i have never been a fan of History. from as early as elementary school, i learned that when people said "History" they really only meant theirs and not mine. by junior high school it was clear that my own history—that is, the history of people who are Black and American like me, in so far as U.S. History textbooks were concerned...
so i finally got to see Black Panther again ( #WAKANDAFOREVER AHHHHHH–) and am now at a Starbucks basking in the afterglow of the movie, about to attempt to herd my thoughts into a more coherent cacophony of words than exists in my head at present. wish me luck.
anonymous said: It’s because people want to be able to blanket their inclusivity. Though trying to repurpose something that already has a specific meaning is not the way to go about it. Instead of co-opting, one should create. (re: this post) i agree that there often seems to be a general lack of effort and / or consideration behind attempts at inclusivity that make use of overgeneralizations. that said, it’s not always a matter of something being co-opted or appropriated, as is the case here with these flags as all of the flags in the posts in question were made by black people. i’m afraid that i see a lot of young black Americans doing the very thing that i spoke of in that post, which is part of the reason that i’m so confused and admittedly frustrated by this…
all too often people take for granted the fact that they know their family history, can trace their heritage and are able to identify as a member of an ethnic group (or ethnic groups) with any sort of conviction beyond appearance.
