Space

As I  sit in this hipsteriffic micro-roastery and espresso bar, I notice I am the only person of color in here. This has become so normal in my experience, that I am pulled to reflect on existing in white spaces. Existing in white spaces has been the automatic necessity for people of color since colonialism. We are used to it, and have thrived in Oprah style in spite of it on good days. On bad days we are Eric Garner and are choked to death by it. This delicate dance of using the politics of racism and existing under oppression in a subversive way to survive has been the brilliant side effect of our struggle. As people of color we are socialized into thinking white spaces are normative. It is a great unlearning that must take place to take off the lens of white supremacy and notice that even if we experience the benefits of white privilege via our terminal graduate degrees, (by that I mean being treated as an intelligent human being with dignity. The same privilege any white person with a GED is afforded) from time to time, there is more we should be striving for. The embrace of our own spaces is vital and beautiful. In a world where assimilation into whiteness is what is financially rewarded and heralded (michael Jackson, Raven-Symone, Don Lemon) it took me an extremely long time to fully realize what I knew deep within but was socialized to reject, and that is that black is indeed beautiful.