
*Photo: Captured at the Saint Louis Art Museum
Call me Brown if you must characterize my identity by a color. All colors are beautiful, I have no problem representing such a rich hue. Brown is my color of choice, straddling the fence between red and yellow. Call me Brown, not black because it OFFENDS ME. Yes, being called Black is extremely offensive. Not because of the skewed American tradition of associative stereotype bias, equating Black to criminal, thief, liar, lazy, crazy, rude, and unintelligent. Don't call me Black because according to Webster the word Black means producing no predominant hue, having no light, being evil, sinister, soiled, cheerless, depressed, a failure, showing dishonor, and being angry. None of these accessible definitions bear any truth or similarity to the true nature of African Indigenous people. They represent an unfair and intentionally blinding veil blocking true perception. I will no longer allow myself to carry the crossed burden of undesired weight, making ascension impossible due to the heavy literary load. I actively choose to embody the wooden nailed cross, lamenting the brown-skin I carry.
Don't call me Black because everything Black I see is dead, but I am alive. I am the antithesis of Black Death, changing and dynamically evolving with each breath. Don't call me black because it OFFENDS ME. Does it offend anyone else?? Comment below if you feel the same.
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