I am Black, but I am not...
Being Black comes with too many assumption about an individual's identity.
This video cuts to the chase. Blackness too often comes with assumptions about a persons identity.
Most of these assumptions are negative, and are generally based on negative stereotypes, some of which have their origins in a racist and oppressive culture, a narrative that sees black people as violent and dangerous , others come from inside the black community itself, where the idea of being ''black" comes with very restrictive rules.
We know this all too well in South Africa. If you speak well, enjoy certain types of music that fall outside of what is defined a acceptably black then you could be called a coconut, so on and so forth. Both conscious and unconscious negative stereotyping rears its ugly head daily. Blatant racism is common. The latter is easier to identify and react to, the former types, the assumptions around your identity that are used to measure your blackness or whiteness, a lot harder to spot, but they are equally corrosive, and insidious.
Watch the video! It brilliantly explores this idea of blackness, and how black identity if formed, and how it is often prescribed by these negative ideas around black identity, from both outside and inside the black community.