#nonblack

apologies for using terms inappropriately. as a mixed indigenous/black/arab poc I make a big effort to be as specific and not antiblack as possible. as I often see non-[race/ethnic identity] poc to refer to specify who was not being referred to (I often see non-asian and non-indigenous, non-amercian as terms in front of poc too) as far as I was aware at the time of posting, it wasn't a phrase formula specifically for "nonblack poc" so I'm sorry for my ignorance in phrasing.

however, I will not apologise for using the term "lightskinned fave" as I was using it with the purpose of pointing out Hollywood's colourism in casting those specific actors in big budget films repeatedly because of their proximity to whiteness, a fact most of those actors have spoken about and referred to themselves as, ESPECIALLY zendaya.

I’m specifically talking about the use of “Non” in relation to Non-Black by Black people to describe people who aren’t Black.

This is a matter of cultural erasure and antiblackness

Pretty much yeah, it means nonblack. Tagging things ‘nb’ when you mean enby or nonbinary means yer putting irrelevant things in a tag about discussing Black issues.

Hi! I just want to start off by asking that any followers or anybody else reading this please feel free to speak up, correct me, pitch in, etc. 

So I’m not black either, so I deep dived and did some searching, as I’d never heard this before. I found one person on twitter saying this and literally no other opinions either way. So I turned to some (black) mutuals to see how they felt about it.

And what I learned is that mileage is going to really vary on this. One of my mutuals who has responded so far had no idea about this and how correct the timeline was and also didn’t mind either way.

While it is often (which is probably an understatement) that AAVE is appropriated by, well, anyone and everyone, I personally think “nonblack” and “nonbinary” being shortened to “nb” is a little different than other lingo that’s been appropriated. For example, wlw and mlm started off as black identities for black people to describe themselves at. Now it’s so common in the queer/lgbt+ community that it’s hard to communicate without using these terms. And, as you pointed out, have even spread to also become wlnb, mlnb, and nblnb. And many black folk who remember the roots of these terms are, of course, understandably upset about how ubiquitous these terms came to be adopted by the community in general. While they can be used to describe a general feeling, wlw and mlm both started off as specific identities that black people could claim. 

Then there’s also terms like “passing”, which you may recognizing from terms like white passing, straight passing, cis passing, etc. However, AFAIK, the roots of the term passing arose in conjunction with slavery and things like the “one drop rule” and the basing the census on looks more than ancestry, muddling the already confusing concept of race based on skin color. It’s specifically tied to antiblackness, and today helps describe the different level of treatment poc, specifically black folk, can receive due to colorism. Whereas “passing” applied to other concepts like “straight passing” or “cis passing”... really don’t even make sense and instead of critiquing structures of cisheteronormativity... kinda helps uphold them.

Whereas nonblack is more of a descriptor that cropped up due to the social categorization of race and racial experiences. And nonbinary is a specific identity but not a specific or closed one. And what’s the natural abbreviation of both of these terms? NB. Because the first “part” of the word starts with ‘n’ and the second ‘b’. And both are logical concepts where ‘nb’ make sense applied to either. Plus, using context, people can easily figure out if “nb” means “nonblack” or “nonbinary”.

To be fair, I’m sure nonblack and nb meaning nonblack certainly did exist before  nonbinary and any abbreviations and shortenings. But I think “nb” is more of an easy shortening than something that was specifically decided on to mean nonblack and only nonblack. I would definitely see an issue if nb was not a natural shortening for nonbinary or if using nb to mean nonbinary detracted from discussions of black vs nonblack experiences.

That being said, of course, if someone doesn’t like nb to mean nonbinary for these reasons, then it would be respectful to, at the very least, not use nb like that around them. And if you want to not use nb to mean nonbinary ever to be safe and respectful, that’s a very respectful decision. 

However, please do not use “enby” as an alternative to nb for all nonbinary people. Enby is a fairly divisive term. While I personally think it’s cute, in my experience, most nonbinary people actually do not like the term applied to them and many don’t even like seeing used (though most respect if someone wants to use it for themself). Many consider it too cutesy for what nonbinary means and stands for and others believe it obfuscates the meaning of nonbinary too much (probably with similar arguments against using nb to mean nonbinary). So it’s fine to use “enby” personally for yourself and others who are okay with it, but it’s absolutely not a widely accepted umbrella term.

So if you want to drop nb as nonbinary altogether, then I would suggest just using the full label: nonbinary. Alternatively, you can work on another shortening. NBY (all the letters pronounced, not phonetically sounded out) might sound/look the best if you want to try and start spreading it but expect that you’ll run into a lot of people who don’t automatically recognize or place the abbreviation, as nb is the abbreviation that is pretty common and well known.

But as I said, I’m certainly not an authority here. Other opinions would be welcome!

For years, black has been the default pant coloration for trend folks to pair with Chestnut Uggs, and it is sensible. Black by itself is dependable and basic, and when styled with the sunshine brown, it nonetheless retains that timeless high quality. However, it appears we have all been ready for somebody to display that one other pant coloration can look equally fashionable with these footwear.…