Black & Excellent in 2013: Ungraspable Phenomenon

Ah, to be black and excellent in 2013. It's been quite the conundrum for folks. No one truly knows what it means. Well, except black people, but what do we know? Our thoughts don't count for much anyway.

To be black and excellent is "surprising" as we've seen from a handful of mainstream outlets (eghem, USA TODAY). The Best Man Holiday -- which included a crapload of seasoned black actors and actresses (and a hint of vanilla swirl) -- was instantly deemed race-themed, and therefore a different, lower rung on the entertainment ladder. It was such a shocker to see a black person direct an excellent film (#2 to Thor) about people being excellent and funny and tear-jerking and everything that a functional human can be, but that all just happen to be black. The film didn't happen within the chambers of an NAACP meeting, nor a protest, nor a vigil for a slain teen. It was family, Christmas, sex, success, struggle and forgiveness. I wasn't aware those themes came paired with a melanin count requirement. My sincerest apologies.



Oh, to be black and excellent in 2013. The fact that this sentence reads like an oxymoron to so many people is vexing and emotional taxing. But it's why I make it my business more than anything to be one of "the excellent black people," just like many, many (did I say many?) of my peers are doing in droves. To make it un-damn-thinkable to have #WhiteGirlsRock trending as Beverly Bond's "Black Girls Rock!" airs. To put on for a people displaced by Miley Cyrus' infatuation with the movements of our backsides at parties and white America's obsession with making it an overarching black cultural marker. To help black excellence become as much of a societal norm as white privilege.

We do more than bend over and touch our toes. We do more than buck back against "the man" (and I personally refuse to even entertain that nonsense). We do more than sing and dance on command. We do more than fight. We do more than hustle. We do more than speak in slang. We do more than expect handouts for being mediocre (hi, Bethanny).

We live, we love, we create, we defend, we create change, we discover, we pray and, most importantly, we EXCEL. It's the new normal, white America. Get familiar.

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