“Playing The Game” Requires Anti-Blackness
Amerikkan culture is white supremacy. None of us can have an accurate lens to reflect on life’s options, decisions, and accomplishments; our lives are 100% informed by white supremacist culture.
Sundown towns are why Black children were told to be home before dark. And there aren’t just sundown towns but entire states. like There’s a reason why Oregon is so white.
Prison is just reimagined slavery. Police are reinvented slave catchers. Slavery was human trafficking that whiteness justified for centuries and to this day tries to downplay. Much of Black culture is based on behaviors we adopted to survive the incessant violence of white people. That is especially true regarding how many of us view success.
Some define success as no longer living in the hood, aka areas housing many Black people. The people enforcing white supremacist culture have intentionally diverted resources away from the hood. They then gentrify those areas, a socially acceptable way of pushing Black people out of spaces. Unlike the racialized terrorism of Seneca Village, now known as Central Park in New York City, and Oscarville, GA, now known as Lake Lanier, predominantly white neighborhoods are left in peace.
In western society, anti-Blackness is a pathway to power. Virtually any violence inflicted on Black people can be justified in white supremacist culture. The pain I endured from using hot combs and relaxers was never my choice - it was the societal pressure of white supremacist “beauty” standards that left me with a scarred head and fibroids from decades of attempting to look “professional.” That harm is never called violence. It’s rarely framed as one of the costs of admission to white spaces. It was treated as a necessary action for navigating white spaces. It’s part of the violence known as conformity, and conformity is anti-Black at its core.
We learn from a young age to conform to white supremacist standards. To speak, write, and dress like them. We learn what and how they want us to think. We spend years conforming to their approved ways of communicating, then pat ourselves on the back for distancing ourselves from the Black people who don’t.
Much of my presumed success is based on how I may wield anti-Blackness. From how I modulate my speech to keep white people relaxed to shifting my word usage to keep them informed. I own a closet full of clothes I dislike because they dictate what I can wear in the office. I kept my hair relaxed for years because my natural hair was deemed unprofessional. I contorted myself into the version of Blackness they could tolerate for short periods, despite being fat, unambiguously Black, and femme presenting. The moderate comfort I live in directly results from this conformity, and I am still not safe. It is a success that rings hollow because none of the things I do to help me survive are things I would have chosen for myself if I wasn’t navigating viciously violent whiteness.
Predominantly Black schools are often underfunded through multiple institutionalized mechanisms that block and funnel resources away. Our mannerisms are scrutinized; regardless of how well we conform, the goal is to shrink us into ourselves. Everything from our hair, clothing, and favorite colors is lacking. Instead of fighting, we learn how to endure the gauntlet of endless white violence, only to reach the other side where we hope to be safe. We are never safe.
We are taught to care about white values, despite their emptiness of them.. Meanwhile, they pick through our thoughts on Twitter, our dances on TikTok, our activism and creativity in every social media space, hijack our inventiveness, pat themselves on the back for their ongoing mediocrity, and pat themselves on the back for their ongoing mediocrity and themselves on the back for their ongoing mediocrity and theft. At the same time, they reinforce the systems that make it ridiculously difficult to enter any of those spaces.
Sonia Renee Taylor refers to these forms of oppression as the white delusion of supremacy.
“I’m not interested in playing nice with the structures and systems that would like to see me dead.” - Sonja Renee Taylor
Fatphobia tells us that our bodies are too large and must be controlled. Colorism tells us our skin is too dark, so we must be controlled. Misogynoir tells us that not being male makes us less physically and mentally capable and that we need to be guided or controlled. Ableism tells us we deserve fewer human rights if we don’t meet certain physical and mental standards. Transphobia attacks people who do not adhere to specific gender roles. Homophobia hinders our ability to bond with others and build community. They feed on one another to isolate people and keep us vulnerable to their harm. It is rooted in or fueled by anti-Blackness and used to justify abuse and murder.
I codeswitch often because it is easier to navigate the white spaces I’m often forced into, especially among people like me who seem to navigate these spaces successfully. Sometimes, the people who look the most like me are the most judgmental gatekeepers because they do not want to risk censure from other conformists in those spaces. The fight to not reinforce anti-Black stereotypes often turns into persecution of people who put similar people’s perceptions at risk.
The delusion of white supremacy shapes us. It has affected how we think, reacts to others, what we want from life, and perceive ourselves. Our only recourse is to question everything from our preferences for clothing, partners, and food as anti-Blackness rears its ugly head in even that basic need. We can recognize what it is and choose to fight it. Or we can pretend that everything is fine and keep doing the work of white supremacy for them.
The choice is ours.
TaLynn Kel is a self-published author, cosplayer, and speaker in Atlanta, GA. Their cosplay has been featured in the New York Times and on NBC. Check out more of her work at talynnkel.com & instagram.