The Everyday Power of Embracing Blackness

What does it truly mean to celebrate Black identity every single day? I'm Carmen Cauthen, and I invite you to join me as we explore the profound significance of embracing Black culture in our daily lives. Drawing from my own experiences growing up in an all-Black community, I reflect on how cultural celebrations like Emancipation Day and Black History Month have shaped our understanding of Blackness. My personal stories highlight the challenges and unique cultural aspects that have molded my identity, underscoring the need to recognize and appreciate the diversity of all cultures while honoring the distinct characteristics of being Black.

Celebrating differences enriches our collective identity as Americans. Together, we can uplift and support one another's journeys toward self-acceptance and unity. Growing up in a predominantly white neighborhood, I learned the importance of maintaining my essence as a proud Black woman without compromising any part of my heritage. 

As we approach a series of Black holidays, let's embrace the beauty of our differences—whether in appearance, speech, or cultural practices. Through this conversation, I invite you to reflect on your roots and join me in celebrating the beautiful mosaic of our identities, ensuring we remain "Quiet, no More.

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Carmen Wimberley Cauthen is an author, speaker, and lover of history, Black history in particular. As a truth teller, she delights in finding the hidden truths about the lives of people who made a difference - whether they were unknown icons or regular everyday people.

To Learn more of Carmen:
www.carmencauthen.com
www.researchandresource.com

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:01):
Unseen, unheard.
We've lived like that far toolong.
I'm Carmen Coffin and this isQuiet, no More.
I have a question when do youcelebrate being Black?

(00:22):
So it is.
This is the first week ofJanuary and Emancipation Day.
For those people who celebrate,it would have been January 1st,
and some towns and cities, ifthey celebrate at all, are
celebrating the first weekend ofJanuary.
Now, when I was growing up, Ididn't know anything about

(00:46):
Emancipation Day being January1st.
That was my grandmother'sbirthday and we celebrated her,
not Emancipation Day, but thatis when Emancipation Day was to
be after Abraham Lincoln.
President Abraham Lincoln gaveinformation in September of the

(01:06):
prior year that that would bethe day that the slaves would be
freed in those states that hedesignated Not all of them, but
in those places that hedesignated.
So when do you celebrate beingblack?
Do you celebrate EmancipationDay?

(01:27):
Do you celebrate on MartinLuther King Jr's real birthday,
which is January 15th, and notthe day that we celebrate it
most of the time the thirdMonday in January?
Do you celebrate it during theshortest month of the year,
february?
Do you celebrate it every day?

(01:50):
It's important to celebratebeing Black every day.
We celebrate being Americans.
Every day, we celebrate allsorts of things every day.
We are who we are.
We are Americans, but we arebrown and black and red
Americans, and so the importanceof the things that we celebrate

(02:15):
needs to be spread out during365 days of the year.
I am not trying to days of theyear, I am not trying to negate
any of the other celebrations,any other American celebrations,
but our cultures are different.

(02:38):
If you are Irish American, Iwould imagine you celebrate some
things that are specific toIrish, irish people, to Ireland.
If you are an Italian American,I would imagine that you
celebrate some things that areItalian in your background.
If you are a German American, Ianticipate that you celebrate

(03:02):
those things as well.
And so when people say to mewhy do you have to bring race
into it?
Well, I wouldn't have to ifrace hadn't been brought into it
to begin with, but it was.
And while we consider thatAmerica is a melting pot, if you
consider that you melt all thecrayons in the crayon box into

(03:26):
one big lump, they still havedistinct colors in them.
I don't want to lose thedistinct color that I have or
that I was born with.
So I celebrate being black.
I celebrate that there aredifferent skin tones in the
people around me.
I celebrate that how I cook maynot be the same as how others

(03:52):
cook.
I celebrate that there arepeople who were important to
people who were part of my racethat some white people don't
know anything about and don'tthink that they're important,
but they are, and so I just wantto make you think about that.

(04:14):
When and how do you celebratebeing Black?
Now, I know that there arepeople out there going.
Why does she have to go there?
Well, I grew up as a young girlin an all black community,
because that was all that therewas for people who looked like

(04:39):
me.
We couldn't necessarily shop atplaces where white people would
shop.
We couldn't necessarily go tothe park.
In fact, there weren't parkswhen I was growing up for me,
except for Chavis Park, and sosometimes my mother would take
us to or she would take me,because I think this was before

(05:00):
my brother was born but shewould take me to see the ducks
at a cemetery because there wasa pond there, and so that was
one of the ways that she wouldshow nature to me.
I have to celebrate all of thepieces of me, and one of the

(05:21):
biggest pieces of me.
One of the biggest pieces thatyou see when you look at me is
my brown skin.
My brown skin has been calledsome of everything.
I remember when I was growingup, my grandmother thought we
were colored and she did notlike the fact that by the 60s,

(05:43):
by the mid-60s, people who hadbrown skin were calling each
other black Because black didnot seem to be a good thing to
her.
But I celebrated that.
I celebrated when I was a Negro, before people were called
black.

(06:08):
I've celebrated being AfricanAmerican.
I have to celebrate who I am.
You need to celebrate who youare.
It doesn't mean that therearen't some white people in my
lineage.
It doesn't mean that there areNative Americans in my lineage,

(06:31):
but primarily I identify as ablack woman and I'm thankful
that that's who I am.
And whoever you are, you needto be thankful to be who you are
.
But don't let that take awaythe importance of who other

(06:57):
people are and who and whattheir culture is like.
So there are things that aredifferent.
I spent a lot of time growing uphaving my hair combed
differently, shaped differently,putting chemical relaxers in it
to straighten it out.
I have curls, some naturalcurls in my hair.

(07:20):
You don't necessarily see them,but they're there and they can
get tangled up and knotty andthat's part of my blackness and
I'm thankful for it.
I am not ever going to pretendthat I'm not who I am Now.
I've had people say that Ididn't appreciate who I was or

(07:43):
that I didn't know who I was.
I've been called an Oreo blackon the outside and white on the
inside Black on the outside andwhite on the inside.

(08:21):
Part of that came from the factthat I grew up primarily in a
white neighborhood, so I wasaround people who sounded white
all the time and didn't takeaway who I was raised to be at
the core and I'm not going toever give that up that we did
not all melt together, we didnot all meld together.
We aren't all one color, wearen't all one anything except
Americans, and I am thankful tobe who I am a Black woman, woman

(08:58):
, a strong and proud black woman, and I know where I came from
and I know that if you knowwhere you came from, that you
would be willing to say I'mproud of this piece of me and
I'm proud of this piece of meand I could put those pieces
together, regardless of how manythey are, to make a whole me
and to do better, not just forme, but to help others to do

(09:22):
better.
But that doesn't mean doingbetter means they need to leave
who they are behind behind.
And so, as we head into thisseries of Black holidays or so
I'm thinking that some peoplethink of them, because we don't
celebrate very many things thatare Black all year long I want

(09:46):
you to consider that it's okayto be different, to look
different, to sound different,to eat different things, to have
different ways of viewingthings, and it doesn't take
anything away from anybody else.
And you have to do that.

(10:08):
I'm going to do that becauseI'm going to be quiet.
No more You've been listeningto Quiet, no More where I share
my journey, so you can be quiet.