The ‘New Black’ Mentality Is Causing More Harm Than Good, So Please Black Celebrities, Do Better [View all]

[KamaAina]

Last edited Mon Mar 23, 2015, 03:27 PM - Edit history (1)

http://hellobeautiful.com/2015/03/22/why-black-celebrities-should-be-black-activists/

Last year Pharrell Williams, in an interview with Oprah, declared that he was a proud member of the “New Black.” In his contrived version of reality, “New Black” people do not blame “other people” for their problems. Instead, they assert themselves in society and probably chase that good ol’ American Dream.

Last year Raven-Symoné demanded that she not be seen as “African-American,” but rather just American. She also informed us all of her “interesting grade of hair,” as she aimed to negate her Blackness. This week she essentially defended a former Univision host who compared Michelle Obama to an ape. Hip-hop artist Common also informed us that Black people can end hundreds of years of racism and systematic oppression by extending a “hand of love,” to White people.

I would ask Kanye West to snatch all their mics, but to be honest, his recent declarations that “we” shouldn’t focus on racism, leads me to believe he is on this train of “New Blacks” as well. Destination: White acceptance.

Full disclosure: To many White people, from the distance, I am their Black friend dream-come-true. My middle-class, highly educated, slightly-English influenced way of speaking and all in the slim-privileged body of a polite Nigerian girl, probably meets the ideology of a respectable Black person. I am more Lupita Nyong’o than K. Michelle and they like that.