Gin shares about performative race and the power of Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie TED talk So one of the things that I bring up in Living IncogNegro is the whole performative race thing.
I really love this one Ted Talk by, who is a Kenyan writer, I believe Kenyan, Nigerian. I think it’s been a while since I’ve seen her. It’s been about 10 years.
But she talks about stereotypes and one of the things I love is that she talks about how she also has been guilty of stereotyping people. As well as how she’s been stereotyped coming to the United States from Africa and things like her white college roommate said assumptions that she made, which were pretty funny, and she had a sense of humor about it what she basically said was talking about the image of a pie.
Maybe there being a hundred story slices in that pie.
And a stereotype is that one slice that keeps getting talked about over and over again while the rest of the 99 slices are being ignored, that make that person a full dimensional human being.
When we essentialize ourselves, as mixed people, trying to fit ourselves into a stereotype so that we’ll be accepted. We’re equally guilty of ignoring those 99 others slices and making ourselves and the community that we want to belong to more that much more essentialized. But it takes courage, right? There’s a shorthand that comes with that saying, “Hey, I’m part of the tribe.” I get it. Like when let’s say you’re hearing person, but you’re sign language etiquette is that if you see two people who are signing, you need to let them know. Just so you know, I can understand your conversation. So it’s useful to have the shorthand, but there is a spiral I think that people can go down that they can flush themselves down when they get too much into a performative race. So I encourage people to check out Ngozi Ted talk and a lot of Ted Talks. There’s so many good Ted talks out there, and Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie has gotten a lot of flack for some of the stuff that she said and I encourage you to check out her responses to that as well, and not just shut the door to the echo chamber. I like that she’s continued a conversation.
I’m Gin Hammond and I’m Living IncogNegro. I’m glad you’re here and we’re on this journey together.
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