@brooklynboy27.bsky.social
April 30, 2025 at 12:42 AM
In the end, all three works ask the same question: What happens when Blackness is something to escape, perform, or consume—but not honor? Whether it’s passing into whiteness or packaging Blackness for pop culture, the real violence is in the erasure.
April 30, 2025 at 12:40 AM
In the end, all three works ask the same question: What happens when Blackness is something to escape, perform, or consume—but not honor? Whether it’s passing into whiteness or packaging Blackness for pop culture, the real violence is in the erasure.
Pop culture loves Blackness but only when it’s curated. That’s what makes me think of Doechii and Jude. Both are told they’re “too much.” But maybe the real issue is that they don’t fit into a neat aesthetic for consumption.
April 30, 2025 at 12:40 AM
Pop culture loves Blackness but only when it’s curated. That’s what makes me think of Doechii and Jude. Both are told they’re “too much.” But maybe the real issue is that they don’t fit into a neat aesthetic for consumption.
Some of the lyrics that represent this idea to me include “Cause you can be anything, anything ‘Cause you can be.” Doechii wants the listener to know that who they are in their blackness is something to be celebrated, and nobody can take that away from them
April 30, 2025 at 12:40 AM
Some of the lyrics that represent this idea to me include “Cause you can be anything, anything ‘Cause you can be.” Doechii wants the listener to know that who they are in their blackness is something to be celebrated, and nobody can take that away from them
Doechii isn’t trying to teach you how to understand her. Black Girl Memoir is a refusal of translation. That’s what makes it powerful. It’s not for the white gaze—it’s for the girls who feel like too much and not enough at the same time.
April 30, 2025 at 12:40 AM
Doechii isn’t trying to teach you how to understand her. Black Girl Memoir is a refusal of translation. That’s what makes it powerful. It’s not for the white gaze—it’s for the girls who feel like too much and not enough at the same time.
Doechii’s Black Girl Memoir refuses to make Blackness digestible. She leans into complexity. That feels like a direct challenge to the kind of “respectable Blackness” that Stella rejected—and then re-inscribed from the other side.
April 30, 2025 at 12:40 AM
Doechii’s Black Girl Memoir refuses to make Blackness digestible. She leans into complexity. That feels like a direct challenge to the kind of “respectable Blackness” that Stella rejected—and then re-inscribed from the other side.
In “Four Women,” Nina Simone forces you to look at how the world assigns value based on appearance. That’s exactly what’s happening in The Vanishing Half. Skin tone determines access, desirability, safety—even within Black communities.
April 30, 2025 at 12:40 AM
In “Four Women,” Nina Simone forces you to look at how the world assigns value based on appearance. That’s exactly what’s happening in The Vanishing Half. Skin tone determines access, desirability, safety—even within Black communities.
Kennedy’s relationship with race is built on denial, but it’s also built on confusion. She doesn’t know her history, so she performs a version of identity that’s disconnected. This reminds me of people who cosplay Blackness without any lived understanding
April 30, 2025 at 12:40 AM
Kennedy’s relationship with race is built on denial, but it’s also built on confusion. She doesn’t know her history, so she performs a version of identity that’s disconnected. This reminds me of people who cosplay Blackness without any lived understanding
There’s something haunting about how Stella uses her appearance to walk away from Blackness. She doesn’t just pass—she adopts the mindset of whiteness, which allows her to look at her own people as strangers. That’s where the real violence comes in.
April 30, 2025 at 12:40 AM
There’s something haunting about how Stella uses her appearance to walk away from Blackness. She doesn’t just pass—she adopts the mindset of whiteness, which allows her to look at her own people as strangers. That’s where the real violence comes in.
They however represent a certain end of the spectrum that is harmful. It makes me think of other political figures who adopt similar values to Stella. People such as Clarence Thomas or Ben Carson. While they are black in skin tone, their policies don’t support their own community.
April 30, 2025 at 12:40 AM
They however represent a certain end of the spectrum that is harmful. It makes me think of other political figures who adopt similar values to Stella. People such as Clarence Thomas or Ben Carson. While they are black in skin tone, their policies don’t support their own community.
Even if Stella and Kennedy aren’t black in belief, they still are in identity. Especially in the later half of the book as they come to realize who they truly are. With that being said I think they are still black in their life and experience.
April 30, 2025 at 12:40 AM
Even if Stella and Kennedy aren’t black in belief, they still are in identity. Especially in the later half of the book as they come to realize who they truly are. With that being said I think they are still black in their life and experience.
This is something that Nina Simone kind of gets at in her song “Four Women”. The journey of black womanhood is not just one individual story. There are so many different experiences that coexist under one umbrella of identity.
April 30, 2025 at 12:40 AM
This is something that Nina Simone kind of gets at in her song “Four Women”. The journey of black womanhood is not just one individual story. There are so many different experiences that coexist under one umbrella of identity.
When Stella gives up who she is and passes into whiteness, she is also giving up a piece of who she is. She is giving up community. She is giving up love. And she is giving up the truth. She denies who she is for the sake of something that she already had. She just never realized it.
April 30, 2025 at 12:40 AM
When Stella gives up who she is and passes into whiteness, she is also giving up a piece of who she is. She is giving up community. She is giving up love. And she is giving up the truth. She denies who she is for the sake of something that she already had. She just never realized it.
Stella then adopts a negative mindset to her own people and this is where the harm comes in. The disregarding of her own identity allows her to adopt the mentality of “othering”. As the Walkers move into her neighborhood she can do nothing but seem nervous and hesitant to accept them. (Bennett, 184)
April 30, 2025 at 12:40 AM
Stella then adopts a negative mindset to her own people and this is where the harm comes in. The disregarding of her own identity allows her to adopt the mentality of “othering”. As the Walkers move into her neighborhood she can do nothing but seem nervous and hesitant to accept them. (Bennett, 184)
Stella and Kennedy also experience life in a different way on the basis in which they look but for different reasoning. With agency, and the opportunity of ambiguity they choose to forgo their mixed identity and instead pass only as white
April 30, 2025 at 12:40 AM
Stella and Kennedy also experience life in a different way on the basis in which they look but for different reasoning. With agency, and the opportunity of ambiguity they choose to forgo their mixed identity and instead pass only as white
In “The Vanishing Half” the main characters of Jude, Stella, Kennedy, all have their life choices influenced by the way that they look. For example because of Jude’s skin color, and the perception it brings, her relationship with Reese is based on mutual understanding of transformation and secrecy.
April 30, 2025 at 12:40 AM
In “The Vanishing Half” the main characters of Jude, Stella, Kennedy, all have their life choices influenced by the way that they look. For example because of Jude’s skin color, and the perception it brings, her relationship with Reese is based on mutual understanding of transformation and secrecy.
Passing from white to Black just feels like a bizarre obsession with an individual wanting to be able to claim that they are part of a group. For Dolezal, Krug, and the others out there, their actions reinforce the very racial constructs they claim to dismantle. @vdotfdot.bsky.social
February 25, 2025 at 2:18 AM
Passing from white to Black just feels like a bizarre obsession with an individual wanting to be able to claim that they are part of a group. For Dolezal, Krug, and the others out there, their actions reinforce the very racial constructs they claim to dismantle. @vdotfdot.bsky.social
As talked about by Darity, the difference is that passing from Black to white was an advancement in society, especially during the 1800’s, it was used to gain power in a country that was so invested into hurting Black people.
February 25, 2025 at 2:18 AM
As talked about by Darity, the difference is that passing from Black to white was an advancement in society, especially during the 1800’s, it was used to gain power in a country that was so invested into hurting Black people.
Dolezal and Krug’s deliberate alterations of their phenotypic appearance reveals a deeper acknowledgment of race as more than solely a social construct; it is an embodied experience tied to history, struggle, and community. It is ironic they both claim it to be such but then prove themselves wrong
February 25, 2025 at 2:18 AM
Dolezal and Krug’s deliberate alterations of their phenotypic appearance reveals a deeper acknowledgment of race as more than solely a social construct; it is an embodied experience tied to history, struggle, and community. It is ironic they both claim it to be such but then prove themselves wrong
Modern perspectives on passing reflect a shift in the understanding of racial solidarity and allyship. As society has made progress toward accepting and celebrating racial diversity, the expectation has grown that those working for social change should do so without altering their own identity.
February 25, 2025 at 2:18 AM
Modern perspectives on passing reflect a shift in the understanding of racial solidarity and allyship. As society has made progress toward accepting and celebrating racial diversity, the expectation has grown that those working for social change should do so without altering their own identity.
This is wrong for many reasons but I do think there is a difference between him and Dolezal and that is a very interesting thing to think about. Griffin was doing it for a momentary period of time, Dolezal wanted to make it her identity.
February 25, 2025 at 2:18 AM
This is wrong for many reasons but I do think there is a difference between him and Dolezal and that is a very interesting thing to think about. Griffin was doing it for a momentary period of time, Dolezal wanted to make it her identity.
Something that I’ve also thought about is John Howard Griffin's decision to pass as a Black man in the 1960s in the South. This was a white man who put on a full black face to attempt to understand the Black experience.
February 25, 2025 at 2:18 AM
Something that I’ve also thought about is John Howard Griffin's decision to pass as a Black man in the 1960s in the South. This was a white man who put on a full black face to attempt to understand the Black experience.
This to me begs at another question, what is the difference between appropriation vs appreciation? Obviously in the case of Dolezal that is clearly appropriation to the highest degree. But something like Complex media, where does that fall into?
February 25, 2025 at 2:18 AM
This to me begs at another question, what is the difference between appropriation vs appreciation? Obviously in the case of Dolezal that is clearly appropriation to the highest degree. But something like Complex media, where does that fall into?
There exists such high levels and tendency for pop culture to have aspects of black culture. Look at news outlets such as HypeBeast or Complex. These accounts are very current platforms that give information about very cool ongoing events but a lot of posts have to do with black culture in some way.
February 25, 2025 at 2:18 AM
There exists such high levels and tendency for pop culture to have aspects of black culture. Look at news outlets such as HypeBeast or Complex. These accounts are very current platforms that give information about very cool ongoing events but a lot of posts have to do with black culture in some way.