Victoria Olayiwola Blog #4: Forget our Americanness, what about our Blackness? Pt2

“I have no HISTORY, I have no PAST”

“GONE, everything that connects me to WHAT I WAS, to WHAT WE WERE…GONE”

I will be BLACK on WEEKENDS and HOLIDAYS.

Is it such a shame to be black all the time? The sketch where the black man is throwing away all his possessions-that are more than possessions as Guy pointed out for they are possessions that symbolize his identity, his past, our identity and our past. A painful past of suppression, oppression, strife and grief-because he believes in order to climb that ladder of success successfully (the ladder set by society) he must sacrifice some of his identity. Thereby assuming his identity is not compatible with his ambitions. Is it not? That’s a question we need to ask society? Why does he try to put an end to his black consciousness? Is such an identity not acceptable in this day and age?

My question was why was humor the method used to discuss the issue of slavery, given that it is an emotionally charged issue, one would think more respect would be administered whenever the topic was raised. But I think despite the fact that humor was used to discuss this issue, it helped bring out and highlight its poignancy-the pictures in the first Exhibit especially were just too too powerful….God, really, people carried out this great injustice against fellow humans…such wickedness? Ah, goodness me (wipe away a tear from my eye) God, why?...Packed into a ship like sardines packed into a tin…Really. Really. Yes, really. Tears are just not enough. The simple fact is you don’t have to be black to empathize; one can empathize purely because we are humans, all of us.

If we don’t stop, it will get to the stage where our children and our children’s children will know, know different. At that point our identity will be lost forever. We should be afraid to look different, in underlines our rich, divine, unique culture. Who wants really wants to lose it, raise your hands? Thank God no matter how hard the man tried, no matter how much he fought with the young black (his black consciousness) the young man-full of vitality-was not suppressed, he was not oppressed…he rose. He could not be put down. He will not be put down…‘[But]still, like air, I'll rise’(M.ANGELOU).

Look at where you be in hair weaves like Europeans
Fake nails done by Koreans

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T6QKqFPRZSA&list=WL94A508FC6E423952

Our blackness cannot be washed way with Pear’s soap! What a RELIEF? :D