It’s hard to go five minutes in racial discourse without tripping over the phrase “white supremacy.”
Classical music, feminism, architecture, gardening, the great outdoors, hard work, good behaviour, there’s seemingly no limit to the depth and breadth of white supremacy’s power and reach.
In my article, Blackness Is A Cage, I pointed out that while it’s super edgy to define oneself in opposition to the society that you live in, while it’s undoubtedly “woke” to limit yourself to the stereotypes associated with people with your skin colour, it has the unfortunate side-effect of being the purest form of self-sabotage I can imagine.
V highlighted the biggest problem with this way of thinking.
V:
“And if we accept this definition, we oppress ourselves. We learn not only to think of ourselves as underdogs, but to feel ashamed when we defy that status.”
Sadly, we also corrupt and maim our children with this corrosive belief.
I was blessed to have great teachers whose blackness was real but incidental to their skills as professionals. They demanded excellence in speech, attitude, and work ethics.
We sabotage ourselves if we accept this definition. We shouldn't need to sound black-only polite and "conversationally" grammatical.
Keep reading with a 7-day free trial
Subscribe to The Commentary to keep reading this post and get 7 days of free access to the full post archives.