Race remains a socially constructed category that defines how we are classified and quantified.  With the undeniable existence of racism from a social level, racial stigmatization is deeply embedded in our society.  From a systemic level, the way in which certain groups are perceived greatly impacts their life experiences.

Is there a public perception fueled from the lens of anti-black sentiment that projects a notion that Africans differ greatly from Caribbean blacks or that Caribbean blacks differ greatly from black Americans, descendants of the enslaved in America?  What constitutes the differences and are they defining for each group? Is there a hierarchy of characteristics that somehow cast a better light on one group over another?  To what degree has an external racist lens created an enduring chasm black people in all their complexity?

The longstanding legacy of chattel slavery has left an indelible on the social and economic mobility of black communities. Furthermore, black Americans were deculturized through slavery, only to reestablish a culture that reflects a blended reality characterized by moments of inclusion and exclusion in a white society. It is this triumphant journey that continues to be appropriated worldwide.  No doubt, all races in all places clamor to emulate and fetishize African American culture from a surface level and demonize African Americans who reached these shores in chains.

Similarly, the debilitating impact of colonization, culturally dominate and economically hi-jacked African and Caribbean communities, making them dependent on their colonizers and deficient in their ability to successfully propel their own economies, which is evident today. The culture that we see manifests much of the ideology of the colonizers cannot be described as unadulterated regardless of how much Africans and Caribbeans espouse their “culture”

For some black folks, there is a deeply steeped need to find connectedness with one another and cross bridges of understanding. For others, there is a lifelong attempt to create some semblance of otherness, disassociating from those that look like most like them in order to gain favor with those that look least like them.  Some blacks choose to live out a contrived narrative that reinforces an interracial intercultural divide because to face one another’s reality means to somehow acknowledge the commonality which is too painful in a racialized society where those that identify as black are often on the bottom

The world African influence is unparalleled with ancient societies like, Kemet (Egypt), Dahomey, Timbuktu, and Ghana Kumbi.  The post- slavery and colonization experience can be described as triumph over tragedy.  Black cultural explosion is worldwide and undisputable through language, arts, movement, food, fashion, historical and current ideology and intellectualism, significant social movements, and beyond. Despite the value of the black existence, a confusion remains about what blackness means.  We must explore how continental black people contextualize their ethnic experience in a racialized landscape. How do whites and other people of color grow to create bridges of understanding with diverse black communities?  How does this impact the way in which white teachers, make connections with diverse black students and their families? Do ethnically diverse blacks self-sabotage by embodying stereotypes against one another?

The multiple narratives whites espouse have not been afforded to blacks. Moreover, a true understanding of what it means to be black cannot be assumed or relegated to a set of physical features or a one drop of blood rule created to substantiate racism and economic exploitation. What more needs to be understood about black racial identity and intra-raciality to ensure educators engage in culturally responsive interaction in the classroom and community that affirms black diversity and asserts black solidarity.