By: Keith Boykin ~ Blame the good people in the fashion industry for creating the
endless trend of supposedly cute and catchy phrases about what is "the
new black." The black they refer to, of course, is the always useful
and timelessly classy color used in fabrics.
Whenever a new color arrives -- magenta, teal, navy blue or whatever -- it quickly replaces "black" as the new "black." In other words, it's the color or look that everyone should be wearing that season, if you believe the hype.
Now blame the pop culture commentators and trendy social critics for cleverly expanding the sartorial sense of color consciousness to race and identity consciousness as well. And with that volatile mix, you have the makings of a new controversy every year or so as each disenfranchised group -- the gays, people with disabilities, those who are overweight -- lays claim to the dubious title of most likely to be oppressed, or in other words, "the new black."Never mind the way in which this discussion trivializes entire cultures by reducing them to mere fashion symbols, the notion of forcibly identifying a vast group of disparate people by a single name makes no sense.
Today's African Americans were yesterdays coloreds, Negroes and blacks, and there's no one term that will satisfy everyone. That's why it's odd that author John McWhorter would suggest in The New Republic this week that it's time to "retire" the term "African American." He argues that using the term "African American" is "illogical" and borderline "disrespectful" to African immigrants. CONTINUE READING...
