Small Doses Read online

  I remember the day I learned of its existence. There I was, in the backseat of LaVon’s purple Dodge Neon, sitting next to my BFF, Julia, a girl who happened to be white, when Abiya, sitting in the passenger seat, mentioned that we would be attending a scholarship event for LaVon and they would be singing the Negro National Anthem, “Lift Every Voice and Sing.” I was confused. How the hell did I manage to go fifteen years on earth with no knowledge of this song?? Not only was I confused, LaVon and Abiya were appalled! Julia was determined. In the midst of my befuddlement, she found clarity in declaring to all of us in the car that as our friend, she felt it only right that she, a girl who happened to white, learn our anthem. She was right! We sure as hell knew the white girl anthem—“Someday somebody’s gonna make ya wanna turn around and say goodbyeeeee . . .” Yea, every black girl born even suburbs-adjacent between the years of 1979 and 1984 knows the words to Wilson Phillips’s “Hold On.” But I digress. Here’s Jules looking like she’d have been down with the abolitionist movement had this convo happened 150 years earlier, and here I was feeling hoodwinked, bamboozled, led astray! Even though I had black American friends, was on My Brother and Me, Nickelodeon’s first black family show, and was a part of extracurricular organizations like the University of Central Florida’s McKnight Achievers and the Urban League, which worked to advance and enrich young black minds, I was kept from knowing this incredibly important and symbolic piece of music due to the white bubble of my education. As this was pre-Google, I had no choice but to rely on LaVon and Abiya to bring my blackness up to speed. Julia, being friends with all the influential black actors/actresses of our prestigious drama program at Dr. Phillips High School (“Never less than the best!”) found her own white bubble constantly being poked and pricked, this scenario being another in a successive series.

  A week later we attended the event at the Prince Hall Shriners Malta Temple Black in Orlando, Florida, and at its opening, the room was asked to rise for the singing of the Negro National Anthem. Y’all I was READY! You hear me!? I was gon’ sing that anthem so Malcolm and Martin could hear me, Fanny Lou and Ida B. would cheer me, W. E. B. and Booker T. would find a common ground, Langston and Zora would make me their muse, Bayard and Baldwin would toast me, Medgar and Huey would rally, Angela and Elaine would call me. I mean, I had the spirit of black excellence alive and well within me that day! I had practiced and practiced the lyrics and the melody over and over again. It was embedded not just in my head, but in my spirit. I felt more connected than ever to the black American side of my experience and my identity. I felt closer to my sisters, LaVon and Abiya, and my brothers, Kenyon, Alano, and Michael, who were also there with us. I felt so proud to be black and in defiance of the oppression in the history of our experience. The chords of the intro rang out and I took a breath, filling my lungs to give support for those first notes. Just as I raised my chin to let all that pride and joy ring out, here go Julia. I don’t know where it came from, but she dug deep down into her Winter Park, Florida, soul and found cotton and grits that stuck to her vocal cords, making her voice propel into the room like Simone Biles off the vault. I couldn’t even hate. She respected it, so she connected to it. We both threw a staggering blow to our white bubbles that day, and when I went to college and curated my own education, I made it my business to pursue black studies in order to beat it back once and for all. Just like I took that initiative for my own cultural identity, so must we all, to expand our cultural perspective beyond the limited white horizon placed before us.

  I have met several men and women throughout my life who in their “happen to be whiteness” have given me hope that there may be an actual end to racial oppression one glorious day. The white bubble seeks to keep perspective skewed, expectation slim, and accountability nonexistent. It is a vacuum, so that even if you don’t consider yourself to be adding to oppression, by continuing to exist within the safety and comfort of its mirrored walls, you uphold it and breathe life into it. Step outside of the comfort zone and wake the fuck up. Be like Jules, and learn the words to another experience. Be like Alison, and “GET YO’ FOLKS.” Be like Joke, the producer for a pilot I did who, several times, fired back at executives who gave racist-ass notes, and tirelessly defended me using my authentic voice as a black woman. Be like Abigail, a woman I met on a flight, who happens to be white, living just outside of Ferguson at the time of Mike Brown’s murder and who realized the level of racism around her, spoke out against it, and continues to raise her children to be activists against oppressive systems. Be like actor Matt McGorry, who stays keeping it all the way 100 on public platforms and defies the rhetoric that if you are outspoken against oppression you will taint your “brand.” Be like the folks who joined the freedom rides of the ’60s, who put their lives on the line knowing that the media would not care about the danger black people were putting themselves in to achieve racial equality and challenge Jim Crow laws, unless their white lives were also at stake. The time is now. Be brave. Be human. Get educated. Get elevated.

  PS: All this rah-rah about kneeling for the anthem; fact is we should have been singing “Lift Every Voice and Sing.” Damned near everybody on the football field is a negro!

  SIDE EFFECTS OF

  Stereotypes

  Is every nigga with dreads for the cause?

  Is every nigga with golds for the fall?

  Nah, so don’t get caught up in appearance.

  It’s Outkast, Aquemini, another black experience.

  —André 3000

  CULTURAL NORMS vs. STEREOTYPES

  There are shared experiences/practices that bind people of a shared culture. Like black American folks knowing that Frankie Beverly’s “Before I Let Go” is the official electric slide song, like southerners knowing iced tea that’s not sweet tea ain’t really tea at all, like Caribbean homes always being in possession of a cutlass. These things don’t become stereotypes until they are used to demean (and for the record, being used to acknowledge uncomfortable truths is not synonymous with demeaning). Furthermore, stereotypes are typically rooted in surface observations that lack context and are presented/critiqued through an outside lens. For instance, when programs present black folks from a low-income neighborhood in a monolithic fashion, replacing the multilayered character development of any human being with the surface traits of an individual observed from a distance, it is also an act of stereotyping. Hence, representation matters!

  BLACK

  vs.

  BLACK

  vs.

  BLACK

  Black folks across the diaspora have a number of unique cultural differences. However, within those differences there have grown stereotypes that are used between each other to insult, demean, and divide. In a world where race, though baseless in biology but real in society, binds us, we have a shared cultural experience in that regardless of our individual culture/ethnicity, as a black person in the world, you are up against oppressive forces and discriminatory practices. Below are some of the more common stereotypes exchanged between black folks across the diaspora, and that hopefully with more education, compassion, and exchange, will be replaced with more unity, tolerance, and perspective.

  • Africa(ns) Is/Are Underdeveloped: First off, Africa is a continent, not a country. It is made up of 54 countries and more than 3,000 tribes with their own unique cultural practices. Within this myriad of countries are various levels of industry and development that range from the modest villages of Togo’s mountains to the sprawling metropolis of South Africa’s Johannesburg. Though there are areas of the continent that have had less access to educational/economic resources, it is simply inaccurate to diminish an entire continent, and its people’s advancement, based on American or European ideals. Technology may advance commerce, but it is by no means a measure of elevated character.

  • Black Americans Are Lazy: First off, America was built on the backs of slaves. So let’s start with the fact that working hard is literally ingrained in our DNA. The notion that black Americ
ans are lazy is often expressed by immigrants who feel that an unwillingness to do the jobs they have no problem doing is a symptom of being dotish, a Caribbean term for lazy. That said, images of black people as lazy slaves and sambos were created by turn-of-the-last-century white folks. It was bullshit then, and it’s bullshit now. There is also a judgmental eye placed on black Americans who cite the system of institutionalized racism in this country as a reason for their inability to advance as they may have once hoped. The reality is that being a black American is an incredibly unique experience for the simple reason that we live in the same country where our ancestors toiled and must continually find a way to reconcile the fact that as their descendants this country truly owes us. However, the slave owners’ descendants are also still running things, while our own personal successes contribute to the GDP of a nation that has never truly denounced in voice or action the ills of its past and how they continue to affect the present. It is quite the conundrum. Stating that there is absolutely a system in place to prevent the advancement of black folks is not an excuse, it is a fact!

  • Caribbean People Are All Weed Heads: First off, all Caribbean people are not from Jamaica. We also do not all “speak Jamaican.” Caribbean people are also not all rastas, who praise Jah and smoke ganja. Even simpler, we are not all Bob Marley. Granted, Tuff Gong’s face is considered to be the most recognizable image in the world, but it goes without saying that not everyone from the countries of the Caribbean lived Marley’s Mary Jane lifestyle. For the record, the greenery is ILLEGAL in the Caribbean. If you went down there thinking, “Yaahhh I’m in reggae mode,” they will absolutely arrest you and have you in a holding cell listening to soca!

  The bottom line is, stop letting them divide conquer us as black people across the globe. We have differences, yes, but they are beautiful and should be appreciated. Whether you are a black American descendent of slaves, a descendent of Caribbean or African countries/tribes, or an immigrant having come to America, we should all be welcoming anyone into our lands that wants to uplift, uphold, and upgrade! Let the differences empower us!

  DON’T JUDGE A BOOK BY ITS TWIST OUT

  Whether it’s a black woman in braids or a brotha in locs, hairstyles are an integral part of black culture. Unfortunately they have also been used to discriminate against black folks. The 1868 ratification of the Fourteenth Amendment to the US Constitution marked the start of government-sanctioned protection under the law for all races, and began the exodus of black folks integrating into white society via schools, neighborhoods, and the workplace. The Civil Rights movement and seminal cases like Brown v. Board of Education—which outlawed racial segregation in public schools—gained steam in their goal to attain voting rights for all and provide black folks with access to open previously closed conduits of education and opportunity. New to those spaces, many opted to utilize the duality superpower and blend in as best as they could, starting with their hair. Natural kinks were pressed and naps were cut low. The ’60s, however, saw a reclaiming of African identity and wearing one’s hair natural, be it in an afro or locs, which in itself became a statement that represented one embracing their black pride. Not surprisingly, any attempts to wear black hair in a more natural state were met with friction, sometimes disciplinary action, and even expulsion/firing! To this day, kids are still being sent home because their natural hair doesn’t meet their school’s standards. Regardless of what they tell you, the fact of the matter is, the stereotype associated with natural black hairstyles is simply that they are too outwardly showing of one’s ethnic identity, in a country where segregation was law less than seventy-five years before the publishing of this book and still has yet to truly recognize that different does not mean less than.

  FACTNOISE

  I think of it like this: stereotypes are general characteristics applied to a group of people based on a definition given to them by someone not of them. In contrast, a trend is a specific characteristic applied to a group of people based on repetitive behavior. No matter how truthful a stereotype may seem, when it is presented as fact it is offensive. No matter how hurtful a trend may seem, when it is presented with full facts it should not be considered oppressive. Know the difference, to make a difference.

  GEM DROPPIN’

  Cultural Appropriation vs. Cultural Reference

  OFTEN I GET QUESTIONS IN MY DMS from girls who benefit from white privilege asking, “Can white girls wear braids?” or “Can white girls wear doorknockers??” or “Can white girls do Beyoncé choreography???” I do appreciate the inquiries because I believe they come from a good place. The people who are asking these questions are seeking awareness to avoid being a culture vulture, aka committing cultural appropriation. There are so many cases of cultural appropriation that so often tiptoe into the realm of just full-on, “Oh, you’re racist,” that even a simple voiced caution in a private forum is a measure that I consider noble. The information age has done more than just make Wikipedia, Pornhub, and IMDB, it’s also created awareness for some things that folks in their white bubble never would have even been privy to before. With sports team names like the Indians and the Redskins, and pop stars regularly using culture as a backdrop and ethnicity as a prop, it’s no wonder that so many find it confusing when discerning the difference between cultural appropriation and cultural reference.

  Culture is of the people. It is born out of shared beliefs/experiences/locations. There is pop culture, which is reflected in media, fashion, and art, and which springs forth and just as quickly dissolves—it is a reflection of the times. There are negatives, like rape culture, which is carried out through systemic means, behaviors, and the upholding of traditions, policies, and court rulings that encourage the objectification and subjugation of women’s bodies. There is ethnic culture, which speaks to a collection of people that share in not only culture but common ancestry, language, history, and society. Within ethnic culture, rituals, art, and traditions are essential aspects of connectivity and understanding that have meaning and purpose even if simply to highlight a person who identifies with said culture. Cultural appropriation is the borrowing of aspects of a culture by those who aren’t of said culture, who have no valid connectivity to said culture, and who pay no respect to said culture, for the purpose of vanity or commercial gain. This is committed most often by white people who historically have forcefully taken or simply eradicated indigenous cultures in pursuit of dominance. No, a white girl wearing a Cherokee headdress on her Instagram isn’t the same as the white people who sought out and committed genocide and thievery against the indigenous people of this continent. However, the wearing of a piece of Cherokee culture and tradition for no other purpose than “because it looks cool” without having any knowledge of its origin or paying any respect to it, is, in fact, cultural appropriation. Fact is, if she had any respect for it she wouldn’t have it on her damn head anyway.

  People ask me all the time, “Why can’t white people say, ‘nigga’?!” Now, listen, if you are a black person and you don’t want to say nigga that’s your prerogative, but you saying or not saying the word has NOTHING to do with why white people shouldn’t be saying the word. Along with the fact that its precursor, niggER, was used to demean, oppress, and shame black people, the word “nigga” is a shared tradition of black American culture. Period. Stop shaking your head. Just because you may not like the word does not change the reality of its existence and the trajectory of its etymology from a hateful term used against black people to a versatile term used amongst black people. It is imperative to acknowledge this, because when white people want to use the word, it is not only an example of the continued entitlement of being included in everything, even when it does not pertain to them, which so many white people feel, but it is also an example of cultural appropriation. If you do not identify as black, put the word back.

  Cultural reference is not to be taken lightly or used as a “get out of jail free” card for committing acts of cultural appropriation. Cultural reference is
when sufficient homage, acknowledgment, and in some cases, payment, are given for the use of aspects of a culture outside of one’s own. If you are a clothing designer and you use prints from an indigenous culture that you are not a member of in your work, at the VERY least, you should be able to specifically reference the source and have researched insight into the meaning/use of that print. Not only for providing proper reference, but also to make sure that you are not bastardizing something sacred by turning it into something trite. In an ideal situation, if you are making any type of profit off of aspects of a culture not your own, a portion of the proceeds should be going back to that community in a nature that either seeks to uplift or preserve it, or both! For centuries, people have left their homes to seek out land and encountered thriving civilizations with deep cultural traditions and roots that originated long before explorers arrived. The internet has continued exploration that, while not violent in the same way as Christopher Columbus and company was, per se, still provides any mildly curious passerby a glimpse, and sometimes entry and insight, into cultures and communities that otherwise would have remained unknown. It is the responsibility of one who seeks to properly provide cultural reference to do their research and due diligence into any culture whose assets they seek to use for any purpose.