Negating Black: A Horrible Legacy

Of all the things to choose to pass down to future generations...

"Beautiful Girl" Photo Courtesy of Google

Black American's have a very indifferent relationship and history with this day of celebration. Most of my youth is filled with memories of meeting up at my grandmother's house to do the standard BBQ family affair.  Not once do I ever remember anyone ever discussing the fact that we were "celebrating" a day that at it's inception didn't actually include us.  Our history here seems to have always been intertwined with the notion that we should always participate in all things considered "American" regardless of whether it willingly or even favorably represented or included us in a seemingly futile attempt to prove that we are true/real Americans.

No wonder there are so many Black people in the news these days making a choice to lessen or completely disavow the fact that they (like a lot of the African Diaspora around the world) are descended from Africans that were enslaved in this independent America by Europeans. Enslavement isn't the only history that Black Americans can embrace from our African ancestral culture. Most Black African descendants today are from many different cultures around the world. The unfortunate thing that connects us all is the fact that in all of our varied locations-- the African culture is the one that is selected to be diminished for those that embrace a shame that rightfully belongs to a European ancestry.

America is the land of opportunity, uncertainty and contradiction. Black people have been universally relegated to feeling ashamed for being victimized and then expected to appreciate and pledge allegiance to their oppressors creations without question.

The subliminal and overt expectations for Black people to devalue and disassociate ourselves from our ancestors likeness and heritage in our mangled American struggle for true independence in order to fit into a whitened society is used to keep us off balance and on the defensive. It is not necessary to disassociate and it is actually imperative that we don't if we are truly to participate in this independence that we have been "celebrating" for so many years.