Black Love Is More Than Just a Trendy Term By Denise Kyeremeh
I must admit that when I heard that there was an annual national Black Love Day on February 13, I chuckled. I tend to think of ‘Black love’ as a corny phrase that people use when they see a cute Black couple. The most accurate dictionary on the internet, Urban Dictionary, describes Black love as, “a spiritual journey that only people who are rich in melanin can experience.” Although it has always naturally existed as a phenomenon, the phrase ‘Black love’ has never seemed more popular. The increased popularity of the term ‘Black love’ emphasizes the impact of interracial love on Black culture. Compared to other racial groups, the percent of Black people with spouses of a different race grew the most between 1980 and 2015. According to the Pew Research Center, around 5% of Black people had spouses of different races in 1980, and in 2015 it had risen to 18%. The significance of these relationships extends beyond survey results. Interracial relationships can be a divisive topic in the Black community. According to sociologist Rachel Sullivan, opposition to interracial relationships has ties to the Black Power movement when these relationships were seen as “not helpful to the struggle.” Different elements to this opposition include the historical danger of interracial relationships, the idea that people in those relationships pursue them out of self-degradation and self-centeredness, and the belief that interracial relationships uplift and give back to the Black community (Sullivan, 2005, as cited in Romano, 2003). These sentiments that are rooted in history
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still have implications on the Black community including the topic of loyalty.Some people may hesitate to enter an interracial relationship for fear of being viewed as being disloyal to their community. If a person chooses to be in an interracial relationship, it may be viewed as their removal from the community (Chito Childs, 2005). This may signal that the person is not invested in building up the Black community or concerning themselves with issues relating to the Black community. While this is not true of everyone who enters an interracial relationship,this notion is perpetrated by members of the community who reject the Black community.
Background photo courtesy of Unsplash.com
MAGAZINE
2022 Black History Month Issue Edition
“a spiritual journey that only people who are rich in melanin can experience.”
