Skim down a little further on your standardized test sheet, college or job application and you will likely find the words that read: Race (check one): American Indian/Native Alaskan, Anglo (non-Hispanic White), Asian/Pacific Islander, Black/African American, Hispanic, Multiracial, Other, or Unknown. I choose Other; I can’t check off Black and I can’t choose African American since it’s tied to Black.
I could also choose unknown since the kidnapping of my ancestors from Africa to the U.S. left me and many others of the African Diaspora with both lack of culture and a place to call home. In cases where different organizations that I am apart of have the term black in it, I have to accept that black is my identification. While I am proud to be apart of organizations with distinction, the term black troubles me. Most people who see me would consider me black, but if you understood why I do not wish to be referred to or categorized as black, you might think quite differently.
Two years ago while attending Nassau Community college in Long Island, NY; my African American History professor Marquita James challenged her class to find out what black and white meant. We were instructed to make a list of all the words associated with each term and to compare and contrast the differences between the two. I immediately walked over to the school library after class pulling out every dictionary and thesaurus I could find.
The first thesaurus I came upon was by DK Pockets. On page 46 I located black defined as dark, dusky, murky, depressing, dismal, distressing, doleful, foreboding, funereal, gloomy, hopeless, melancholy, lugubrious, mournful, pessimistic, ominous, sad, somber, bad, devilish, diabolic, evil, foul, heinous, iniquitous, nefarious, villainous, and wicked. As I took in each definition into the forefront of my mind, I couldn’t believe all the negative words that were associated with black. Growing up hearing and singing lyrics to Say it Loud, I’m Black and I’m Proud by James on the radio and reading about the Black Panthers and the Black Power Movement, I had always taken pride in calling myself a black woman. Turning the pages to 501, I found white where I was not surprised to find cream, ivory, snow white, clean, bright, immaculate, and spotless. For the first time I was questioning my race and wondering what I could use as a replacement since clearly black wasn’t it.
Why are so many things that are black considered bad? Just take for instance other terms and idioms linked to black.
1) Black mood- a bad or depressed mood; an irritable mood,
2) The black sheep- the least respectable member of a family or group,
3) Black mark- an unfavorable comment or item on one’s record, an indication of wrongdoing or failure,
4)Go Black- to become unconscious,
5) Black hole- a place where lost things go,
6) Black eye- a disgrace or discredit; something which attracts unwanted negative attention,
7) Black listed- a lists of people or organizations that have received disapproval or suspicion or are to be rejected and otherwise punished, and lastly the ever popular Black Friday- originating from James Fist and Jay Gould’s group of speculators that tried to take over the gold market. Due to their failure it became routine for the market collapsing to be deemed as “Black”.
After learning of these negative connotations, you may not feel that black is a degrading term. Maybe like the “N” word you’ve decided to change its meaning around and make it into something positive. At the end of the day the origins of the word will always be negative no matter what you try to make it into. What I ask of my brotha’s and sista’s is to take time to re-evaluate what black means. You have to decide for yourself who you are and what you want to represent.
Staff Writer; Nieema Foster
Posted By: DAVID JOHNSON
Tuesday, December 4th 2012 at 5:26PM
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