From the blog, Black 'n Bougie:
Sunday, July 12, 2009
WBFFD (What Bougie Folks are Forced to Do) – Defend our Blackness
Subtitled Adventures in BougieLand…
Okay, this is going to be lengthy but bear with me here. Being a person of color in America is an inexplicably complex state of being. Being Black or African-American adds another layer of complexity. I'm not complaining, just stating facts. Blackness, unlike political affiliation, class association or sexual preference cannot be lost or found, does not fade or waiver. If you are born black, you die black and there's nothing to debate. Old time black folks have a saying, "There are only two things I have to do in this life, that's stay black and die." (Other variations include staying black and paying taxes but that's a whole different post). I'll also take a moment to acknowledge the multi-racials who often aren't given a chance to declare their race one way or the other. The way this country works, once you are perceived as any part of black, you are lumped in here with the rest of us (sorry, Tiger).
In addition to the association of blackness vs. whiteness or any other race, an African-American also realizes that there are perceived levels of "blackness" within our own community. Bougie blacks have an even tougher path to walk. We face bias both inside and outside of the race. We have to be "non-black" enough for White America (well spoken, non-threatening, calm, educated) yet still "down" enough to hang with our own (talk the talk and walk the walk). How many jokes about Bryant Gumbel's "lack of blackness" have you heard? What makes him more or less black than anyone else? Does he really need to rock a FUBU shirt, hold a rib in one hand and drop quotes from the Jay-Z Songbook?
Here are just a few things I've noticed that seem to weigh in on the scales of blackness…
Speech – Chris Rock tells a joke in his HBO special, "Bring the Pain" about how the main stream media emphasized how Colin Powell "speaks so well." A large portion of my life has been spent trying not to wince when white people tell me, "You are SO well spoken." Think holding back the wince is hard? Try holding back the scowl when your own people ask you, "Why do you talk so white?" Argh! What is talking white? Using proper English and embracing all the syllables? What is talking black? Talking fast and lyrically with a lot of slang thrown in? If you can put English and Spanish together and get Spanglish, how about I put the Queen's English and Ebonics together to form Quebonics?
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