It's another round of "This Post Is Too Long For Twitter Threads" and I'm your host, Spotted Menace.
So, within the past day or so, there's been an old video from Drake's Degrassi days going around where he's out to dinner with, I'm assuming, his white co-stars on the show and they ask him about Toronto slang. To which he mocks it and calls it ignorant and that's led to a large amount of engagement declaring that Drake was "never down for the culture".
Disclaimer: I don't like Drake. I don't dislike him - like, actively don't like him and see him as 'a problem'; I just don't vibe with dude's music or the way he moves. Best thing he's ever done, in my opinion, was that track with BlocBoy JB if only for "901. Shelby Drive. Look alive, look alive" - shout out to Memphis. But yeah, I ain't dude's biggest fan so I'm not coming here with a cape playing Capt. Save-A-Hoe for Mr. Views From The 6 - Mister "I did blackface" Aubrey lookin' ass.
No no no. This is more about Blackness in general. To be more specific, our interpersonal journey with personal identity and growth. The whole thing about internalized anti-Blackness is not about having some conscious pressure weighing down on you to make you hate your skin, your culture, your people. It's the small things in life. It's turning your nose up at a style of dress or music or food because it's perceived as 'ghetto' and you know that it's 'bad' in society. It's hating regional dialects and language because it's improper.
It's a teenaged, light skinned actor performing anti-Blackness for his white peers. And, spoilers, that's... the reality for a lot of Black kids growing up. Not everyone cause, y'know... "not a monolith" but for a lot of us - and I do mean us. I make no bones about how I used to be as a teen and young adult and how I've grown, accepted, embraced, and loved every part of what makes us US in a way that younger me would probably roll their eyes about. But, again, it happens.
The dunks and videos and gifs and all are cute and funny-haha because they're easy and the topic, Drake, is... divisive to say the least in certain corners of the community. This isn't really about him. Over the past few years, I've grown closer with other Black people who feel their interpretation of Blackness from a cultural and community standpoint is, in their eyes, imperfect and leaves them missing out (I'm here to tell y'all, it's not. Be you) and I think a lot of that has to do with a sort of protective gatekeeping AMONG the community as a defense mechanism. Ironically, turn it up too much and you turn culture into something of a commodity; a dress or a costume you can take on and off focusing more on consumption or acts instead of a connection with the peoples, histories, and traditions we share and explore together.
For example: If you're Black and reading this, you've likely had at least one white friend who pulled an "I consume X media so I guess that makes me Blacker than you" kind of comment. As innocuous as that comment may be, if you look back, it kind of stings because they've whittled down all those centuries of being into something they can buy into with a FastPass.
I thought I had a punchier endpoint than this but I'll just keep rambling over several more paragraphs so, instead, I'll end it with this: Fuck Drake. He has his own issues with the community and vice versa. But I do hope that we, as a people, as a group, are a little more kinder, gentler, and empathetic to those still trying to find their understanding and relationship with the community; especially coming from a starting point influenced by a society that tried (and tries) to grind us down.