etymology

“white” is not an adequate ethnic label in America. but “Black” is. it often falls to me— their “Black teacher”— to explain. we were raised from ship hulls on hooks, pried loose from the rigid dead, spoons unstacked from the bent, the rusted. we were traded on commercial winds. copper and cloth. rum and molasses. tobacco and hemp. last names more honest, more telling, than Washington. Johnson. Henry. Freeman. Freedman. Brown. others have acknowledged pasts, are allowed a hyphenated heritage. can add “American” to the end of anything. Irish. Italian. German. Dutch. French. there is no need for “white” unless making a statement, a distinction. like separating laundry. or water fountains. but our Ur-nation is undiscovered. seven possible ports are not a country. so we are known by our hue (Colored, Negro, Black) or remain caught in the middle, the passage between whole continents (Africa, America).

From Teaching While Black (Main Street Rag, 2020)