Given the recent article we read for homework (yes I know I’m blogging about the homework, ew) I felt inspired to discuss it further because I feel as if Wesley Morris touched up on a very important issue concerning African Americans.

In Wesley Morris’ “Rise of the NBA Nerd: Basketball Style and Black Identity” he discusses how the portrayal of African American NBA players have changed over time and why. While we already discussed this in class I felt as if we didn’t touch up on an important part of the article which was Black Identity.

I was recently discussing this with one of my close friends as well in my AFAM class actually which is the issue many African Americans face: our identity. As society as often portrayed us to fit certain stereotypes, we have unfortunately taken in those stereotypes in our communities and have used them as the standard for what an African American is.

I recall a girl in my class describing how though she lived and attended a school in the suburbs and while many of her fellow black classmates did as well, she found a handful of them to act a certain way. She described how her friends would purposely act “ghetto” and as if they were from the “hood” when they weren’t at all. It’s these issues of identity many of us African Americans face, that if we don’t act a certain way or come from a certain area we aren’t “black” enough.

What I love about Morris’ article though is that it combats these stereotypes and shows the diversity in what African Americans can be. He mentions pivotal characters such as Carlton from Fresh Prince of BelAir and the Huxtables from The Cosby Show. While to you these may seem like any characters, to us these characters display what Africans Americans can be. We can attend prep schools and live luxurious lives. We can be doctors, and lawyers, and dentists and dominate higher level professions. Morris also states that “there are people who never thought they’d see a black American president”, and that also goes along with it. The fact that being the President of the United States is something that was never really associated or a possibility for African Americans.

Unfortunately while I have always personally believed that I could truly achieve any profession of my liking despite the color of my skin, that is not a reality for many African Americans. The “hood” stereotype has sadly been the epitome for Africans Americans for so long that it’s become the only thing that many believe. That they cannot strive in the world, pursuing and behaving however they please without fearing the fact that because of just that they might be considered “not black enough”.

But just as Martin Luther King Jr. preached something all African Americans should say is that “I am black, but I am black and beautiful.” It is those words of self-love that will help us disassociate from the stereotype. Because not only are you beautiful, you are beautiful in everything you achieve and hope for in life. You are beautiful in all your diversity, you are beautiful because you are different and fearful of being just so.