'A black artist can paint a wall of smiley faces and people will ask why they're so angry.'
Flipping through hundreds of channels this evening I stumbled upon The Black List. If you haven't seen any of it, I highly recommend you do.
I know I've written about this series previously and it makes me ponder race, ethnicity, and identity every time. First of all, what do these words mean?
Race: a group of persons related by common descent or heredity.
Ethnicity: Identity with or membership in a particular racial, national, or cultural group and observance of that group's customs, beliefs, and language.
Identity: The set of behavioral or personal characteristics by which an individual is recognizable as a member of a group.
What do they mean? I've been sitting here trying to interpret these three terms in my own words without using one of the other two and I've failed. Why? I guess race is the most straightforward of the three. It's the most immediately visible isn't it? How much does how we define ourselves in relation to these three terms make us who we are at the core?
If you're black, is that all you are?
If you're gay, is that all you are?
If you're a woman, is that all you are?
If you're Turkish, is that all you are?
It gets more complicated when you're a mix of these things and even more complicated if these terms that 'define' us are challenged.
How dark do you have to be to be labeled as black?
How gay do you have to be to be labeled as gay?
If you feel like a woman trapped in a man's body, are you a man?
Even one's nationality can become questionable.
I feel like some think of these as cut and dry matters.
I know they aren't for me.
I know I am a mixture of many things, experiences, as well as a reflection of the people around me. I don't want to be defined as any one thing because I'm just not. I'm. Just. Not. I don't fit anywhere and I truly like that about myself. I can't say that I always have but I know that I do now.
There's one overarching theme in all three volumes of The Black List that's brilliant in it's simplicity and brevity:
I am not this, that, or the other. I am me.
