Phenomenal! This is very much what I was after when I posed related questions for the September Q&A. The moment that sticks with me is Shelby Steele's point that reinvention is essential to survival, and "we're going to have to change what it means to black." Naturally, this entails a kind of sacrifice in the form of the loss of individual connections to a cultural legacy, but when framed this way, it also evokes great potential for the future.
Kmele is also correct to point out that invoking "we" and "us" often involves a sleight of hand, as it were. As someone who isn't neatly captured by the US census, I can't imagine ever using those words in a coherent way myself, except perhaps in reference to my family or my softball team.
Phenomenal! This is very much what I was after when I posed related questions for the September Q&A. The moment that sticks with me is Shelby Steele's point that reinvention is essential to survival, and "we're going to have to change what it means to black." Naturally, this entails a kind of sacrifice in the form of the loss of individual connections to a cultural legacy, but when framed this way, it also evokes great potential for the future.
Kmele is also correct to point out that invoking "we" and "us" often involves a sleight of hand, as it were. As someone who isn't neatly captured by the US census, I can't imagine ever using those words in a coherent way myself, except perhaps in reference to my family or my softball team.