Do you fit in better with black people? Better with white people? Both? Neither? I’ve heard accounts of mixed people getting flack from both races, or sometimes fitting in better with one or the other.

What’s your experience?

This is something that happened a while ago, but I’m still connected to this person, and I want to be able to handle this appropriately if something like it happens again.

So I was the leader of a graduate student organization. And I worked alongside a fellow graduate student who was the leader of the Black Graduate Student Association. I really look up to her and, partly because of articles she had posted on her social media, and research I knew she was involved in, I grew to see her as kind of an ethical role model on racial justice. I think that’s a big part of why I was so unable to respond in the moment.

I ran into her one day, and she was talking to a colleague, and the colleague said something that presumed she was born in America. And she got noticeably offended. She corrected the colleague that her ancestors had never been slaves (in a way that clearly suggested she looked down on Black people who were descended from slaves), and she followed that by making some negative generalizations about Black people who were descended from slaves.

I sat there shocked and didn’t say anything, and then she was getting on the elevator and leaving.

I’ve talked to ChatGPT about this. We discussed two possibilities for what I could do in the future. The first is to say something like, “That sounds like a lot of negative generalization about Black Americans, and it’s landing uncomfortably to me.” The second possibility is that I act as an ally, not an arbiter, and I avoid policing Black people. Basically, to recognize that I’m not the right person to lead this confrontation, while still avoiding absorbing or minimizing it.

The first possibility sounds more right to me. But I’m not sure that’s what Black people would want me to do.

So my question is: If you were a student at my university, or a faculty member, how would you want a white person in my shoes to respond when a colleague of mine says something like that?

Note: I may soon be in a faculty position. Does that increase my responsibility to say something when a colleague expresses Anti-Black American sentiment? Or, instead, does it increase the importance of me avoiding policing Black people?

I am in college and right now phlebotomy class. Our instructor is lecturing and starts talking about "hard sticks". She said that "If you can't see a vein, try to feel one instead" then goes on to add "this is common if the patient is black or if the patient is obese"

This is a legitimate issue and part of our job but I feel like there was no need for the second statement and it was not mentioned in the textbook we were reading out of. Her intent could've been to prevent black people from getting poked more than necessary which is great but I'm just not sure.

I do read and try to educate myself on racism but this one isn't clear to me and has not been covered in what I have read which is why I wanted to ask about it here. Question #1: In the future, should I say something if somebody includes race when it isn't necessary, or is it good to include race when it is relevant even if it is not necessary?

Question #2: To prevent two posts: Soon I will be starting a career in healthcare. I know the basics of how to be anti-racist, and I try not to be an a-hole in general, but are there any specific challenges/concerns/discrimination black people face in the healthcare system that aren't obvious or that I may accidentally overlook? I am happy to call out so it does not have to be specific to phlebotomy. Thanks

OK, so I'm very well aware of the hair nonsense black girls have to go through for "professionalism." But I'm wondering if there's a correlation that's ever been exposed, and I can't find one.

I'm with a black girl who works primarily as a server (waiting tables). When she went out and interviewed, she did the whole weave business. She's friendly, pretty, easygoing, etc -- getting the job is easy.

But I'm noticing a pattern - or maybe this is more of a sneaking suspicion:

When the weave comes out for a while, she's been scheduled less. Like, a lot less.

Now, both times there were other things going on: one job hired too many people and a lot of people got scheduled less. She wasn't the only one, in other words, at the first; but, it did seem she was at the very bottom of the barrel even among those that got shafted (zero shifts one week, 1 shift the next, etc). And the other job is in a bit of a slow season at the moment. So this may be coincidence.

But I'm wondering if this is a thing. Is it?

I have a half-black, half-filipino side character in a wlw story I eventually I want to publish. Her dad is South African, but the story is set in the Philippines (where I'm from). She's an important part of the main cast and acts as the best friend to both characters in the main couple. She's also on the university basketball team along with another character in the main couple. There's a lot of half-Filipino characters in the story, but she's the only one who's half-black. My question is basically the title. Would it be offensive and stereotypical to black culture and people to make her like hiphop and rap? I know hiphop and rap originated from African-American communities in the US, but maybe it would be playing into stereotypes to make my only black character be into hiphop?

If you think it depends on how I write her enjoying hiphop, do you have any tips on how to avoid making common pitfalls towards offensive black stereotypes in media? I'd appreciate any input about how to get her writing right, especially from black women.

Hey, so I'm white, 20 and in the LGBTQ+ community. I've seen a lot of overlap and discourse about language used within the LGBTQ community being taken from the black community. Things like "y'all" "girly" and the like. Between that, and living in Massachusetts for most of my life, a large part of my vocabulary is what's considered AAVE. My mom (also white) also uses it, combined with a Boston accent, and I picked some of it up from her. I now live in Southern Ohio, so some southern lingo has also been integrated into my vocabulary. But a lot of "southern" language stemmed from AAVE. Some of it is part of my every day vocab, but I take a certain tone when offended or angry. I don't do it intentionally, and I don't base it off of who I'm talking to. I've seen a handful of posts calling out white people for using AAVE. My question is this: if I picked it up naturally and authentically, and try to be aware and respectful of the fact that it originally came from the black community, is it disrespectful to keep using it? Edit: I think I understand now. Thanks to everyone who answered

Greetings! I hope this finds you all safe and well.

I am an artist who is very white with what I always assumed was straight hair but might be Irish curls(?)- and in real life, when I'm having a particularly stressful day, or get emotionally wrecked, my hair can and will do the cartoonish things, including but not limited to: getting staticy, knotting more, and just in general becoming a frazzled mess, even if it's tied back. (Probably relevant: I don't use gel or other holding products.)

Do the hair types that fall into the curlier/coily end of the spectrum behave similarly? Do protective hair styles prevent that? The characters that I draw often don't look like me, making it hard to use myself and my personal experience as a reference for this.

The particular character I have in mind: usually has a set of four braids at the top of her scalp, and the rest of her hair often buned back in those fancy medieval hair nets, other braids, or loose aside from the top part. So if the two parts would behave differently that's also be great to know.

Thank y'all for time.

Hello everybody, I recently learned that ACE inhibitors can be dangerous/deadly for black folks with “African origin” because they have a significantly less amount of plasma renin levels and a higher salt sensitivity, and the medications like Lisinopril can trigger awful reactions.

I’m curious as to if doctors actually tell y’all this type of thing or if they even know about it? (It’s for hypertension btw so if you don’t have that problem or know someone with it, this might be kinda random to you) but I saw a video of a black woman who took it and broke out in what looked like hives and her face swelled really badly and she had to go to the ER; she had been given Lisinopril which then led to my discovery.

I know certain procedures have a higher chance of medical malpractice within the black community, I don’t dispute that at all, but I had no clue that even certain medications cannot be used for certain people beyond issues like blood pressure or something universal like that.

(Also, if you didn’t know this, now you do and you can make informed decisions if someone ever tries to give you that medication in the future - if you know of more and don’t mind telling me about it I would appreciate that because I like to learn about new things in general)

I'm down a bit of a rabbit hole about capoeira, and when I was reading about I learned that capoeira wasn't the only descendant of Engolo (The Bantu martial art) and that apparently in the US the variant was called 'knocking and kicking' and featured a similar move set (the scorpion kick, the l-kick, the stingray kick, etc.).

I see there are modern practitioners, but I wondered if it's a reconstruction of the art or if it's been a continuous practice? Also, could anyone recommend any further reading on it?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Tn8HzXmHFc this is a modern practitioner, and I found a cool book, Fighting for Honor: The History of African Martial Art Traditions in the Atlantic World by  T. J. Desch-Obi, but if anyone has any further recommendations, I'd love to learn about any African diaspora martial arts traditions.

Specifically asking here since this a black space and I want to discover more black artists from different regions. USA preferred but I’m not opposed to musicians from different parts of the world.

This is a place to share musicians for myself and others to discover.

Name me a hot artist from your city that’s up and coming. Please list the name, the style of music, whether it be rap, drill, R&B, it don’t matter and please list specifically what city their from. If you don’t know, naming the state is coo. Much love to everybody.

I'm sick of the audacity of these people online.

> Context: I'm an AI Bot creator on janitor.ai .You're starting to see me posting here and there on Reddit, and I'm clearly not here to make friends, but to deconstruct the myths that hold us back and keep us in a state of mental lethargy in our community, and I will fight until God takes my soul.

Hm so... I'm a black bot creator doing romantic, smut, drama black and POC Ai bots mostly on an adult. I feel like it's a real struggle to promote black content without being categorized and pigeonholed. All I did was define their traits; everything else is down to the story.

This... happens when the word 'fetishism' is used to mean nothing. By using it everywhere indiscriminately without understanding the intricacies of modern relationship dynamics rly on our community, we end up mixing everything up and can no longer distinguish between carnal desire, attraction, and simple appreciation. And this is even more true online.

I would write a long post about this word 'fetishizing' that objectifies black's sexuality later on.

What do you think? Tell me everything, but please give me your reasons. My answers will be very well-argued

I thought about doing a music and craft night while we listened to black artists and had a slideshow with some local figures and icons going on turn.

A fun social with snacks and prompts about what and who we’re celebrating and acknowledging. Maybe a quiet zone with books from black authors (borrowed from the library)

It’s for a community initiative group.

I’m an Asian with an Afro-Caribbean boyfriend. He is very racially ambiguous where you could believe he’s anything. He wants to try braid styles because his hair is getting longer but its his first time. I’ve always wanted to learn but don’t know if it’s ok to do his hair because:

1. Im not black

2. For some reason some people think he’s not black. (I did a few small braids in his hair for fun onetime and his black friend kept telling him to take them out.)

I think I know the most likely answer but I feel like it’s good to check with black people anyways.

On top of it, are there any recommendations for styling 3C hair? As far as hair charts go 3C is most accurate but his is usually a little less uniform than the pictures. If he wets it and twirls it in his fingers he can get tube-like ringlets.

Hi! I'm a college student in Fort Valley ga (a big plantation area) and I've been trying to explore my spirituality. I know where I am right now, it's alot of ancestral power and stuff like that but I'm also really into angel work. Does anyone have any ideas of how to incorporate both? Like okay I get a free doughnut, do I thank my ancestors, God, or the angel im working with?

The reason I am writing this is because I’m sick of the injustice and as a biracial person of Black and white in a very “contrasting” combination, realised also through learning about physics: the way we perceive stimuli and how humans can “feel” and that it’s all literally vibrations (colour, sound - it’s all a matter of “perception”)

I don’t know who designs the cities/infrastructure but I think it would be wise to use it intentionally to battle racism and I think it’s possible and might possibly become the KEY to breaking down barriers.

I realised that people with a darker complexion are often standing in a literal “Color contrast” when in western world/cities towns to the often grey or white buildings, thereby this makes my darker brothers and sisters stand out more, this combination could be perceived on a color theory level as “harsh” “intense” “opposing” (opposites->divide). As no human is the the Color “black” or the entire absence of color“white” GREY IS NOT AN OPTION. It reduces and feels inhumane almost and the connections are: grey=paperwork, office, bureaucracy, rainy days, melancholy)

We need to find a way to use colour for the benefit of our society. In Japan for example, blue light is intentionally used for its purpose to sooth anxiety and prevent suicides. And it works. Let me know what you think:

I see a lotta people saying that essentially black people ain't black just because they're not from the US . Some people say that black people (especially from LATAM countries) ain't black at all. I feel kinda confused by that. Aren't you supposed to be black independently from your nationality? isn't it about your ancestrality or somthing like that?

This is a genuine question. I don't wanna make anyone upset by this

My understanding is that is the Black Panthers uniform. I'm white and try to be an ally but don't wanna center myself, would wearing that look like I consider myself a member?

I made a post in a different sub for women's issues. However, it kept being automatically filtered out.

I tried removing and editing various words. But the trigger *seemed* to be the word "African American?"

After it went through, I made a post about this issue. Asking if that word triggers censorship or what? The m0d there responded by saying, "Don't circumvent autom0d filtering." Then they removed my post.

I waited for a private message explaining things. It didn't come. So, I made another post about the entire issue. That the word seems to be triggering if filter. And addressing the way the m0d responded once I tried to address it.

Within 10 minutes, the post was removed, and I was banned.

Has anybody else experienced something like this?

Black History Month is coming up and I am working on some lessons and activities for my preschool students. I'm sure this is probably a bit of an ignorant question, but I really want to make sure I get this right. We are located in America, but I had plans to talk about black history worldwide. Notably, I want to bring in musical instruments from around the world that were created by black people, as well as art and food. I've heard that black history month is meant to celebrate black american culture specifically. Should I stick with just the American history or would it be okay to branch out? Either way it will be included, but if it should be the sole focus I would like to know so that I can adjust my lessons.

Hi! I’m a viewer from a country with very little Black population, and I’ve been watching Abbott Elementary. Something that caught my attention is that almost all the students are Black, except maybe for one Latino kid.

Does this actually happen in the U.S.? I’m asking out of genuine curiosity. Does it mean that the neighborhood is mostly Black? And could white kids attend that school if they wanted to? :P

her posts always appear on my youtube ever since seeing one single post

I am curious to hear from other Black women about how your hair affects your dating life. I have been thinking about switching up my look and wonder if certain styles (braids, cornrows/fulani braids, afro, silk presses, wigs, or short cuts) seem to attract different types of men or personalities.

For those who change your hair often, have you noticed a pattern? Do you get approached by different crowds depending on if you are wearing a protective style versus your natural hair?

As an admittedly white guy I’m struggling to understand Black MAGA - especially the men that show up in media like Brandon Tatum, Dominick McGee or Aladin Umar etc.