Acceptable Blackness

blackness that is acceptable to white Americans, blackness that does not threaten them or make them feel uncomfortable (racist). 

Barack Obama is a good example. So is Halle Berry, Will Smith, Michael Jordan, any black person in an ad, everyone on “The Cosby Show” and that pretty black woman on the evening news (every big American city seems to have one). Tupac Shakur and Malcolm X are not acceptably black.

Acceptable blacks often talk, dress and act like well-to-do white people. What white senator Joe Biden meant when he said Obama was “articulate and bright and clean”. Being light-skinned helps, but not necessary. So does smiling. 

Angry Black Bitch (http://angryblackbitch.blogspot.com) has been hearing this sort of thing most of her life. She grew up going to a white school, speaking proper English and even dressing white. She was acceptably black. White people told her so in so many words:

“Acceptable blackness is defined as the absence of overt culture and of difference. It is a level of conformity that requires absolute perfection…
Achieve that perfection and your black ass is acceptable … to a bunch of trigger happy assholes that soothe their privileged guilt by letting you tag along, all the while prepared to lay down harsh and rigid judgment should your perfect mask crack.” How you have to give up so much of your blackness and pretty much sell out to achieve it.

That is why so many who are “acceptably black” to whites are told by blacks that they are “not black enough”. Speak proper English and listen to rock music and suddenly you are “not black enough”

But because “acceptable blackness” plays to a white audience and “black enough” to a black one, is it possible to please both?

It is not easy but it is possible: Will Smith, Denzel Washington, Chris Rock, James Earl Jones, Bill Cosby (and Jay Z). I would love to know how they do it, but somehow they can put whites at ease with their blackness without having to act white to do it. It is the secret of their success.

It is a thin, dangerous line: too many whites are waiting for the mask to crack.

OR
Are Looking for ways to Crack Your Mask - ask Bill Cosby

Are Acceptable Blacks the Greatest American Tragedies?


(Source:lipstickalley.com)