That’s it. I am turning in my Black card. I have been officially kicked out the Black peoples club. You see, I recently wrote two posts about giving up rap music and imagining what if Black women treated Black men the way they treated us (check them out if you haven’t read them yet). Both received a lot of attention. The posts had their detractors and that’s fine. The common argument against them was that somehow by rejecting rap and it’s baggage and misogyny that I was giving up my authentic Blackness. You know what? They are right. I am but it is not what they think.
- If being authentically Black means embracing every racist, misogynistic, colorist, homophobic and transphobic stereotype of Blackness, screw you. I don’t want it.
- If being called a bi**h, a hoe, and a ni**a for your entertainment and to pad a corporation’s bank account is authentic Blackness, you can keep it.
- If eurocentric features on Black people is the standard of Black beauty, you can have it.
- If embracing a monolithic view of Blackness while losing my individuality is authentic Blackness, I don’t need it.
- If acquiring an education equates to being White while making Blackness synonymous with ignorance is authentic Blackness, bless your heart. Give it to your mamma.
- If accepting and embracing slave era stereotypes like the mammy, Jezebel or Sapphire about Black women that are used to dehumanize me is authentically Black, I don’t want it
- If labeling anything Black as “hood”, “ghetto”, or “ratched” is authentically Black, shove it.
- If accepting violence, suffering, mediocrity, failure and abuse is authentic Blackness, thanks but no thanks.
- If waiting for someone or something to save you when I can to save myself is authentically Black, forget about it.
If that is what authentic Blackness is heck to the yeah I am turning in my Black card. Straight DECLINED! I won’t concede or apologize for rejecting each one of them. I will not accept the slave mentality inferiority conditioning definition of authentic Blackness. What those who disagreed with me dropping rap music and rejecting misogyny fail to see is that pointing out the wrongs and insisting on making them right isn’t rejecting authentic Blackness. I am not rejecting Blackness. I am rejecting your sick sad version of authentic Blackness. It is about seeing authentic Blackness as I see it. I see Blackness as greatness but hey. That’s just me.
Good for you. I did that a long time ago back in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Silly kneegrows dissed me for crying while listening to Stevie Wonder songs. Silly kneegrows called me a white girl for preferring New Wave over rap. Silly kneegrows dissed me for not having a baby out of wedlock and getting married! The main ones who are the hypocritical control freaks are the absentee dads, the verbally abusive mothers. Black USA is ruined. It is. What next, 100% out of wedlock rate. By the way, I DO keep mentioning the out of wedlock rates cause when kids don’t live with their legal father they have a 200% more chance of being sexually molested. Black USA coddles molesters and murderers and wants to control the women and enable them to be obese single mothers, while we protect Da Brothers from Da White Debbil ….so, of course the BM can get a WW. Don’t cry for me, I’ve been swirling for decades.
Yes, always!
I agree because I have been told that I have a ”White mindset” because I don’t act like other Black women. I am slim, petite and feminine. I don’t buy into the ”thick” women nonsense the ”Black Community”, in reality there is no such thing as the Black Community promotes. And I am called White because my favorite singers are Led Zeppelin, Queen, and Classic Rock. And more non Black men gravitate towards me than Black American loser men too.
I am with you, Sister. I am also giving up my ”Black’ card
No offense but I know more Black Women like you than not. Don’t mean to be dismissive but you’re perceived “otherness” just isn’t there.
Where do you live? I can’t relate to most African Americans. I didn’t grow up in the ghetto and my family is from the Caribbean. I like Classic Rock and I am petite. And I don’t date African American men because I am not attracted to them and I prefer White and Asian men.
Most Black women in America don’t like Classic Rock and the vast majority of them aren’t slim like I am. Most African American women are overweight and listen to CRappers like Lil Wayne. Also most of them prefer African American men too.
I don’t think I am better however I have my own struggles and different lifestyle from the vast majority of African American women being a first generation Jamaican American who grew up in the suburbs
Whatever kind of black I am, that is black.
You can’t give up your black card just because you don’t like rap and aren’t ratchet.
THEY might say you’re not black. But you STILL ARE.
Especially if you embrace that European beauty is not the only standard of beauty in the world.
I listen to all kinds of music. I have dated out of my race. My NAME is Rebecca. I don’t have any discernible accent. I SING Queen, and I sing Selena, too.
But I am for the upliftment and the advancement of my people. I acknowledge the fact that blacks often get the short end of the stick around the world. I want better for them and more importantly I want them to DO better.
I’m still black, sis. And so are you. *hands you back your black card*
it was a metaphor, she didn’t really mean that she wasn’t black.
omg!! you have no idea how this speaks to my soul!! I’ve been called “not black enough” so many times simply because I choose to wait until I’m married to have kids, further my education, and speak correct grammar. Thank you so much for this
I don’t take those assessment tests. I hold my head, slightly upward, feet firmly on the ground. I stand on the shoulders of my ancestors. Each and everyone of them. No one can anyone define me, though they may try. It is already written and I am most definitely at peace with that.
Mine was destroyed over 25 years ago. Some tried to issue me the temporary ID and I rejected it.
Don’t worry you’ll do fine. Better to be off happy and making your own life instead of embracing tacky stereotype falsehood of failed Black America suppose to act. There’s more of us with ripped “black” cards burned with kerosene and sent to Hell and DON’T MISS IT!
Every other post, you’re either complaining about what black men are doing (you’ve never mentioned them to offer anything constructive, by the way) or complaining about black people in general. You’re not the only person who’s glad that you’re “handing in” your black card. Keep venting though, it’s entertaining stuff.
Black women and even some young black girls sometimes have been constructive enough with what they’ve been saying and doing, especially when it comes to everybody else! Let black men look into something constructive for the black men and black boys for goodness sake. Black women are people who live in the free world too and and can open their mouths about ANYTHING and ANYBODY that they want to because nobody’s going to keep quiet about black women and black girls when it comes to them especially regarding anything negative to say!
Shut up, faggot!
“I see Blackness as greatness but hey. That’s just me.”
No, it’s not just you. There are many more.
I am a black male and one thing about black people if you are not good at some thing they will let you have it and don’t give a fuck how you feel. And it can be very hurtful at times. I was told by other black people that I cant sing, cant dance, don’t have no rhythm, cant play basketball, corny, and don’t have common sense. These are basic things that I guest average black people supposed to have. The only good thing that the black women said is I am good in bed. So I want to turn in my black card.
It’s heartening and encouraging to see African American women waking up to their plight and in such numbers. That you are awakening to the fact that your power lies in who and where you invest your money as well as the thoughts/actions that shape your experience, is absolutely thrilling to observe. That a good portion of you are reclaiming and investing in the image that serves your highest and best interests makes me dance for joy.
Allow me to encourage you to go even further and turn in your ‘blackness’ card. Hold the stones and allow me to explain. No other people of African descent (that I know of) make such a brouhaha about the colour of their skin like the Black Americans and the Black British. You wear your race like some badge of honor to be constantly justified and defended against, or a mark of shame to be constantly vilified!
Take a bunch of Africans. Put us in the same room and ask who we are. Step back and watch - I am Nigerian - we are the best! I am Kenyan and proud! Ghana people are the finest! South Sudan is the country of Kings! Yes - that South Sudan that is embroiled in a horrible war and abject poverty, whose skin colour is the most vilified in certain circles of Black Americans, is more likely to have a prouder sense of self than majority of you. An English man identifies with England, a Scot would have your neck if you mistook him for an Englishman, the Japanese will distinguish themselves from the Chinese, Koreans, Taiwanese etc through their nationality, as opposed to their features, which are vastly different to everyone but the ignorant. Majority of the world’s population identifies with their nationality. Does this mean that I am blind to the systemic oppression you have experienced or that which still exists? No! Not at all and I would not wish to trivialize your experiences. But here’s the thing ladies - you cannot change the past by arguing with it, pointing out all the ways in which it has failed you etc, you change by building on the future from a clear and conscious perspective.
One can exist within a manipulated system and still thrive. Why? Because for the foreseeable future, there will always be small and unworthy people whose sense of value is marginally and ONLY temporarily improved by diminishing another who looks different (never imagine for a second that a racist is the epitome of peace of mind - they are the proverbial rats in a maze). So what? Put your life on hold to fight them all? No. Leave them to their devices. Build your community with those who cherish and honor your right to dignity, your right to thrive, your right to the good of life, same as any other person in the world who desires this. But in order for the Universe to recognise and honor you, you must first recognise and honor yourself!
Reclaim your name. Become Americans. You can distinguish yourselves as Americans of African descent if you wish but claim your right to your nation and your nation will claim you back, with all the goodness it has to offer those who hold themselves accountable and worthy of it. As you so well put it, become women who are black.
You want a prayer, read the Desiderata. Let these words be your prayer every single day because when you say yes to yourself as you are, as a creation of this here Universe, the entire Universe says yes to you! I come neither from privilege nor social connections yet I have experienced 0.0001% racism. Why? Because I don’t walk around considering the colour of my skin as anything other than a facet of my physicality, neither positive nor negative. The 0.0001% that I briefly experienced was after spending sometime in the company of certain Black British individuals who also talked about their ‘blackness’ ad nauseam, attributing their, their behaviors, their actions, all the things they had power to change to the supposed failings of the colour of their skin. Thank goodness I realised this and extricated myself from such nonsense. Never known it since. I work for an American company now and I am the only one that looks like me and guess what, when I applied, it never occurred to me that any aspect of my physicality would deter me and so it didn’t.
Mind matters. The internet is filled with free articles about the power of consciousness, the ability for woman to think for herself.
I know that I am preaching to the choir on this blog - never been so glad to find an African American blog filled with sense.
For the apologists of the state of ‘black culture, specifically the behavior of majority of so-called black men’, let me disabuse you of the notion that these sentiments are shared only by African American women. Welcome to an Afro-European mindset. I know more African women in the diaspora who think this way, than not. We hold ourselves as citizens of this Universe, entitled to the abundance, prosperity, peace of mind, dignity, love, friendship and all the good of the Universe has in store for all who desire it. We are willing to hold ourselves accountable for our thoughts, perspectives and actions in order to get a piece of the pie. We share the colour of our skin with over a billion people in the world. So? I do not owe anyone or any community anything they do not owe themselves and me right back. Get out ladies! Run, don’t walk! Don’t waste time lamenting that ‘they’ are being taken by other races. Good! Let them deal with that mess. Ride or die! What utter poppycock! Thrive, ladies. In style.