Black people throughout America have a distinct variation in which we cope with our oppression. Some of us are consistently bitter towards the oppressor during our lifetime, some are passionate about building towards enlightenment and elevation as a culture, and some completely omit the truth of our struggles and decide to convert to the “new” black. My knowledge of this new way of living came to be when artist Pharrell Williams sat down in an interview with Oprah Winfrey and expressed that there is indeed a “new” black. It is blackness that “does not blame other races for our issues”. The new black is “not a pigmentation, it’s a mentality” and the “new” black people, “don’t find their confidence in a color, but in a mirror.” So because the “new” black does not blame other races for our issues, they furthermore disregard the actions of one race in particular… You know who they are. A race of people who must take ownership for dehumanizing, miseducating, and oppressing blacks in America. The ones utterly responsible for the agony black people endure in this country. We are far more advanced as a people than we were at the start of this American journey but it would be completely irrational to believe that a race of people, detached from self-enlightenment for hundreds of years, could repair themselves thoroughly in the midst of endless oppression. A good leap on progression could begin with artists like Mr. Williams, privileged and amongst the selected few blacks who have platforms to use their artistry to help evolve the culture. Unfortunately, their voices do not reflect the struggles of the mass of blacks, which should be the ultimate goal. It’s inadmissible to say that there should be a new black while being a potential representation of your people when you hardly ever publically exercised being any kind of black that black people needed. Without hesitation the “new” black should be the black that blacks need, not the black that is a “mentality” and allows the choice of perhaps only being black when necessary. Black is naturally pigmentation at its relatively purest. It is something that must be embraced for the life of both you and me. It is imperative to find confidence in our color considering the extent of hate that we have been taught to feel for looking the way we look. Rising to find and embrace self-love, this new “black” trend is not the answer. Living life without reflecting and acknowledging our conditions, what and why it is, will only continue to leave us blind. It is essential that we live our lives, blackly, not by Webster’s definition, but by defining our own once we’ve been awakened entirely to the truths and not the facts of our history.
