By: Zach Fulwood

Black people are cool. A rather obvious proclamation, I know. That said, I get the strange feeling that the rather large social impact of coolness Black culture has on our society is often understated. From hair style, fashion, music, sports, and even basic cultural colloquialisms, Black culture is felt everywhere we look but, it’s rarely given it’s credit for being at the forefront for what is considered cool.

From the moment Black people were brought to America, there has been an infatuation with Black people and their culture. Though hard to tell on the surface because of that little time period most historians like to call, slavery, there has consistently been instances where people have taken notice to Black culture. Slave owners would marvel (though not openly) at the slaves who would be in the fields singing and creating meals out of the scraps they were given. This ability to create something out of nothing was and still is cause for great fascination from other cultures.

The minstrel shows of the late 1800’s further exemplified that odd fascination America had with Black culture. When you consider the prevailing thought surrounding Black people at this time was that they were less than human, savages, and illiterate, it becomes almost unconscionable that White America would choose to mimic that narrative and sell it for profit and yet, it did. After all, imitation is the best form of flattery, right?

Speaking of imitation, music has long been something that has been imitated (or appropriated). While Hip-hop and R&B are widely known to be Black forms of musical art, very little attention has ever been payed to other art forms such as Jazz, Rock ‘N’ Roll, and Country music being rooted in Black culture. Pop music wouldn’t even be where it was today had it not been for the success of Black artists (cough *Michael Jackson). Not to mention, the amount of non Black artists who have immersed themselves into Black culture in an effort to either boost their careers or revive their careers only to then denounce it when they’ve extracted all the benefits they could out of it (Hi Miley Cyrus).

As I said before, the infatuation with Black culture is widespread. Celebrities like Kim Kardashian and Kylie Jenner have made millions off of paying for their bodies to look like Black women while also dating and fathering children with prominent Black men. Movies and television shows have learned to capitalize off of the fascination America has with Black culture by continuing to show the rags to riches stories of Black people.

All said, Black people are just cool. Maybe everyone doesn’t want to be Black but, they certainly don’t mind being influenced by Black culture. Black culture is everywhere and it’s only getting bigger whether you acknowledge it or not.

Categories: Culture

Tags: #Black, Culturally Biased, Culture, Hip-hop, Jazz, Kim Kardashian, Kylie Jenner, Michael Jackson, Miley Cyrus, R&B