BLACK

BLACK.

too little of a word to truly encompass all that we are. based only on skin, only on socioeconomical-political-demographical boxes to check-check-check. based only on foods eaten, words spoken, music heard.

y’all forgot something: the slate can become anything. erasure of white chalk on a board waiting to be filled in, drawn on, made into whatever the artist desires—not the world at large and neither adjacent brothers and sisters.

BLACK.

at its conception, race is what you see. taught to hate, we re-learned to love this skin we’re in. we embraced it. broke out of it, fought past it, overcame it. proved all it could do, and then some. we made it ours, not theirs.

these complexions, these shades, these tones. smooth brown, high yellow, red bone, blue tones, purple tones. only a few pigments account for the many colors we are. all this and more, our radiance takes stage in many forms.

BLACK.

the white suprematrix was built for just that—discord, confusion, identity crisis. “you do that with your label, your box; i’ll do this with mine.” divisive: across cultures, and within our own. it almost worked.

upholding the status quo—what a disservice. it sticks to us—and between us—the “make up” of our Blackness. another checklist to disregard. confusing “branching out” with “selling out.” why choose, when you can have it all? -- unlimited

BLACK.

more than just cookouts. more than just hip-hop. more than just 90s sitcoms. more than just hbcus. more than just the ghetto, the slang, the struggle. all of which make us, with pride, with beauty. but don’t define us.

impeccably, immaculently, our greatness shines there. it is also luminous in resorts, spas, hotels. in “white only” spaces—the whitest of houses, in fact. in sci-fi thrillers, in strumming electric guitars. in artistry, the great outdoors.

BLACK.

releasing shame for walking lines not ours to walk, releasing guilt for not knowing conformity was damage. navigating a foreign world, making it ours—in our grief, our joy, our learning, our unlearning. in defiance, we showed them.

in this gReAt nation, we have shown them why they call it that: here we are! atop the white rubble and ash made to be our graves. our minds, our ideas, our creations—collectively consenting against whomever: you can’t take us.

BLACK.