Weekly Spotlight: Kachi Iwu

Hey everybody! I've been really busy for the past couple of weeks(but when am I NOT busy?) and I didn't have time to post the weekly spotlight last week, so I'll be doing two this week. For the first of this week's weekly spotlight, I'll be showcasing my friend Kachi. Kachi is half black and half Nigerian and she goes to school with me. On about February 4th or 5th, Kachi mentioned that she hadn't heard any black history month announcements. I had been thinking the same thing, and it made me feel good to know that I wasn't the only person who was upset that they weren't doing them. Within the first 10 minutes of AP Lit, we had concocted a plan to
make a display showcasing the black students of our school, and to get some black history month facts on the announcements. Getting the announcements proved easier than we expected, but the display has taken a little more work since we have students who don't think it's fair for us to have a display up. Why should only the black students get a display? Oh I don't know, maybe because it's BLACK history month. And October is HISPANIC heritage month. The rest of the ten months are white history month, and you have the power and resources to make a display of white students just like we did to make one for black students. It's a shame that we can't even have this ONE month, the shortest one of the year at that, to celebrate our heritage and culture. And on top of that, some of the posters we put up advertising the display have been mysteriously taken down. It's alright though because Kachi and I just plan to come back bigger and better. I'll be sure to post the pictures on here later in the month. Anyway, this post is about Kachi. So our school has its own newspaper, and Kachi wrote an article for it titled, "Everybody Wants To Be Black". It is a brutally honest look at modern racism and it addresses the many excuses people use to insist that they are not racist even when they are. The editors of the paper removed large chunks of the article and it didn't full convey her message. Luckily, Kachi gave me permission to post the unedited version of the article here. It's really great, and it gives a small insight into the amazingness that is Kachi's writing(trust me, I've read some of her other pieces). So without further ado, here is the unedited article, "Everybody Wants To Be Black":



Everybody Wants To Be Black


By: Kachi Iwu


Anti-black racism is a difficult topic to discuss in America. Usually whenever I try to bring it up, I’m met with a lot of similar reactions from white people.

“How am I racist? We have a black president.” Well, because Obama’s presidency doesn’t affect job or housing discrimination, redlining, or the wage gap. If anything, Obama’s presidency may have done more harm than good. Now, everyone uses him as a way to “prove” that racism is dead in America.

“How am I racist? I didn’t own slaves.” Well, because even though you didn’t own slaves, you still benefit from slavery. Being white is the most effective affirmative action there is.

“How am I racist? I don’t see color.” Well, because to not see color, is to not see the consequences of color. In America, being black comes with consequences. And you shouldn’t have to pretend that I’m white to treat me equally. Seeing color isn’t inherently racist.

“How am I racist? My best friend is black.” I thought you didn’t see color? Besides, being friends with, dating, or even marrying a black person doesn’t mean you haven’t internalized anti-blackness. It’s just like how a man can be friends with, date, and marry a woman and still be misogynistic.

“I’m not racist. You’re racist.” Racism is systematic. It’s not hurt feelings. A black person calling you “mayonnaise boy” is not racist. It’s prejudice. Black people don’t have the institutional power to be racist towards whites people. Besides, how can I be racist? My refrigerator is white.

After a while, it gets exhausting. I get it, though. The American educational system frames racism as a thing of the past. To most white Americans, racism started with slavery and ended with MLK’s “I Had A Dream” speech. We no longer see “Whites Only” signs (although The Oscars might as well have one), and we rarely see police attacking black people.

Well, until Ferguson.

When I say this, I don’t mean that Mike Brown’s murder was unique. The reaction was unique to our time, but the factors that led to it weren’t. Ferguson called attention to an issue that had mostly gone unnoticed by mainstream media. When Ferguson happened, suddenly discussions of racism weren’t just something that lurked in Youtube comment sections or shared Facebook posts. Suddenly everyone was addressing it, and how people felt about black people was made perfectly clear.

Many people began to dehumanize Brown immediately, similar to Martin. It was as if people needed them to be thugs. Otherwise, they would have to admit some unfortunate truths about institutional racism.

Even if they were all thugs, did that mean they deserved to die? After all, how many people, white and nonblack, do you know that love to act like they’re “thugs?” Someone said it best: “Everyone wants to be black, until it’s time to be black.” And as I look around Hume Fogg, it seems true.

Everyone loves to say that they’re “bae,” that they’re “ratchet.” Everyone wants to say they’re a “real n*gga”. Everyone wants to be “ghetto,” either ironically or unironically. Everyone wants to listen to rap, wear our clothes, our hairstyles, but these things are only praised on a nonblack body. On us, these things make us thugs. We’re ignorant. We’re stupid. We’re “feeding into the stereotype.” But let’s be real, no one actually wants to be black. When Ferguson happened, suddenly all the “real n*ggas” were nowhere to be found.

And on us, revolutions make us “unruly”, “violent”. With the rise of dystopian films, you would think everyone would get it. Many people love the Hunger Games, sympathizing with the white Katniss Everdeen, while shaming the black Mike Brown. A white revolution is justified, courageous, Oscar worthy. A black revolution is unruly. Unneeded. But the revolution within the Hunger Games wasn’t just about Rue , no more than it’s just about Brown. It’s a revolution against a very old, very unfortunate system. Police brutality kills Black Americans today at nearly the same rate as the Jim Crow lynchings. Again and again, we’re left in the street or the road unattended, sending a message to the black people of America: This Can Be You. It’s #BlackLivesMatter, and not #AllLivesMatter because the value of black life is always debatable.

For all of you who have decided to remain “neutral”, neutrality is complacency. Neutrality only benefits the oppressor, and never the oppressed. Try to locate the anti-blackness you practice within your own life, and call out your friends for the same. If you’re a “real n*gga”, then start acting like it. Because this is what it means to be black.

Because no one actually wants to be black. Not really.