Knowing That I Don’t Know

I shy away from commenting on anything racial or political. Yes at times I may throw a few references here and there but they don’t really venture further than anything that I’m trying to paint around my personal experiences.

Quite frankly there’s a lot to touch on when it comes to those two themes and it takes practice to render something that’s cohesive enough to warrant a listen. 

I also don’t see things in the ways in which I guess one would assume or expect me to see things. Good and bad have never really been that black and white from my perspective, and even if that may have been the case earlier in my childhood, growing up I’ve come to realise more and more that things are not as simple as putting them in box or category. 

When it comes to being black my only experience so far hasn’t really had anything to do with prejudice or discrimination, but more so with perception: how I would like to be perceived vs how I’m actually perceived in general. 

Historically I feel as though a number of combined factors have lead to blackness being perceived as low to mid quality in any aspect that one could actually come to think about: sports, economy, fashion, class…It feels as though no matter how hard one tries to rejig the perception of blackness there’s always a thread somewhere that leads to the argument that blackness is inferiority personified. 

I’ve always feared this in the process of engaging with my own practice, and I try to express myself in a way that doesn’t allow me to remain ignorant about my own personal biases. Things are never black and white, and the minute I think I’m absolutely certain about something, I find that really and truthfully I know nothing at all.