What Is Black Culture?
What is an American Black Culture?
Well considering the title, and thumbnail that you clicked on due to your curiosity, you’re probably wondering what is black culture? To be more specific American Black Culture….well it is a story that’s been said for many year, each generation knowing more or very little of what happened to a specific race of people.
I don’t know if I could even comment or write about this. This is due to a couple factors that you should keep in mind:
- I didn’t always identified as a black male….to be more specific I wanted to be a different skin color than the one I was born with.
- I didn’t experience the level of racism as some who have dealt with it that’s including my mom
- I feel like I’m an outcast talking on something I feel I don’t have much of a say in anyway
- This is one of the most important ones: I have a girlfriend who is white. I shouldn’t feel like I would be outed by people of my same skin tone for loving someone that’s different.
- I’d feel as if me saying this…saying all this won’t change a goddamn thing for people to move forward and stand proud, and together.
Where To Begin?
That’s a loaded question, because we all know where to being right? The start of the slave trade, between the US before it became a full fledged country, Great Britain, and Africa. Now, we’ve all taken a history class in how that came about right? White people came, they saw, and exploited, but here’s the kicker black people also decided to do the same but to their own.
That started a cycle of continual slavery, both literal and figurative. Up until the slave trade was all but “abolished” in a sense. During that time of America’s “Great Upbringing” it was building it’s future off of the backs of slaves, not only those of different countries but black people as well believe or not.
It was a place of great opportunity, but on the backs of those that helped make that opportunity even possible. It’s having to come to a foreign country, and been given a different name. Making it hard for generations to even know their own family history for generations to come. It’s having to be put in chains as less than human. The greatest crime this country has done is not treating all men equally.
Yes, we could see America changing to that notion of all men…and I mean all being treated equally and fairly, but only for quick spurts of epiphany followed by a dash of social inequality….you mix that well you see the results already.
What Is Our Identity?
That’s the million dollar question, what is our identity? See, we have a fair idea of what it is, but what is it really?
Well, it’s years and years of saying no sir, yes sir, yes ma’am, no ma’am. Having to look away from a white person, or praying to god we don’t get tripped by police. It’s living in constant fear with a target on your back. We should all be able to relate to this right?
But even with that fear, we stand tall and proceed to walk the higher ground than most. It’s showing that we can dream higher, and soar even farther. It’s giving our children a better future than the one we live in now. It wanting for a real change to happen, to be heard for once without all of the noise.
Our identity is our history which should speak for itself. WE can’t take a culture that’s not really our own from another country, when we don’t even know our own culture here, and what it brought. Hell, I’ve met people who were from those countries, and they don’t like Black Americans at all.
The question is, what does being black mean to you? That should be what fuels your desire of wanting more, to be something more than what society says you are. Yes, there might be stereotypes we as a community can’t avoid but what we can do now is making sure we die out those stereotypes.
If you looked in the history of this country, and the people in it…..you start seeing that all of them chose to be who they are because they asked themselves that question. That question of what does it mean to them.
Where To Go?
Well, I don’t know. We’ve all seen that state this country is in. We know where we need to start fixing shit. I truly don’t know where we can go, but hopefully we can go to a place where we can be able to stand shoulder to shoulder with everyone.
I hope we can go to a place, where there’s no misjudgment of where you came from, or where you were born, hell even how you were brought up. I just hope to god people realize we all don’t have a goddamn choice in the skin we’re born with.
Something needs to change, not only within this country but in this community as well. We need to be different, we need to be more united, and not judged. For the love of god, let’s not fucking judge anymore because I’m sick and tired of feeling like I don’t have a voice especially within my own community that I don’t feel at home at myself.
