A Little Bit Of This. @alexia-maree - Tumblr Blog

Drippin’ candy on the ground.

Bloop.

ethiopienne

Essence Magazine’s February Covers Celebrate Black Girl Magic In The Best Way

journeyintotheendnight-blog

sirwhindleton-deactivated201305

okay, this is the cutest shit ever. dammit i cant stand it

searchingforsafespaces-deactiva

another always reblog, now and forever more.

legitimism

I’m the girlfriend who will stay awake all night rubbing your back as you sleep, just so you sleep well.

capacity

Not me. I got shit to do in the morning take a NyQuil

vanitycase131

Not me either. I’m the girlfriend asleep.

kaelaspeaks-deactivated20160522

Amandla Stenberg for Dazed & Confused Magazine August 2015

xalanaay-deactivated20160718

It makes me uneasy when American blacks wear traditionally African clothing from a region they are not from/aren’t raised in culturally. I see American blacks wearing dashikis and Kenyan tribal face paint/design and it just isn’t right to me because they are not from the region. Just because you’re black and genetically have recent roots in Africa doesn’t mean you have the right to appropriate culture from a region of Africa of your choosing. I know that American blacks were stripped of their choice to identify with the country that their ancestors were taken from, and it’s awful, but their roots are in America now, not “the motherland” or whatever some of yall call Africa. You’re American now, as much as it sucks; and it’s not your fault. As a Somali-American woman, seeing a white woman wearing a dirac or a bati or henna is just as offensive as seeing a black American woman wearing it.

If your interested, please read Americanah by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie about the point of view of Americanized African Blacks on American Blacks.

blackaudacity

Do you feel equally as uncomfortable when Africans speak using slang and language created by Black Americans? Do you feel the same when you see Nigerians, Ethiopians and others wearing fashion and styles that were created by Black Americans? Or listening to Hip-Hop and rap? Should Black Americans feel equally as uncomfortable when an African does these things, as we do when white, Asian, etc people do it?

Not being combative, I have been trying to develop my opinion on this for a a few months now, so when I come across an African person who feels this way, I always try to start a dialogue

smorgasurfbordt-deactivated2016

I am very invested in these types of conversation and hope this conversation grows.

I think it’s a very conflicting because… I’d hope some Africans aren’t genuinely, like, mad that Black Americans are trying to reestablish some kind of connection with Africa. Black American, Caribbean, and Afro Latinx culture have pretty clear ties to (West) Africa, so it makes sense that we’d turn to Africa for soul or root-searching. There’s a right way and a wrong way to do it, some folks do it wrong, but just trying? I mean, you can help them if it seems genuine, read ‘em if it seems like outright disregard, or mind your business and laugh about it with your friends.

vierge-noire

i’m probably going to get my ass kicked for saying this, but re: what blackaudacity brought up, i sincerely think most people don’t even consider black american culture a real culture. sure, we’ll all have fun dragging people like iggy for being a wannabe in general, but even still, to black africans at large, the culture that we americans built in america is not considered as sacred and pure as their own. we are still fully expected to share, because that’s just how things have always been, but we are NOT in any way worthy of the same protection from cultural appropriation because our culture is simply not legitimate to them.

this is why i honestly think nobody but american, descended-from-enslaved-peoples, plain ol’ blacks will understand what our condition is like: “I know that American blacks were stripped of their choice to identify with the country that their ancestors were taken from, and it’s awful, but their roots are in America now, not “the motherland” or whatever some of yall call Africa.”

like, i want people to reeaaaally read that and tell me honestly what they expect of black americans. our “roots” are in america now, a country founded on the bones of natives, toiled and built with the blood, sweat, and tears of our own. and they think we should just be happy here? don’t get me wrong, i’m nothing more than proud of how black americans were able to build something out of nothing and make history during our short time here, but it’s disturbing to me to read that, through no fault of our own, we are apparently expected to be completely satisfied with our dubious cultural ties to america as a country which is in itself a monument to not only our own oppression but also the oppression of countless other peoples. like, from the very beginning of our education we are taught that our history began with slavery. think of how that shapes our sense of self, or our sense of community. and once we realize that hey, maybe there was something there BEFORE the trans atlantic, our eagerness to belong to something bigger than a culture born out of constant oppression shows.

in a perfect world, yes, every black american trying to get back to their “roots” will be perfectly educated regarding different ethnic groups in africa, but the fact of the matter is, most of us aren’t and that’s not by accident. in our passionate grasping for any sense of history beyond slavery, we are messy, and i don’t doubt we end up stepping on a few toes. but i think to hold us, a people whose cultures were purposefully erased and diluted, in the same regard as any given white american who just likes to get henna tattoos for funsies is a great misunderstanding of the dynamic in which the black american exists. and to deny us our yearning for something we lost long ago is yet another way in which to deny us our humanity. it is the continued lack of empathy for the black american condition - the condition which will spawn cultural trends that everyone is able to partake in and commercialize at will even when they recoil in disgust at the the thought of uneducated american blacks getting their hands on anything of theirs.

dynastylnoire

Black American culture is always up for grabs to every and for everyone. The second any black americans begin to try to grasp at anything that involves black culture outside of america we’re reminded real quick that we are the step cousins that only get claimed at family reunions when it’s time to do the nay nay.