My Problem With The Term "Black Experience" - Ada Akpala
Being a victim of racial discrimination is not exclusive to being black.
I recently found myself reflecting on a radio program I once listened to on BBC Sounds. The featured guest was Simon Woolley, a distinguished figure in British society. The program was the iconic "Desert Island Discs," which invites celebrities and public figures to envision themselves stranded on a deserted island. During the show, the guest must select and discuss eight pieces of music, a book, and a luxury item they would want to have on the island. These choices are intended to reveal their personal tastes, cherished memories, and life experiences.
Throughout the podcast, Lord Woolley openly discussed his life's trials and triumphs, including personal family issues, his experience as an adoptee, and his complicated feelings towards his birth mother. The conversation was a poignant and captivating mix of humour, inspiration, deep reflection and heart-warming moments — all the ingredients that make for an enjoyable listening experience.
Around 15 minutes into the episode, just before he played his fourth selection, 'Titanium' by David Guetta featuring Sia, a statement he made momentarily dampened my enjoyment of the show. At this point, he was sharing his struggles with identity and bullying, becoming emotional as he described the profound conflict he experienced when he reconnected with his birth mother at the age of 16. It felt as though he had somehow betrayed his adopted mother. He went on to explain that his choice of the song 'Titanium' was based on the lyrics, “knock me down and I get up… I won’t fall, I am Titanium.” According to him, this resilience to keep getting back up represented the black experience.
However, this resilience needed to confront life's challenges is not an exclusive attribute of the black experience; instead, it is a fundamental aspect of the human condition. Such capacity to adapt, grow, and endure in the face of adversity is a shared characteristic that transcends racial and ethnic boundaries. In fact, this trait applies not only to human beings but also extends to various species within the animal kingdom and other life forms, where survival often depends on an organism's ability to adapt to changing environments and challenges.
The insistence on attaching racial prefixes to universally applicable concepts is not only illogical but also serves to alienate us as black individuals. It implies that our existence, our experiences, and our humanity are so foreign and unrelatable that those "outside of our group" can simply never comprehend what it means to be black.
This attitude also has the effect of implying that struggle, hardship, and pain are direct synonyms for being black. This means that anyone who identifies as black is assumed, by default, to have experienced such gruelling hardships throughout their lives. So much so that if a black person expresses otherwise, they are often labelled as one of three things: an exception, a traitor, or deluded.
It's undeniable that black individuals have faced a distinct set of challenges throughout history, but it's equally important to acknowledge that various groups, too, confront their own unique obstacles and adversities. The notion that one group's challenges are more “real” or “unique” than another's oversimplifies the complex dynamics of human experience.
Usually those who speak of the “black experience” are speaking in terms of black people dealing with racism and discrimination, both past and present.
I would argue that throughout history, different groups have been demonised, ostracised, and dehumanised simply because of their group identity. In today’s world, there are numerous accounts of individuals from various racial groups finding themselves excluded and discriminated against based on their skin colour or racial identity, ironically in the name of equity and inclusion. Being a victim of racial discrimination is not exclusive to being black.
Various groups have their own distinct histories and cultural dynamics, and no two life experiences are identical. However, universal and timeless themes in life, such as joy, love, pain, rejection, loss, and death, transcend cultural boundaries and resonate with all of us to some extent.
As we continue our efforts to find effective solutions for easing intergroup tensions and improving social harmony in our multicultural and multiracial societies, a foundational step toward achieving this goal is to actively address and eliminate racialised and separatist language and thinking from our discourse and collective consciousness.
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Ada is the senior content officer at The Equiano Project.
Total alignment with my values and attitudes. If there are over 1 billion black people on the planet, there are over 1 billion life stories, experiences and perspectives. Cave man narratives cannot capture reality for a billion people. Alienation of the individual labeled as Black is the profound spiritual problem of our era in a world lacking nuance and complexity. Some never see the individual in Blackness.
Excellent article. When Woolley founded Operation Black Vote in the 1990's I was of the view that this was yet more paternalism; as though black people needed someone to hold their hand and guide them to the polling station. My view was that people were free to vote or not, and that not voting could also be a political statement. OBV pretended to be non-partisan, but in later years Woolley made statements about how the ethnic vote could have an impact on elections, it's fair to say that his concern was not with increasing the Conservative vote. Woolley (like others) has carved out a niche for himself and is celebrated within the establishment and among white 'progressives' the average black person will not have heard of him. The model of 'black' politics over the past few decades has been for self-appointed or chosen intermediaries, who have a vested interest in maintaining the pretence of a homogeneous 'black community'.