The benefits of being Black in a mostly non-Black community

Don’t judge me for looking for a silver lining

By
Peak Web
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A Black person with an afro is trying to prevent a white person from touching their hair. The white person is saying “OMG! How do you get your hair to do that!”
ILLUSTRATION: Yan Ting Leung / The Peak

By: C Icart, Humour Editor

Kendrick performed at the Super Bowl last week, and while I didn’t watch the performance (I refuse to watch men crash into each other for fun), that didn’t mean I was exempt from seeing all the whining about it online. Some called it a “DEI halftime show,” while others complained, “DEI only goes one direction.” All this is code for, “I saw too many Black people on my TV, make it stop.” As you know, racists are hardwired to get suspicious and jumpy when they see more than five Black people in the same space. Which is something I rarely get to experience since I moved here. Did you know only one percent of BC’s population is Black? That basically makes me a mythical creature when you think about it. But it’s not all bad. There are, in fact, benefits to being Black in a mostly non-Black community. 

1. You get compliments on your hair no matter what No matter how often I explain that my hair does just grow out of my head like that, people are still staring in awe and asking me what I did to it. I can keep my braids in for too long, and people will still be wowed. Apparently, non-Black people almost never change their hair (not sure why, seems like a sad way to live), so it’s always so notable to them when I sport a new hairstyle. Once, I was getting off an airplane and a bald white man, who I assume was the pilot standing at the entrance, stopped me to tell me he wished he could have his hair like mine. I laughed, pretending it was the first time I’d ever had an interaction like that with a bald white man. I’m pretty sure the lady who searched my fro at the airport security also told me she liked my hair. 

2. You get to practice your impersonation skills

People always tell me I should do stand-up. Which I’m not gonna do. I’m a grad student. I’m already getting screwed over financially, why would I try to get other poorly paid gigs? So instead of impersonating people on stage for very little money, I do it for free every time I get mistaken for literally any other Black person. Once, a Black girl came up to me in a café like, “Are you (random name)?” and I said no and she looked at me in shock and said, “What are the odds there’s more than two Black people in here!” Homegirl didn’t even know what the person she was looking for looked like. She just assumed she would get to the location and whichever Black person was there would be the one. I was attending a keynote last year and one of the organizers thought I was the guest speaker. I should’ve committed and claimed the real speaker was impersonating me! 

Welp, that’s it! What? You thought the list would be longer? There’s only so much I can say when the Caribbean food here is lacking, the DJs are playing god knows what in the club, and seemingly only a handful of salons will accept to do my hair. At least I can count on always having people reach out to me to organize Black History Month things! And sometimes they even pay!

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