Stop the Label

For a long time, I’ve tried to stay clear of the subject of racism because it seems very typical for a black writer to write about race. For a black person, everything seems to be centered around that one subject. We can’t seem to live a life free from the subject of race. So I try to not fall into that stereotype of black writers writing about race, but I’m finding that it’s impossible not to talk about race, especially when racism is just so glaring.

The mere fact that I’ll be identified as a “black writer” not “a writer” already puts me in a box that places my work in the context of race. The fact is black has become a label by which we judge people. Woman has become a label too. A woman cannot do anything without her gender coming into play. We don’t ever hear people calling a man a male artist, he is simple called an artist, but a woman is referred to as a female artist.

It just doesn’t feel right to be judged by anything other than one’s humanity. But that’s exactly what racism is all about, to erase one’s humanity and act like it does not exist. So by putting labels on people, we are dehumanizing them and a dehumanized person can never be seen as equals. Not until we remove those labels that puts us all in different categories and just simply be humans, racism will never end.