Black Is Not A Bad Word

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While Black History Month has just ended (Black History is everyday.. but that’s a rant for another post) I just want to clarify something. Black is not a bad word. You can say black.

I am a black woman. Black is my race. Black is my skin. Black is a commonality I share with a lot of other black people. I feel that there is this uncomfortable-ness out there with referring to black people as black. You see that uncomfortable moment with someone who is trying to describe someone else using any other word than black. You can say black.

There’s also what some might consider a lack of education, ignorance or perhaps sheer confusion around black people in North America. I am not African-American.I once had to give the history of what being African-American means to a group of university-educated people. It was rough.

That being said, the easiest way I can explain it is this. There are a lot of black people who originate from different places in the world and different continents but we all share the physical attribute of being black. Within our black race, we span a multitude of ethnicities and cultures. Black is our race, and it was shamed way too long for us not to be proud of it.

We are black. We are beautiful. We are proud.

BLACK