The "black community" is united by one thing and it is not the color or tone of skin, nor is it culture.
People who have ancestry from the continent of Africa are more diverse than any other population on the planet, representing almost every culture and country, present on every continent for generations, speaking every language and of every religion. Look in any country in the world and you will find people of the African diaspora. Why then, if black people are so different from each other worldwide, are we lumped together as a "community"? Dark-skinned people don't solely descend from the African continent either. There are Indian, Middle Eastern, South American, Australian Aboriginal and so many others with "black" skin who are not actually included in "the black community". So no, it's not about skin color or culture. We are labeled and defined as a "community" in spite of how vastly different we members of "the black community" are because of one thing. The deep-seated, core, collective belief in the superiority of "white" people leading to the vicious, violent history and pattern of violence against all people of color based on the false belief said false superiority. It is the core belief in this difference that is the problem, not the actuality of a variety of skin tones, which has nothing to do with the value, capability, intelligence, resourcefulness, or equality of a human being.
And so instead of acknowledging the diversity of all people while at the same time recognizing the oneness of all beings, we continue to be labeled and categorized, even through the lens of acknowledgment and recognition of injustice.
While I appreciate the outpouring of empathy some white people are now openly showing, there's still separation and a clear belief that all black people of the African diaspora are in the same proverbial boat...the boat of the very real and very present possibility of being murdered just for having dark skin.
I'm glad that more white people are waking up to and acknowledging the reality of systematized, institutional racism, and core collective belief that skin color is a basis of a fundamental difference between people. It's time to not only stop turning a blind eye to how this core collective belief harms people of color, it's time to stop believing that we are different BECAUSE of the color of our skin.
There is more that makes us different that has nothing to do with skin color and more that makes us all the same than any differences we have, period.
It's time to stop using skin color to describe anything more than skin.
It's time for terminology like "the black community" to be meaningless because the truth is the members of such a broad community have just as much in common with the rest of the world as they have in common with each other, if not more. It's time to stop being a planet that can label a group of people a "community" solely because the things that they really have in common are a high likelihood of being neglected, mistreated, overlooked, underappreciated, or murdered in the street. I'm so tired of this. Can we stop being a collective that has to point out and protest injustice or it goes unrecognized???
Don't pity me, don't empathize, don't label me, don't weep for the injustice against "my people". Stop turning a blind eye to the injustices that don't affect you and say or do something with the power that you do have to effect change.
How? Just get rid of your belief that we are different because of skin color. Yes, you believe it. I do too. Let's all stand together as people who are tired of witnessing anyone being mistreated because of the color of their skin and do what we can to make skin color no different than eye color or hair color (because it's not). Let's separate color from culture and stop living in fear of cultural differences. Let's stop being a country where black lives don't matter, so we can stop needing to point out the obvious #BLM.
I don't walk around feeling like my skin color or ancestry makes me any different from anyone else until it's brought to my attention that some people believe it does. And I don't believe anyone else is better than me because of the color of skin either. I don't believe my skin color is indicative of the culture I live in. I'm American. Not African American, not black American. I'm a product of the diversity of the culture I grew up in, in northern California, from my college years in DC, and from living in the Pacific Northwest. For most people, color and culture are connected but not for everyone. It's time to wake up and realize that. We in "the black community" are tired of and broken-hearted from centuries of hatred. Let's do our individual healing work. Yours will be different from mine because we are different. What's the same? Love. We can all love ourselves and each other more. Love is the most healing energy there is. Let's give love a chance...for reals this time. #oneness #racismisstupid #loveonly #wakeupfromthematrix
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