The Myth of Black Culture

Throughout my life, because of of certain characteristics I hold – perhaps the result of a perceived atypical upbringing or something hereditary or some genetic mutation – people judged me as behaving differently to how they thought a black person should act. An obvious example of this is my participation in Symphony Orchestras for at least half of my life, and even my tone of voice. These aforementioned reactions are, in the perpetrator’s mind, justified, as these quirks of mine represent a deviation from a way I should act, a way all black people should act.

 ‘Lanre isn’t black at all,’ and another one of my friends was deemed ‘too black’.

I remember one time from my good ol’ days in secondary school when one of my close friends reported back to me on what seemed to be a rather backhanded comment from one of my other peers. ‘Lanre isn’t black at all’, they had said, and then decreed that another one of my friends was ‘too black.’ Despite the fact that we were kids at the time, so ignorance can be excused to a point, such a comment is important as it was after hearing it that I first came to understand a bit about the myth of ‘black culture.’ I’m convinced the child (now man) who uttered the statement isn’t a racist. He doesn’t believe that black people are inherently different to white people. Yet his barely-pubescent mouth worded a simulacra of societies’ thoughts and underlying faults. This myth that there is some kind of culture applicable to every black person presenting a certain way we should act, is like some kind of stop sign indicating no U-turn from this quasi post-colonialist dogmatism. This myth is more damaging to black people and society as a whole than conventional forms of discrimination like the various extremely questionable killings of black males by authority figures over the last few years in America.

Given how enflamed and active racial politics is due to events like Ferguson highlighting the fact that violent racially motivated acts do still happen in the 21st century, this article may seem insignificant or pedantic. I believe, however , that unlike relatively insular cases of violent acts committed against black males (which are few when compared to the black population, not to belittle the atrocity of even one Michael Brown being killed unjustly); this is more widespread. The language behind a statement like ‘You’re not black enough!’ tells us a lot more about our culture.

I don’t think that black people all around the world can be classified under one culture

Maybe it’s just me, but I’m of the belief that language is the most important component of society and culture. As such, by analysing language and its role in societal conceptualisation we can get a better understanding of ‘black culture.’ Okay, let’s start. I don’t think that ‘black culture’ really exists. I know, it may sound like a cop-out given how much I’ve gone on about it in the preceding paragraphs, but let me explain. I don’t think that black people all around the world can be classified under one culture. Culture is regional, religious – I accept that – but I don’t submit to the concept of ‘black culture’ in the same way that no one admits to a belief in ‘white culture.’ White people are everywhere; in Norway, Nicaragua and Nepal but I don’t think anyone would try and shroud them all under a sole, unifying ethnic culture. The personified characteristics of the myth can perhaps be best demonstrated tamely by the character of Will Smith in the Fresh Prince of Bel Air. Some kind of slick, 0.5 on the sides and 4 on the top haircut-wearing, jeans sagging, slang saying, womanising, Ot Genasis, Chief Keef- and Kanye-only listening individual.

I’m not saying all of these traits are bad. I love hip hop. I occasionally sag my trousers and once my barber gave me an extremely subpar skin fade but the ‘myth of black culture’ is that if a black guy does not possess these traits they somehow aren’t black anymore. The myth has been indoctrinated into people of all colours to varying degrees, but the fact that it exists at all is a factor that severely limits black people. Frantz Fanon, an important post-colonialist thinker, was perhaps the first to draw a connection between colonialisation and mental disease – what he called a ‘mental pathology’. While his work was rooted within the context of the Algerian war of independence, it is still relevant to what I’ve been talking about. He called it a ‘mass attack against the ego’ and I believe this has played a part in the concept of the much despised ‘house n****r,’ later ‘Uncle Tom’ and now the much more discrete: ‘You’re not black enough’ or ‘you’re too black.’ I describe this phenomenon as a disease because it is harmful to the minds of black people– it makes them limit their potential. It tells them that it’s better to be a Will Smith as opposed to a Carlton Banks, that liking philosophy or classical music somehow causes your skin colour to change.

I find this very confusing given that Quincy Jones was taught music theory by the same woman who had Daniel Barenboim as her student. No one would ever call Quincy Jones ‘not black.’ He is undoubtedly one of the most important figures in 20th and 21st century African-American culture.  I’m from a certain strand of Nigerian culture wherein I’ve always been pushed to do unconventional things. In my short time at Warwick I’ve met black poets, aspiring politicians and pianists, so it’s obvious that the ‘myth of black culture’ has its limits. There will always be black guys who break the mould and refuse to conform but until we, as a society, recognise the damage the myth can do, I doubt we’ll ever see as many in the vanguard of unconventional fields as we should.

Do you agree? Do you disagree?
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