This one has been churning around in my head for a while. I was hesitant to post it, and I think it could be cleaner, but whatever.
I'm not black, but a friend of mine is an African American in the same way that I'm Asian American. Identity is tough for everyone, including children of immigrants. To compound the issue, names and phrases often used to talk about identity in our everyday lives are often vague. Back to my friend. He doesn't consider himself black, because of his direct link to his African heritage. In his mind, American blacks are people that are descendants of slaves and have a culture that is distinct from his parent's culture. Similarly, though I am an American and my parents are from the Philippines, I don't generally identify as Asian American, because to me, that is a culture that has developed primarily in California and to a lesser degree, in areas with a lot of Asian people from many cultures intermingling, often for generations. That does not describe my experience, nor does the experience of American black culture describe the experience of my friend. In the end, it's about how we choose to identify ourselves vs. how organizations attempt to identify groups of people, even when those groups might be to some degree imaginary.
My mom is of mexican decent and my father of german. When I check a box on a census form, I'm supposed to check "hispanic". I relate to my mexican heritage as much as I do my german, which is not that much. I'm neither. I'm an American. Growing up my father told me I was a germican. I always liked that... I'd check that box.
I have always said that culture or even nationality are not labels that identify you, they are labels that you identify with. When someone 'complements' you by saying you are not black they have an internal impression of what the label 'Black' means. You take offence to this as you identify yourself with 'Black' and your impression of what that means is very different. As someone on the outside looking in the '*-american' terms that Americans use to describe themselves has always fascinated me. Would I be 'Irish-American' if I lived there? When someone uses that term to describe me what does it really mean. Do the connotations attached to it represent me? I would imagine like all blanket terms it would be incorrect as often as it was correct. As an honest question what is the difference between the 'African-American' label and the 'Black' label? Where would one apply but not the other?
I'm not so sure I agree with this. Growing up as a half black person raised by my white mother and with no knowledge of the "black" half of my family, it's definitely news to me that I'm only black because I choose to identify that way. I guess it's just coincidence that everyone else in my surroundings chooses to identify me as black? I certainly don't feel that I ever made the choice to be.
Everyone else chose to identify you as black, but is that how you identify yourself? I guess when you can be identified physically as "probably" belonging to one group then that is what others will label you as. I think my argument breaks down when the culture crosses racial lines as it becomes possible for strangers to place you in one box or another on sight without interacting with you. As you say, you wont be afforded a choice in the matter. I guess my main experience in this is the division between religious groups here in Ireland where you cannot tell by sight or accent (at least not 100%) what culture a person belongs too. In the the recent past being part of the wrong religious group in the wrong part of the country could get you killed. My argument that culture is something you identify with is flawed in many way but there is a grain of truth in there trying to hide.
Third space! lil (eightbitsamurai, great piece. Always a pleasant surprise here to read something you enjoy and then notice the author is also the user who posted it.)I don’t have many friends who agree. Most of them don’t listen to hip-hop, and those that do only like a particular artist or album. In fact, I've had to resort to the internet to discuss hip-hop with others who love the genre as much as I do.
To put it simply, I’d like to be whatever I damn well please, and let my actions speak for my personality. Not my skin color.
That's the money line of this piece. We grow into our skin. With time, we feel comfortable and at ease in the skin we're in. We feel as entitled as anyone else to breathe the air, to breathe the air, to breathe.
He gets bonus points for mentioning Shad and Kendrick in one article. Two of the best in hip hop right now.
Oh right on. Great work eightbitsamurai - definitely share you're rap taste.
I just heard him the first time the other day and was blown away. I posted Remember to Remember right after.
Have you heard his interview on CBC? Great analysis of each track! Love the album - but nothing will beat TSOL for me. One of my favourite albums ever.