It appears that some folks did not know Beyoncé was black until she sang “Formation” (funny huh?). I thought she has always been black, but apparently, it takes more than having a dark skin or being born to a parent of African descent to be black. So some folks believe Beyoncé is appropriating blackness. Now the question is what qualifies as being black? Black is a term used to describe a person of African descent, black is a label by which society ostracize a particular group of people, but at the same time, black is a symbol of social justice and the fight for racial equality. Being black in the…

There was nothing subtle in author Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie attempt to write about race in Americanah, a novel centered on female protagonist Ifemelu, a Nigerian immigrant turned popular blogger in America. The story was mostly narrated by Ifemelu and follows her journey from Nigeria to America, where she notices the different issues surrounding race, in how it is never really talked about, or how when talked about it is obscured in a coded language. This would later be the main subject of her popular blog. There is so much to talk about in Americanah, but race is the biggest theme. The book shows that we still have a long way…