Am I Black Enough For You?

Well, this has been one interesting week, hasn’t it? During an interview with Charlamagne Tha God, Presidential candidate Joe Biden told him verbatim: "If you have a problem figuring out whether you're for me or Trump, then you ain't Black." In which Charlamagne responded back verbatim: “It don't have nothing to do with Trump, it has to do with the fact -- I want something for my community." Now this exchange here blew up all over the media headlines AND social media as well with different responses coming from all sides. Black people were outraged stating that a White person like Joe Biden has absolutely NO right to tell a Black person about what makes them “Black.” And I definitely agree. As a Black man, I don’t ever in my life want to hear someone from another race question my Blackness. That right there is a fight waiting to happen. But, a funny thing crossed my mind as all of this was going on. We as Black people are infamous for questioning another Black person’s “Blackness” as well and no one tends to blink an eye. Like it’s perfectly ok to do. What makes YOU any Blacker (in character, not skin complexion) than the next person? When you see a Black athlete dating or marrying a White woman or a woman of a different race, we tend to call him a “sellout“ or that he isn’t “Black”. We see Black people talk proper English and write with proper grammar and we say they are talking “White”. We see Black people dress in certain clothing and we also call them “sellouts” or say they aren’t “Black” or they are trying to “be something they are not.” And it seems like it is perfectly acceptable. I’ve never had anyone question my “Blackness” (well, at least not in my face) and sometimes I would ask why? Then I think to myself, “is it because I have always fit what the Black Community standards are? Because I used to wear my clothes “baggy”? Because I was a hip hop head? Because I dated Black women? Because I was huge into my Black History and social issues going on? Because my crew was Black? Why was my Blackness never questioned whereas one of my good friends in high school’s was? He spoke proper, he dated and liked White women, he wore clothes that most Black people in school and the hip hop videos never wore. He liked all sorts of music and never limited himself to one genre. He was ten shades darker than me and was always teased as being a “sell out” or a “White boy“ in “Black skin”. He was still one of the coolest, most down to earth people you could ever meet and he was damn proud to be “Black”. Today, I am as diverse as they come (I was back then, too, but more so today). I love all shades and races of women, I listen to every genre of music, my style of clothes differs, I hang out with people of all races, not all police are bad, so does that take my “Blackness” down a notch even though I still stay heavy into my Black History and social injustice issues?

It’s interesting how, we are so quick to come to the defense of our own when the opposing side is another race (murder, racism, injustice, prejudice, etc.), but we stay quiet when it comes to our own people doing the same. Cops or a White person kill a Black man, we’ll march, preach, and make our voices known, but when a Black person attacks or kills another Black person, other than the deceased person’s family, at that point we don’t blink an eye and sweep it under the rug. So, back to the topic at hand. It’s ok for a Black person to question another person‘s “Blackness”, right? Wrong! If there is anything we really need to start working on, it’s being on the same page and prospering instead of internally trying to tear each other down. We’re too beautiful of a people to be acting like that towards our own. Ok, now I’m done rambling.