The ageless implication is if a black person studies hard, is bookish, speaks well and ultimately test drives a non-traditional aesthetic and profession, there must be racial fence jumping, an aspiration to whiteness.
Black nerdiness is exactly cattycornered. It's blackness flipped inside out. Popular culture struggles to grow accustomed to its face. You know one when you see one, and you almost have to see one before you know what one is.
In the galaxy of black nerdiness, racial identity collides at the intersection of class, religion and education. Black nerds -- often called Afrodemics -- are blamed for "whitewashing" by studying at prestigious colleges and universities.
They warily eyeball politics but remain independent, eschewing card-carrying memberships. Most turn childhood religiosity upside-down to shake out open-ended religious identities, choosing instead to study world religions.
Black nerds question more than they join.
Though ostracized by blacks and whites alike, black nerds work diligently via the arts, literature, grassroots organizing and small business ventures to suture America's racial divide.
They know well the sins of the fathers. But they aspire to an internationalist culture that doesn't compartmentalize according to the generalities of race, gender and class.
| CityBeat's Kathy Y. Wilson examines "The Other 'N' Word"
posted in articles on July 17, 2003 10:45 PM | t (0)
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