Member-only story
My life is becoming an episode of Black-ish
Identity is important to all of us. It’s how we view ourselves and how, consciously or otherwise, we want the world to view us.
For many, culture and class is at the forefront of our identity. Culture was once probably more prevalent in shaping one’s identity. Although today, class arguably plays a greater role in the same context than it once did. A black, middle class person is likely to find more commonality with the lives of other non-black middle class individuals than they will with a working class black person. Indeed, their respective socio-economic status will mean there’s less they’ll find in common in their everyday lives.
My identity, and how I have long viewed myself, is a black, working class man. I grew up in a working class, largely black and low-socioeconomic community. And while I’ve since moved from there, I still associate with many of my experiences growing up.
Despite now being in a different space socioeconomically, I still feel that I’m working class. Yet many would argue that my life today suggests that I’m middle class, having left some of my working class trappings behind me. On the latter of no longer living the same life, I have to reluctantly agree. Nonetheless, I still feel like a working class, black man is very much my identity, even if aspects of my life at face value appear to refute it.
