UNC Black Ink Black History Month Issue

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BlackInk

DEDICATED TO REVOLUTIONARY MEDIA

TABLE OF CONTENTS

BlackInk Introduction

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THE MIND Staff Picks

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Racial Accountability in the Digital Age by Denise Kyeremeh

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THE BODY Because Black People are Catching Pneumonia by Kerstan Nealy

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The Woman Who Helped Heal the World: Kizzmekia Corbett

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by Denise Kyeremeh

THE SOUL Angela Davis: Fighter, Educator, Icon

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by Jeremiah Holloway

MLK; Religion, Racism, and Radicalism 13

by Kiara Wilkerson

The Community: Building Blackness

by Salena Braye-Bulls

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Introduction DEDICATED TO REVOLUTIONARY MEDIA We at Black Ink Magazine would like to wish you a Happy Black History Month!

These past eleven months have been long and challenging. At times, these months have also been beautiful and historical.

The murders of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor sparked global conversations about racism in the summer of 2020. Months later, Kamala Harris made history as she was sworn-in as both our nation’s first female Vice President and first Vice President of African descent. We have been witnesses to a multitude of events that will be discussed for generations.

This issue serves as a chance to reflect on all that we have endured, but also to celebrate Blackness for all that we have accomplished. During this very important Black History Month, we wanted to discuss everything from popular media to Black health to what Blackness means.

This issue seeks to honor our mind, our body, and our soul. We talk about the creativity that comes from the mind, the health and wellness of our bodies, and the passion from our leaders that fuels our souls.

We are forever grateful for your support.

Your viewership allows us to continually provide content that speaks to relevant topics in Black culture. In the spirit of Black History Month, please enjoy the amazing works of our writers and creatives!

-In power, Black Ink Magazine

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THE MIND

StaffPicks Transcendent Kingdom

by Denise Kyeremeh

Insecure

by Salena Braye-Bulls

Every once in a while, there’s a show that perfectly translates feelings and situations from life to screen. For some, it might’ve been Living Single. For others it was Girlfriends. My mom was a huge Sanford and Son fan, but that’s a bit different. For me and my friends – especially my friends who are Black women – it’s Insecure. Issa Rae’s hit HBO sitcom Insecure follows Issa Dee, a 20 something Black woman in Los Angeles played by Rae herself, and her friends as they navigate messy love life situations, career woes, and friendship hurdles.

Just like real life, Insecure doesn't fit into a perfect box. It's dramatic, romantic, comedic and authentic. Everyone is deeply flawed and their highs and lows are just as complex as them. Insecure reflects young Black life like a mirror, albeit a mirror with prettier lighting and better costume design. The show is a pinnacle of representation for young Black people. Rae captures our messages, tears and wash days that get lost in translation, and she showcases them in one of the best Black sitcoms ever. Like many young Black women (including me, hi!), Issa Dee questions herself and wonders if she’s on the right track. Just like Issa, I don’t quite know if I am, but I do know that during Black History Month (and every other month, too) Insecure reminds me that it’s okay to stand up in my mistakes, my bonnet and my Blackness.

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Transcendent Kingdom is a New York Times Bestselling novel by Yaa Gyasi. It chronicles the life of neuroscientist, Gifty, who has to navigate loss and illness in her family. Told from the perspective of a first-generation Ghanaian American, this book explores the intersection of immigrant households, mental illness, addiction, and trauma. As an adult, Gifty is trying to make sense of her childhood and the faith she has tried to leave in the past. This story speaks to the hardship of healing from past hurts while trying to be a functional adult. Between the phrases in Twi, references of a Ghanaian market, and attending her older brother’s soccer games, Gifty's experience reminded me of my own.

The book explores the complicated science of the brain and the wildy emotions that shape our behaviors.

Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom

by Jeremiah Holloway

“A one, a two, you know what to do.”The Netflix adaptation of the play Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom featured phenomenal acting from Viola Davis and the late Chadwick Boseman. The film serves as the last of Boseman’s legendary career. The movie spoke to the plight of African-Americans within the film industry and how it relates to their place in society as a whole.Levee (Boseman) is a trumpet player who possesses confidence in his musical abilities. This confidence bleeds into an uncontrollable arrogance that pits him against the rest of his band. He even attempts to defy the lead singer, Ma Rainey (Davis), on several occasions in the film. Levee is determined to start his own band and play his own songs, convinced that he knows what will sell the best and what the people in the north want to hear. He later learns, however, that the music business will not treat him with the same appreciation he believed he would receive.

Boseman does a tremendous job of fully embracing Levee’s narcissistic identity by giving him a level of swagger that the other characters do not have. He lets Levee’s youth guide how he interacts with the older cast members. Ma Rainey is stubborn in her own right, as well. If the temperature isn’t right, it must be changed. If she doesn’t have her CocaCola, she won’t perform. If there’s a car accident, it’s the other person’s fault. If her nephew, Sylvester (Dusan Brown), can’t do his intro, the song will not be recorded. Ma leverages her talent against the music executives, knowing that they want her songs at the end of the day. Like Levee, however, she also becomes taken advantage of by the industry.Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom displays the realities of Black musicians in the 1920s while delivering impressive, award-worthy acting performances.

Soul

by Salena Braye-Bulls

It isn’t often that I see a movie and feel inclined to tell absolutely everyone I know to see it.

Pixar’s Soul is the ultimate exception. Soul is an existential tale centering around middle school band teacher Joe Gardner (voiced by Jamie Foxx) and his journey to feel alive again, literally. He teams up with 22 (voiced by Tina Fey) – a lost soul – and they embark on an adventure to find their sparks in life. Foxx’s performance as Gardener is dynamic, entertaining and still very Jamie Foxx. Fey also shines as a voice actor, and there’s a joke in the movie about how her character – a genderless, raceless soul – still sounds like a white woman.

Without giving too much away, there’s a critique of how Soul is another animated movie that doesn’t give enough screen time to Black characters voiced by Black actors. Still, I think that it’s an extremely Black movie. There are heaps of Black imagery and culture from a touching and expertly animated barbershop scene, older Black women in those pastelcolored skirt suits (you know the ones) and fantastic music. Jazz, perhaps the most terrifically Black genre of music, is the movie’s central element and it makes for a fantastic genre. Soul is a funny, reflective and careful film about the afterlife, and its Blackness made it all the more reviving for me.

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They've Gotta Have Us

by Denise Kyeremeh

They’ve Gotta Have Us is a docuseries on Netflix that recounts the history of Black artists in the film industry. It chronicles the timeline of struggles and achievements Black artists have faced in front of and behind the camera.

Topics like Spike Lee’s contribution, stereotypes that held Black actors back, and the influx of Black Brits in the American film industry are explored in the docuseries. The film connects the stories of Black pioneers like Harry Belafonte in the industry to emerging artists like John Boyega. They’ve Gotta Have Us is available on Netflix.

Black Enough

by Denise Kyeremeh

Black Enough is a collection of short stories by Black authors about what it’s like to be a Black teen in the United States. Each story is a new fictional tale that captures the nuances within the Black experience. Every character is trying to understand their identity through the things that connect us all: friends, love, and passions.

A few of my favorite stories are:“Woah!” By Rita Williams- Garcia ~ A story about a young model who makes a strange connection with a reflection he sees in a wishing well.“Into the Starlight” by Nic Stone ~ This story is about a girl who defies her mother’s wishes and spends time in a neighborhood she wouldn’t approve of.“The (R)Evolution of Nigeria Jones” by Ibi Zoboi~ The daughter of a Black nationalist revolutionary, makes an escape for a night, prioritizing adventure in hopes of creating her own identity.“Warning: Color May Fade” by Leah Henderson~ A prep school student is choosing between her passions and everyone else’s expectations for her.

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Racial Accountability in the Digital Age

by Denise Kyeremeh

After the footage of George Floyd’s death was released in May 2020, America began to recognize race like it hadn’t in a long time, if ever.

The COVID-19 pandemic had kept the majority of Americans indoors for several months and it was hard to miss the news that a man had died after a police officer kneeled on his neck for several minutes. Protests occurred across the world, companies released statements to clarify that they were in support of Black Lives Matter, and social media was in a frenzy as people tried to make sense of all that was happening.

I began to see things that I usually only saw during Black History Month, websites and social media platforms promoting Black-created content. All of a sudden, I saw an influx of books by Black authors on the homepage of Barnes and Noble and podcasts about race and the Black experience on Apple Podcasts. I wasn’t sure if more people were creating podcasts about these issues or if the world was just finally eager to listen. It was as if after centuries of screaming, cries of agony were finally being accepted as more than just noise.One of the major takeaways from that time was that people needed to educate themselves about the struggles of the Black community. There were Twitter threads that gave suggestions on books to read, podcasts to listen to, and movies to watch so that people could further understand the impact of race America.

Phrases like “I’m listening and learning,” “I hear you and I see you,” and “I’ve marched and donated,” permeated social media. It started to feel like non-Black people had created a recipe for reconciling their ignorance and guilt. While it was the most powerful moment of racial reckoning in decades, it felt fleeting.

It was as though stay-at-home orders had finally forced the world to pay attention but after the summer of 2020, no one would ever have to account for their racial bias again. The reality is that addressing our contributions to systemic racism is a long-term journey. It requires an intentional awareness of how we speak to people, what we assume about people, and how the privilege in our lives is either oppressing or uplifting marginalized communities. It means looking at our friend groups, workplaces, and classrooms to recognize which groups of people are underrepresented and which voices need to be amplified. We do not diversify our circles to check off a box, because that does not validate anti-racism. It merely recognizes the humanity of others. We must value a person’s whole identity and create spaces where everyone feels comfortable bringing their whole selves to the environment.

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"THERE IS NO QUICK FIX TO SYSTEMIC RACISM.

Podcasts by Black creators are not meant to be consumed only after a video of a Black person being attacked is released or during Black History Month, but rather every day. There is no quick fix to systemic racism.

There is only constant and truthful reflection of our own actions and the ways that we need to fight for communities whose voices are oppressed racially, economically, educational, and more.

The Civil Rights movement was

not solely about race but also addressed educational rights and worker’s rights, among other things. While there are parallels between Black Lives Matter and the Civil Rights Movement, one thing is strikingly different: there are no clear national leaders of BLM. There are many local leaders scattered across different cities, industries, and generations. While they are important figures in their communities, it often feels like the Black community is missing the

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powerful and popular voices of unity that carried the Civil Rights Movement at speeches and during protests. Now, we have social media. Organizing, protesting, educating, and representing look different now than they did then. But out of the pain we faced in 2020, leaders were awakened in a generation of young people who refused to accept the old order of things. These leaders will enter government, business, media, and social work, and reimagine our institutions.

THE BODY

Because Black People are Catching Pneumonia

by Kerstan Nealy

“When White people catch the cold, Black people catch pneumonia.”

As America continues to adapt and respond to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, this saying has been at the forefront of conversations surrounding the heightened exposure of medical inequalities.

However, those conversations are not complete without an acknowledgment of how Black American health activism has changed and bettered the healthcare experiences of Black Americans. This work briefly lays out how some Black American health activists have fought against “pneumonia,” and in doing so, have challenged a broader system of American racism and oppression.

What is Black American health activism? I define Black American health activism as activism that represents an effort on the part of Black individuals to oppose conditions that are injurious to the health and well-being of Black communities. It should be noted, however, that Black American health activism has often been intersectional, reaching beyond racial lines to assist non-Black low-income communities and other minority communities (that may or may not be enveloped under Blackness: LGBTQ, Latino, etc). Black American health activism has acted as a form of resistance against a state that historically has both heavily monitored and punished Black bodies while systematically neglecting Black communities and futures.

The Black Panther Party for Self-Defense (BPP) would establish community-centered health care centers in the 1960s and 70s that became essential to the party’s mission to create a new way of interacting in which marginalized people controlled their narratives and bodies. This dedication to understanding health activism as vital to their mission of justice is reflected in this 1972 addition to the BPP’s 10 point action plan: “Completely free healthcare for all black and oppressed people'' (Black Panther Party, 1972).

Local chapters of the BPP were asked to form free healthcare clinics and these People’s Free Medical Clinics were places of health care that heavily followed a community-centered approach. The People’s Free Medical Clinics were sites of open communication, valuing physician-patient interactions and encouraging patients to be well versed in their care. The disfigurement of the traditionally hierarchical relationship between patient and doctor reflects the desire of the BPP to ensure that equality was a mainstay in every medical interaction.

Two of the lasting legacies of the health activism of the BPP were its focus on sickle cell anemia testing and its introduction of a large scale free breakfast program. Noting the disproportionate impact of sickle cell disease on Black communities, the BPP performed wide-scale educational and testing efforts for sickle cell.

Additionally, The Free Breakfast for Children program provided free breakfast to a mass amount of people before federal programs were implemented to do the same. The Free Breakfast for Children Program remains a testament to the effectiveness of community organizing, and attention to community health, in the face of government inaction. When we speak of the Black Panther Party ,we should emphasize that its radical nature came from the very fact that in America, it is radical to suggest that Black people, especially that poor Black people, deserve freedom from state brutality and neglect. This understanding of state brutality and neglect would not have been complete without a focus on how health care can and does function as a tool of oppression.

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"COVID-19 HAS MADE THE QUESTION, 'DO BLACK LIVES MATTER IN HEALTHCARE?' PART OF NATIONAL CONVERSATIONS" COVID-19 has made the question, “Do Black lives matter in healthcare?” part of national conversations that are pushing for the visibility of Black lives in medicine and health policy. However, I do not believe that enough of an emphasis on health and intersectionality is present within BLM. I am unsure where the organization will go in the future, and different city chapters handle matters in various ways. What I would like to see though, is a greater emphasis on Black liberation through explicit health activism. In working toward liberation in those ways, I believe that organizations like Black Lives Matter could more fully display the intersectionality that should be at the heart of all liberation. In the Black Panther Party, I see a possible road map utilizing the same mediums that have made Black Lives Matter so successful.

What does the future of Black American health activism look like, then? To that, I don’t have an answer. What I do believe though is that we are headed toward a period in our history where the only path to liberation is forward and that to go forward, we must overcome “pneumonia.” Black American health activists have been at the forefront of this struggle. For that, I thank them.

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This piece is dedicated to Black American health activists, medical professionals, and all those who have worked toward the dream of medical equality past, present, and future.

The Woman Who Helped Heal the World: Kizzmekia Corbett

by Denise Kyeremeh

One of the best parts about Black History Month is seeing the merchandise in stores across the United States. The slogans printed across black t-shirts with red and yellow lettering that read “every month is Black History Month” and “Black history is now,” are particularly cliché, yet true. Our current history is just as important as our past history. It is guiding us into our future, allowing us to chase bigger and brighter dreams.

National Institute of Health scientist, Dr. Kizzmekia Corbett, is garnering attention across the world for doing just that. Corbett, 35, is a North Carolina native who graduated as a Meyerhoff scholar from the University of Maryland Baltimore County. She later returned to North Carolina to obtain her Ph.D. in microbiology and immunology from UNC Chapel Hill.Corbett has been instrumental in the creation of the COVID19 vaccine. Since January 2020, she and her

team at NIH’s Vaccine Research Center worked tirelessly to help develop the Moderna vaccine. Her contribution was not born from a sporadic moment of revelation but from a lifetime of commitment to her craft. Her earlier research on other coronaviruses prepared her for the feat of creating a vaccine that is over 90% effective during a global pandemic.

Her recognition is important for many reasons, but especially because the Black community has always suffered abuse from the medical and scientific fields. In 1932, 600 Black men participated in a study at Tuskegee University being told they would receive treatments for “bad blood” which was a term that described in part, syphilis.

Not only were the men not given treatment, when penicillin became an acceptable treatment for the disease decades later but also researchers did not offer it to the participants.

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This mistreatment persists today.

According to the CDC, Black mothers in the United States die at the highest rate compared to any other racial group. Bias costs Black mothers and babies their lives in our hospitals during what is supposed to be, a sacred time.For now, the COVID vaccine is expected to reduce the severity of the coronavirus which has impacted the Black community disproportionally.

Corbett told ABC News she stands by the work she has done.“This person who looks like you has been working on this for several years,” she said.Her fame will last longer than 15 minutes. Her name will be written in history books.

This contemporary history-maker’s story is important for all people to know. Black history curriculums in schools vary across the United States and mainly emphasize figures from the past. While it’s important that we recognize the men and women who helped create the society we live in today, we must also acknowledge those who are changing our systems and creating a more equitable future. Doing so inspires the next generation and allows us to recognize and fix the struggles that still exist because of the institutionalized racism the United States was founded on.

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THE SOUL

Angela Davis: Fighter, Educator, Icon

by Jeremiah Holloway

Every February, students in primary school get the rundown of the household names within Black history. We all recognize these names and their life stories: Rosa Parks. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. George Washington Carver. Harriet Tubman. The occasional misrepresentation of Malcolm X. It is important to continue honoring the contributions of these iconic figures. However, there are far more leaders within Black history that fail to be mentioned in school books or discussed in class. One could spitball a multitude of names that everyone should know, but I’ll highlight one in particular: Angela Davis.

The daughter of an NAACP member, Davis hailed from Birmingham, Alabama, and became a pivotal voice during the 1960s and 70s. She was a member of both the Black Panther Party and the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee, or SNCC, during the Civil Rights Movement. She also joined the Communist Party in Los Angeles, which led to her being fired from her role as an educator at UCLA. After she was reinstated, however, her contract was not renewed because of her involvement with the Soledad Brothers, a group of three Black men who were charged with murdering a prison guard. She led many protests to help fight the inconsistency in the criminal justice system.

Later in life, Davis taught at San Francisco State University and the University of California Santa Cruz. She went on to publish many books and essays and continued to give many speeches.

Given her passion for racial justice and equity for Black people, I was surprised to not even know her name until I watched the 13th documentary in college.The documentary shows her on trial for her alleged involvement in the kidnapping and murder of Judge Harold Haley in 1970. After more than one year of being incarcerated, she was released on bail and continued to establish her legacy as an activist.

Knowing she was one of the ten most wanted people on the FBI’s list, she raised her Black Power fist in front of everyone and walked away from the trial with freedom.

Walking into the courtroom rocking the afro was a powerful statement itself, and this move alone made me more interested in her mission.

Davis knew some of the victims from the 16th Street Baptist Church Bombing in 1963. She understood what it felt like to hear the tragedy occurring in her community. Reality set in that some of her family saw the limbs of those young girls at the site of the bombing. She understood that her parents had to keep guns in their home to protect themselves from outside threats because of the racial climate they lived in. Experiences like those unlocked the radical spirit inside of Davis that propelled her to continue fighting against oppression.

As important of a leader as she became in the 1960s, there is no reason for her name not to be mentioned with the more well-known icons of the Civil Rights Movement.

The lack of education provided in schools about Davis speaks to the greater whitewashing of Black history. Her trial at the time was heavily discussed and a pivotal moment in history, as her acquittal was a rare win for Black America in the courtroom.

Perhaps her story is seen as controversial, but much of history possesses controversial figures and moments. It is up to the curriculums to present information relevant to the country’s history, rather than glossing over many critical events in one of its most important movements.

Sadly, there are many others in Davis’ position.

Fortunately, Davis did not fight for personal recognition, but rather the betterment of the Black community in the United States.

As Davis is still living at the age of 77, it is crucial that we give her the flowers she deserves while she can still smell them.

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MLK; Religion, Racism, and Radicalism

by Kiara Wilkerson

Martin Luther King Jr. is someone that we all grew up learning about, especially during Black History Month. He was a vital leader in the civil rights movement and his principles still resonate with the community of Black activists today. As the need for social and political activism remains constant, many people are looking back to our key historical figures, such as King, for reference. However, most of the information that we are provided with about MLK does not encapsulate his true nature and opinions when it comes to the fight for equality. This article will go deeper into the specific factors that played a part in how his firm beliefs were developed.

Due to his upbringing in the church as a result of his dad being a pastor, MLK followed in his footsteps and led a congregation comprised of only thirteen people.

From a religious perspective, he believed that racism needed to be countered because it was not a part of God’s will. His specific religious beliefs were grounded in the philosophy of personalism, which describes God as being personal and in possession of dignity that cannot be taken away, no matter the person. With these views, he reasoned that Black people should be treated with dignity because we are inherently created with it. After basing his views in this philosophy, he then realized that his solution to the problem of injustice also had to be founded on his religion. This led to a fight grounded in love, peace, and forgiveness, but also true justice. The combination of all of these things is how we get to the concept of civil disobedience.

MLK is mostly known for his strong belief in civil disobedience and his overall emphasis on remaining peaceful, even in the face of fierce adversity. The reason that he urged Black people to stay peaceful even when experiencing discrimination was because he strongly believed that hate only leads to more hate, even if it is in the form of “justified” revenge. This would cause a never-ending cycle of hatred from both parties and nothing substantial would ever be accomplished in the fight for equality.

For\this reason, he actually was not very popular with Black Americans of that time as they saw civil disobedience as being weak and submissive when they instead needed to be tough and resilient. It is interesting to note this attitude because it seems as if this idea that we need to cause destruction in order to get our point across has changed in modern times. Now, a lot of movements for justice are rooted in civil disobedience, with looting and vandalizing being strictly looked-down upon as it only causes more problems for our community.

On the topic of the contemporary thoughts about MLK, there have been many emerging thoughts that he was a somewhat radical capitalist who wasn’t all that great for the Black community. I’ve done a bit of research, and based on his speeches and letters to his staff, that does not seem to be true. Most of his speeches include him speaking on the radical redistribution of wealth and economic and political power to people of color. In one of his speeches, he even compared the evils of capitalism to that of racism. It’s easy to misconstrue the genuine beliefs of people in the past, especially those who can no longer defend themselves. However, Martin Luther King Jr. appears to be true in his concern and want for the progression of the Black community.

A prominent leader in the ongoing fight for racial equality, Martin Luther King Jr. is someone whose legacy will live on for centuries. His ideals and rhetoric are important subjects that we should all recognize and appreciate, and not just during Black History Month.

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The Community: Building Blackness

by Salena Braye-Bulls

On my favorite podcast, The Read, there’s a segment in which the hosts read and discuss listeners’ letters. They’re often about messy life situations, trials of young adulthood and advice on self-care in these unprecedented times. A few weeks ago, this segment featured a letter from a passing young woman who had grown up believing she was white – and naturally identified as white – but had recently learned from her white mother that her biological father was Black. She asked for advice on how to navigate this new racial space she found herself in and how to proceed as someone with a crater where their sense of self once was. This listener was grappling with a question that seems very simple yet has its own revelations and complexities: What does it mean to be Black? As we discuss Black excellence more now than ever before, it’s important that we work to conceptualize our community’s breadth to recognize the diversity of our own community.

Race is a social construct that isn’t rooted in or supported by genetics. However, some do

consider racial identification and understanding to be a nature vs. nurture situation. With race as a social construct in mind, it makes sense that in many cases, race is socialized. As explained by Dr. Amber A. Hewitt, we learn about race from other people (often because we have to), and these teaching practices and learning environments have an incredible influence of how we perceive ourselves racially. At times, these influences aren’t exactly congruent. For multiracial people whose maternal and paternal families are of different races, family time can be a major contributing factor in how they experience race socialization. For example, children with one Black parent and one white parent may feel caught between two worlds not only because of their mixed heritage, but also because race may occupy different roles on either familial side.

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A child in such a household may acquire a certain perception of what it means to “be white” from one set of family members, but may pick up certain behaviors that “feel Black” from the other set. Schools play major roles in racial socialization too. Black students that have historically attended white schools may have a unique perspective on their racial identity because of how their Blackness was shaped by the environmental context of a school. This perspective may feel conflicting or be affirming.

Local communities are also very influential. I grew up in Tuskegee, Alabama which is a very small town that’s about 97% Black. My own personal construct of Blackness is deeply sculpted by my home, church and neighbors there. In my own case, being Black was an immersive experience as a child.

Though environmental influences are extremely significant to how we construct Blackness, there’s another layer that we must consider. Race isn’t biological, but people judge, determine or perceive race as rooted in physical characteristics.

Skin color. Lips. Nose. Eyes. Hair. These judgements are instantaneous, conditioned, and part of society. These features are often indicative of shared ethnic heritage – which can be powerful tools of identity and pride – but oppressive racial categorizations of people based on their physical traits are never alright. Ideas about what physical traits make someone Black center around phenotypic expression. I’m not a pre-med student but my extremely limited BIO 101 expertise informs me that “phenotypic” simply refers to what something “looks like”. To some, Blackness must always look a certain way; it must be discernible and clear. In a way, it has to be complete – you should be able to pass by them and confidently think “Yeah, they Black” without hesitation. For others, it may go deeper.

In the United States, the “one-drop rule” is still the hallmark indicator ofBlackness identification.

In such cases, if someone “looks white” but had a Black great grandmother, some will only think of them as being Black even if they have absolutely no connection to Blackness. This is all further complicated by colorism, texturism and privileges that come with having greater proximity to whiteness. If the white-passing young woman who wrote into The Read chooses to delve into the Black community, she’ll have to acknowledge that her Black reality is far different from other non-passing community members.

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Race isn’t biological, but people judge, determine or perceive race as rooted in physical characteristics.

My personal connection to Blackness is based in not only my personal experiences but also my shared experiences with my Black friends from Alabama, North Carolina, and beyond).Now, we are in no means a monolith – my ethnically Black American culture is not interchangeable with my Ghanaian, Nigerian, or Ethiopian friends’ cultures or vice versa – but we do bond over our anchors to Blackness. We groan together when our mothers tell us that we’re eating leftover spaghetti again, give hilarious cultural commentary on Twitter, and we make eye contact when people just have to play devil’s advocate in questionable seminar discussions.

We are always aware of employees trailing us in stores, hyperconscious of police presence and we never let a single microaggression go unnoticed. We are grounded in Blackness, and it is Blackness that lifts us up. Blackness is not a definite idea that can be spelled out for anyone. It is deeply personal, shared, felt, and known. Being Black is a racial identity, but it is also an experience that cannot be invalidated. I cannot say what it solidly “means to be Black”, but I do know it means the world to me. Happy Black History Month.