Good Black Things

Did you ever notice how the English language describes dark things as worse? Think of 'whitelist' and 'blacklist', or how movies dealing with something bad or evil are called 'dark'. You know who noticed? Black people. Americans have been trying really hard to come up with a name for the descendants of African slaves. It has gone from negro, colored, or black, to African American, to another way of saying colored. But the most common name is still 'black', so all the negative imagery with blackness leaves some room for improvement. 

Explicitly racist language has mostly been removed (look up what Brazil nuts used to be called), and people are trying to come up with alternatives to the phrase 'blacklist' (we'll see what catches on). Honestly, it will take some work to change phrases. 

We all need to work on positive imagery associated with black skin, so here are a few examples of things that are great because they are black. 

Soil

I've been doing a lot of gardening during the pandemic, and composting. You know what makes me excited? Dark soil. The darker the better, because that means it's alive and rich and is going to make my plants go bonkers. 

Coffee

I'm not a fan of coffee, but my wife is, and to her it's a wonderful black wonderdrug that gives her a boost of life everyday. And you know what color of liquid makes those good feelings? A very dark rich black color.

Chocolate

Look at this image of two shades of chocolate. If you have any sense in you at all, you know that the darker one is better.

Pupil

The pupil of the eye is a special tissue that absorbs so much light that it appears competely black. If it weren't black, you wouldn't be able to see! Thanks pupils, we're glad you figured out a way to be black. 

Black skin

Don't forget about the most great black thing: black people. Yes the most important shift is to look at black people and recognize their inner and outer beauty. Here are some really good looking models to gaze at.