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In this unapologetically Black and joyful episode, we break down ten things we love about Black people. From the way we hook up our food, to the rhythm in our DNA, the joy in our laughter, and the power in our resistance—this is a celebration of culture, legacy, and truth. Join hosts Ifeoma Ike and Kelly Burton as they talk about the deep roots of our music, the art of the clapback, and why dancing anywhere is simply non-negotiable. If you love us, you’ll love this episode. And if you don’t? We got plenty of clapbacks for you. Tune in for a necessary conversation on Black excellence, resilience, and joy.
Welcome to another episode of the show. I am one of your co-hosts, Ifeoma Ike, and I am here with my fellow co-host, Kelly Burton. How are you?
I’m great. How are you?
I’m great. This is a rapid one.
This is a rapid one because we felt that it was important for us to lift up the things that we love about Black people.
Lift every voice.
Until earth and heaven reign.
Sing a song.
By the time we get to the second stanza, nobody knows the words.
As long as you can get the notes. Do you know how crazy that is? That a whole people not sing that thing. We cannot wait to get to that chord change.
The rising sun.
Not the rising sun, but sing a song. How can you tell that you didn’t grow up in a Black? If you don’t go to that part, it gets us.
What We Love About Black People
That kicks us off because we’re going to talk about the ten things that we love about Black people.
It’s so hard. Only 10?
Maybe we’ll come back and do a 2.0, but won’t you kick us off?
I know I should start with something serious, and I know we’ll end with something serious. The one thing that I love about Black people is that we all hook up our ramen.
Hot sauce of mine.
Hot sauce?
Yes.
Back in the day when Vienna or whatever sausages were the thing, putting a little bit of a sausage or a little bit of parsley, I love the way that we innovate beyond like the package. You have to go beyond chicken, beef, and shrimp. You got to add something to it.
Something to make it even more delicious.
I love our creativity with food.
It doesn’t matter if I know you. I have never seen you in my life, but our passion, you are going to get the nod, you’re going to get a smile, you might get a what up, hey fam, the familiarity that exists, whether you know people or not.
I love our love for the art of the debate. We ain’t never scared from a position. I think, real talk, this is why they do not have debating as part of the admissions for law school. It is seen as the strongest sign of whether you will be a good attorney. It is the only thing you’re not tested on to be a lawyer. Go figure. Have you ever seen a bad Black debate? No, think about it.
Never.
We’re good.
I love that we will dance anywhere. One time, I was at a Diana Ross concert in Atlanta, and I was one of the only chocolate folks up in there, and everybody was sitting down. I was like, “I’ll be doggone if I’m going to be up in here with Diana Ross and stay in my feet.” It’s not happening, and so the people behind me were very angry because I danced on the plane. I dance anywhere. People were looking and I’m like, “I’m going to dance out this song in my heart.”
She was in the vicinity, and they were just going to watch her, or the song came on?
We were at the concert.
Were they just going to let her dance by herself for her stuff?
It was a whole sea of people who were sitting there listening to that. I felt it was a crime.
I don’t know what number we’re on, but I feel like we’re on four. I’m going to say 4A. It is a crime to let somebody dance by themselves. I heard that that was wrong. Why would you leave somebody by themselves?
Why would you leave them by themselves?
The Rhythm Within Us: The Drum As Unity, Rebellion, And Joy
Which gets us to number five. The drum. Every Black person lives with a drum inside them. Just the beat, the drum, the rhythm. I think that rhythm is the reward for pain. I can tell that the rhythmless nation around us is their punishment.
No internal drum.
As you know, the drum was banned during enslavement because even though multiple tribes were in the same space and did not understand each other’s language, it was the drum that unified us and ultimately was the tool of rebellion. I love the drum.
I love the joy and that we laugh loudly, and it’s raucous. When we are together, we are raucous.
I’m purposely trying not to laugh loudly because I don’t know if that’s just a stereotype, but this is very different.
I love it. It might be a cultural thing, but I feel that we find a lot of joy in all the things. We can find joy in just about everything, because it’s almost like it’s hardwired in us to find joy in all things.
Akin to that is that we always got a good joke. Sometimes we were the most unserious motherfuckers.
We got to be.
We were so unserious.
This makes it very difficult to be in predominant spaces, by the way, which is very serious, like almost all the time.
I feel like there are things that should be serious, like bird flu, and we’re going to have a joke. People layoffs, we’re going to have a joke. Oftentimes, they say that jokes are a way of coping with stress. In many ways, that could be a sign of the amount of stress that we have to endure. I love our people for trying to help us cope with laughter.
My family members have conversations about estate planning. We cracking up through the whole thing. We were talking about the will. I mean, it’s jokes. We’re talking about when someone dies, but we got jokes the whole way through.
How you die may be funny.
Especially on the other side.
Especially when you’re alive. Nobody’s death is funny, but to talk about how you may die. Again, it’s part of like keeping it light. What else do you like? A couple of more things.
What else do I love? I love our music.
I was just about to say that, so now I need a new thing.
Black Creativity, Clapbacks, And Courage
We could do a whole podcast series on our music. It’s so otherworldly. It’s so unique. It’s so special. It’s so soulful. It takes me somewhere else. It’s one of the things that Black folks have contributed to dominant culture, to world culture. It’s one of those things that I, as a Black person, am most proud of. There are a lot of things that I’m proud of, but music is different in terms of its ability to transport you. I think Black people have offered a singular contribution when it comes to music.
I love our clap-backs. It’s akin to jokes, but sometimes they’re not funny. I think there is an art to enough is enough. Connected to the drum music and even joking, our clapbacks oftentimes come out in the form of our comedians. I do think that it is beautiful to see solidarity, especially in the digital space, push back against the ways that policies and the status quo want us to just eat the foolishness whole. Just to see the variations of pushback from us and the means and the gifts and the just the ways that we’re just not on today is like a beautiful thing. I do think that we model resistance through our clap backs to other communities.
To your point, I don’t know what number we’re going to wing it.
We got two more.
That point, our courage. Black folks are going to stand ten toes down, flat-footed and on the side of right. In a lot of ways, we become advocates for a broader community of marginalized people, not only in the United States but around the world. I don’t think there’s any group that has stood in the gap for what is just and what is right in the ways that Black people have.
The Power Of Our Memory
Absolutely not. Not across beyond ourselves. I think that’s what’s beautiful about us. That leaves me with the thing I love the most about us is our memory. We may not always be afforded all of the well-earned statues. We are starting to see laws being taken back. We’ve been seeing history reshaped and erased, but you won’t have to get rid of all of us to get rid of the truth. I grew up learning that there’s truth and the truth.
I do believe that Black people hold the truth. By that I also mean that we are not always positively talking about ourselves. We are not always trying to make ourselves look better than even other people. There is somebody in the room that knows the truth, and we hold ourselves accountable, sometimes publicly, to a default. I do think that there’s something honorable about the fact that even within our own community, we believe in checks and balances. We hold the truth.
Moving forward, maybe it’ll give us an opportunity to build a stronger muscle to love on ourselves and appreciate all the goodness that lives within our community, our history, and our legacy because it’s going to be necessary. That’s why I’m grateful for this episode.
I love Black people.
I love Black people.
I love you all.
I love you all that love us. To those of you who don’t love us, check out our other episodes. We have plenty of clap backs for you. With that, thank you for joining us for another episode of the show. Make sure that you like, comment, and subscribe. We look forward to seeing you soon.
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