I’m tired of #blackexcellence
I log on to social media, and I am greeted with a black girl screaming in delight as she opens her acceptance letter to Howard. I read about a young couple in their mid-twenties, signing the closing papers to their brand new house in an Atlanta suburb. I see a post with the caption “make this go viral” — a young scientist discovered a breakthrough or cure to some disease or condition I had no idea existed. All of these posts have the hashtag “black excellence”.
I love seeing black people do big things.
It’s the tail end of black history month. As I enter my mid to late twenties, I’ve been consciously and deliberately centering black voices and black opinions more in my worldview. I love seeing black joy.
But I am tired of #blackexcellence. As much as black people boost each other up, sometimes our outlook on success seems to have whiteness at its axis. What white people think of us, proving them wrong, or right, or acknowledging them in any way, shape, or form, is the prerequisite in which we view black success. Why is #blackexcellence always about overcoming the odds that are often placed there because of systemic racism?
I know there are very real structural issues that issues of race and discrimination cause for us black people — that is not what I am disputing. These achievements in the face of our societal…
