I Don’t Look Black, but I’m 100% Black Excellence. Any Questions?
You can question my Blackness, but I know where I come from
I wear a “Black excellence” wristband most days, and if I got a dollar every time someone asked me one grating question, I wouldn’t need to work two jobs right now: “But are you Black?”
It’s frustrating mainly because there’s no one way to look or be Black. Honestly, even if I were as White as cucumber and mayo sandwiches on Wonder Bread — with no seasoning in sight — am I not allowed to support Black excellence? Why is it so confusing that someone you don’t “read as Black” would want to wear their support for Black people openly?
I’m a Brown mutt. My dad’s a European mixture (predominantly Hungarian), and my mom’s Puerto Rican to the bone. I also have some Black ancestry. Exactly how much is unclear, but like many Puerto Ricans, we know that at least some of our background is Black. I never know how to fill out documents that make me choose one race, I’ve been called just about every slur by racists, and I constantly wonder how I fit in with Black and Latinx communities.
I’ve been aware of being mixed and Brown as far back as I can remember, but it wasn’t until my first year in college when I lived in a Black diaspora-themed dorm — Ujamaa — that I really…
