There is no land called “Black!” Should we continue to adhere to the name?

BY DAVE RANKIN

There are countless examples of people who refer to themselves by the landmass they come from. People of China call themselves Chinese. People of Germany call themselves German. Yet, we Africans in the diaspora still refer to ourselves as “Black.”

I’ve decided to take a break from writing my normal column highlighting some of the illustrious history of Ancient Kemet, to address an email that I received from a member of the community. As a writer for Canada’s largest Caribbean newspaper, the responsibility in corresponding with our audience is of great importance. So first and foremost, I’d like to take the time to thank this person for sending their enquiry. Of course, for anonymity purposes I will leave out their name, however I will use parts of the email and include some of my response for this week’s piece.

The sender began by bringing to my attention that there have been “several reports in the Canadian media regarding “Racism” and the use of the words
“Black”  (and the use of “White”) in the descriptors of others in addition to a coined phrase, “people of color/colour”.

Now I’m not going to lie, at first, I was like okay, where is the sender going with this. But as I proceeded to read, there was a sense of semblance that echoed. Here’s why. While I was fully aware that the word “black” has a “strong association” with our Great Maafa, better known to the world as slavery where we were called names like “nigger” and “blackie.”

The sender expressed the following that really resonated: “Is it not high time to dispense with this derogatory vocabulary that debases millions of people, most of whom can claim differing levels of affinity to the continent of Africa?” I had often wondered about this for many years. My African studies teacher used to always tell us that a people must be associated with the landmass that they come from. So, in retrospect, since there is no land called “black” should we continue to adhere to the name? In the same breath, since there is no landmass called “white” … well, you know where I’m going with this.

In 1901, Canada held its first census and the following four words were on the form to represent the nationalities of the population at that time. Those words were “black,” “white,” “yellow,” and “red.” Since then, “black” has remained, with the words “of African descent” now in brackets. The other three, have been removed and been replaced with the names of respective nations. “It’s interesting how that works,” I added as part of my response. Our oppressors have always had the power of naming and renaming things. For example, the mistress of one of the most evil-minded genocidal murderers gave the West African nation of Nigeria, or “Nigger area.” Her name was Flora Shaw Lugard. Cameroon derives from the word ‘camarões,’ meaning ‘shrimps.’ We could credit the 15th-century Portuguese explorer Fernando Po with that. He had the gall to name the River Wouri, Rio dos Camarões. This literally translates to ‘Shrimp River.’

So, it’s fair to state that we have had to accept these names bestowed upon us. Now we wear them proudly. As in the case with the word “black.” “Historically, our people have had our struggles agreeing on a name that we should call ourselves. Which presents a huge problem,” I included in my return email. The great Marcus Garvey and his UNIA still uses the word “Negro” and there has been no successful challenge to adjust the name accordingly to reflect language of the day.

I ended my response to the sender by saying, “Our people are black and proud.” Using the word can be a springboard for all of us to take a look back and see what could be gained by accepting to be called by our name, African from Africa (First peoples of the world).