Thank you Janelle Monae for the incredible song ‘Crazy Classic Life‘!
And for helping me be able to express what I feel the need to say, as a black person from America. Traveling these past few years to variest places in the world has been an adventure. I love it because it gives me prosective, challenges me, and excites me in ways that I didn’t dare think were possible.
The little shy, misunderstood, fat black girl in me is still in awe of all the things that I have done in my time overseas.
Though the almost 40 year old me is a touch more stotic and plenty more tired of having the same situations, hearing and seeing the same conversations around her when it comes to being black.
I no longer say African American. For so many reasons, but mainly due to the fact that I feel by adding ‘African’ is entirely inaccurate, since I have never in my life touched down on African soil. Also, I feel that folks expect me to put the word ‘African’ in front of American when I tell them where I am from because only those that fit their ideal stereotype of what an ‘American’ should look like don’t when asked the same question.
But –
That last part will have to be further discussed over on my channel someday!
Back to my ‘Crazy Classic Life’.
Using all the social medias and mixed media outlets that I can, including my budding Soprano Musings Photography, I have decided to make this year (and each one after, if I am being completely honest – lol) the year of #TheAmericanCool.
Nearly everything we as black people do in American is cool. We built the America that so many are still trying to deny us. Our fashion is ‘ghetto’ until a designer ‘premiers’ it during Fashion Week. Our features are too over the top, unnatural, until they are carved onto some ‘European’ in your lastest magazines. Our self love is too laughable, until those they know stop simply lusting over us and fall in love with us too.
Yet there are still folks out here spreading around misleading and downright dangerous information about being black on Al Gore’s internet and I am done seeing it. If you are creating content on whatever social medias that you have and are doing this, I will not bother with naming you. You know you are trash, and that’s on you. Though I will advise you to at the very least, the miminum level of being a resemblance of a human being, to place a disclaimer on your content to remind your viewers that you are in fact, NOT a black person and are not someone whose thoughts and opinions they should seriously consider when viewing your content about being black.
In fact, I will double down on all that as your brain processes it and give you these lovely disclaimers that you can easily translate and add to your videos, blogs, podcast, etc.
As I approach my final few months in South Korea, I want to spread this message in the most diplomatic way as possible. Though even as I type this, I know it’s going to be met with some bullshit. And this is the only Public Service Announcement that I will issue in response to that: If you come to me with the nonsense, you will be met with indifference that will not sit well with you in the end.
Ask yourself these simple questions:
- Why does what Soprano Musings has said bothers me?
- What about Soprano Musings appearance upsets me?
- Where does my opinion on ‘the black experience’ come from?
- Why do I feel the need to have a say on black history as someone who is not black?
I will get back to talking about my final months here in the TaLK program, but I wanted to address this topic before going forward.
See you soon Musings!
–Soprano Musings
Soprano Musings Abroad! 