“Black people have a culture that glorifies gang banging, fathers who are not involved and should work on improving their culture” said one of my peers as we wrapped up our heated conversation.
To be frank this comment pissed me off. I don’t seek external validation regarding “black culture” but I’m weary of people who ramble disparaging statistics about a subgroup of “black people” they don’t seem to care about. There are generally 2 thought camps regarding the status of Black America in 2018:
As of now I think bias and preconceived notions affect how people navigate through society in 2018 and are barriers to people’s social upward mobility. Nevertheless strong families, working smart, money management, entrepreneurship and group economics are known to create healthy and robust communities. Culture is defined as a set of shared values, practices, beliefs among a racial, religious or social group. I’ve been pondering about what culture means, its significance and how understanding it can help people. People often say “Black culture”, “Black people”or “Black America” (I’ve done so several times in this article already) as it’s easy to make mass generalizations. There are pros and cons of doing so but for conversations like this they are lazy, unhelpful and dangerous. Black culture or Black America is a misnomer. There’s Southern Black American culture which differs from the culture of Black communities on the West and East coast or in the Midwest. As well there’s a culture that comes with each socio-economic status. Did you know there are actually 4 Black Americas according to Eugene Robinson, columnist for the Washington Post:
As well we can talk about reforming aspects of African-American culture without diminishing or hampering down on Black America or suggesting they are blameless and lack agency to help themselves. Black Americans have a lot to be proud of:
My parents are from Ghana and as a family we value working smart, intellectual curiosity and ambition. That’s my family’s culture. I’m sure there are Ghanaians who are lazy, skeptical and lack ambition. So who has the monopoly on Ghana culture in that case? Tupac and Michelle Obama are both prominent African Americans. Can we say one is a more authentic display of Black culture? I have a friend who is Chinese Canadian who will be the first to graduate in his family because all his siblings dropped out of high school. Is that Chinese culture or his family’s culture? Until the ink drips, Akua B
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AuthorMy name is Akua B and I'm a lover of all things Africa, natural hair and poetry... Archives
March 2017
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