What I Love About Being Black
"You may write me down in history
with your bitter, twisted lies,
You may trod me in the very dirt
But still, like dust, I'll rise." -- Maya Angelou.
Narratives matter in how we perceive ourselves and how we treat one another.
When you’re raised as the only Black family for miles, in a place like Ogden, Utah that has very little racial diversity, you get used to being ignored. The book Invisible Man should have had a sequel titled, “Invisible Children: the training guide for colored kids who are confused by white avoidance.” This erasure and feeling of invisibleness isn’t just unique to my upbringing. For Black individuals, the erasure of culture, identity, and history creates barriers to a healthy sense of self and fuels the biases that keeps society inequitable.
I was recently inspired to contribute a new narrative to the concept of Blackness by asking my friends and family who are Black to answer the simple question “What do you love about being Black?” Their answers were inspirational, funny, informative, universal, as well as unique, and a balance to the traumatic images, negative stories, and imbalanced emphasis on Black pain, Black erasure, and Black oppression we all see on a daily basis. Those stories are important to share, but they are not the only narrative in the bigger story about Black culture.
The best way to change the status quo and create true understanding and belonging is to redefine narratives to give new voices a chance to share their own lived experience. This episode of Sway Them In Color is one small step towards that redefinition. Take a listen as writers, an actor, public speakers, entrepreneurs, and makers who I know and love share their stories about what they love about being Black, in a world and society that many times makes it difficult to affirm ourselves. Some of my favorite quotes from this episode of the podcast:
"I love being black because I am creation continuously evolving."
"Everywhere I go I get noticed, I welcome the stares."
"We didn't make lemonade out of lemons. We were handed dirt and created fruit."
"Those that burn under fire tend to bask under in sun."
Take a listen below.