BLM #2

Something I thought to be interesting in both our discussion and from the book, Making All Black Lives Matter by Barbara Ransby is the question of, what it means to be unapologetically black. This term, to be unapologetically black was coined by Fresco Steez and is a term that has been used in BLM activism and something that has inspired many. To be unapologetically black means to be your true self and embrace your blackness and could have multiple meanings depending on the individual. To embrace where you came from, and who you are now. In Making All Black Lives Matter, it discusses this term in its coordinance with success and says, “In fact, success sometimes depends on their proving themselves “different” and apart from the mass of ordinary Black people. That distancing can be both physical and psychological.” (97) Discussed here, the idea that in society,  the success of Black people is sometimes how they prove themselves in society. How they could be like the ordinary, and how they have to stray away from their Black identity. Whereas, this could come from physical attributes or mental attributes to make them fit in to describe their success. The idea of being unapologetically black, strays away from the “fitting in” narrative, and accepting your culture and defining success on your own terms. This term also rejects the idea of being embarrassed of your culture and identifying with your heritage to a certain extent. The book also goes on to discuss what this term means more in depth.
“Unapologetically Black also tests the limits of the generic, amorphous, and sometimes confounding political category “people of color,” which covers a vast range of diverse experiences, cultures, national identities, phenotypes, and, most important, relations to power and oppression.” (98)
This passage attests to the fact that being unapologetically Black means to identify with your national identity and culture and do not let what society has made oppress your identity or try and stray away from whom you are as a person.

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