Project Description
What does it mean to be American, to be Black or Brown, Red or Yellow? Soon, in the United States the majority of people will be mixed and/or people of color. The question we must ask ourselves is what does this mean? Will equality be realized? Is the answer complex, or are we “ambiguous?”
Ambiguous means to be open to more than one interpretation. In America we are open to many interpretations and at the same time we are open to only one…our own. We are open. We are closed. We are each and neither. We are of mixed minds, or just mixed up and confused. Our feelings are scrambled.. Our blood is a blend. The color of our skin is coffee or cream…stirred please. The ways in which we speak are varied. We are ambiguous and yet, we are not at all. If only we were open, if only our definitions were as mixed as we are. Might Black be charcoal and Brown be shaded with a lavender hue. Could skin be blue or blood red? It shows through.
Too often our words and ways are etched into narrow little pathways we follow blindly. Our lack of insight causes a serious lack of sight. So, blithely we stumble and thus ask, ‘What are you?’ Me? I am ambiguous and you?
Published on Dec 10, 2012
Becca Khalil and Nayo Jones– main subjects of “Black in America: Who is Black?”–perform a poem.
A bit of background through personal accounts.
Uploaded on Jan 10, 2012
Visit http://mun2.tv/blackandlatino for more interviews and to join the conversation!
What does it mean to be black and Latino in the U.S.? Featuring interviews with Latino actors Laz Alonso (“Avatar”, “Jumping the Broom”), Tatyana Ali (“Fresh Prince of Bel Air”), Gina Torres (“Suits, Hercules: The Legendary Journeys”) and Judy Reyes (“Scrubs”), musicians Christina Milian (“Dip it Low”) and Kat DeLuna (“Whine Up”), and journalist Soledad O’Brien (CNN), among many others.
