuals typically assume a negative action was required to obtain said success e.g selling out to the white man, Illuminati sacrifices, etc. This allows them to dismiss success as a failure of moral character rather than said success serving as a spotlight on their own personal failure.
- Tyson: Born in poverty but improved their economic status — Although these individuals have left the hood, they still feel as if they must maintain relationships and respectability in the hood to protect their Blackness. Instead of serving as a beacon of light to individuals like Marcus, they place Marcus on a pedestal and constantly seek his acceptance. This is commonly seen in rappers who have moved on to a life of abundance but constantly jeopardize their livelihood by hanging around individuals like Marcus and attempting to present themselves as one.
- Jason: Never in Poverty — Typically the progeny of a person like Tyson and are taught that people like Marcus is where their Blackness resides. Individuals like Jason can suffer from an identity crisis as the group they are seeking ideological acceptance from is against everything that provides them comfort and abundance. In other words, to be fully accepted as Black by Marcus, Jason must forgo everything that provides him a life of comfort. This fork in the road is typically where an individual sacrifices it all or pulls away from the ideology entirely and seeks understanding elsewhere.
So, what’s the solution you must ask? To take from earlier in the piece, the solution is to view your Blackness as an ideology. An ideology where you cooperate with, advocate for, and prioritize like-minded Black people. An ideology where you look at life, politics, white supremacy, etc. through the eyes of a Black person and always promote Black self-interest.
For far too long, our elders have instructed us to be America’s moral compass but that’s a role that has led us to fake praise and empty hands. We need to be fierce advocates of our own self-interest at all costs, and it starts by changing how we see ourselves.
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