#halfrican

Vibes Check

I was in a Lyft. And my driver was a fellow Black man. 

We’re getting along well enough. He’s talking more than I’d like, but whatever. He’s providing me a service.

But then he says, “You’re so pretty. What are you?”

Which is a question I’ve gotten pretty frequently in my life. It used to annoy me, but now I just roll with it, so I start my quick run down of my genetic background. But when I said, “I’m half Congolese.”

He said, “No! You’re too pretty to be Congolese.”

Bitch, what? Excuse me? Like, this dark skinned brother next to me just spewed internalized anti-Blackness at me like it was a fucking compliment? Was I supposed to appreciate that???? Am I supposed to validate that?

I told him to let me out.

"Put that Chocolate in the Light"