Conversation

Aella
@Aella_Girl
In clubhouse (a voice-only app), I've had the chance to listen to lots of rooms of entirely black people talk, which I rarely get to hear in my daily life. It turns out black people on clubhouse talk about being black a *lot*. They reference blackness in relation to everything.
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Aella
@Aella_Girl
It's really fascinating; blackness permeates as an identity in a way I've never heard another ethnicity or nation referenced (but similar to how I've heard Christians talk). It's very tribal, and touches on many aspects of conversation you wouldn't expect to be black-related.
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Aella
@Aella_Girl
I felt very intensely 'white' when listening to these groups, when usually I don't notice my skin color if I'm in an e.g., asian-dominant group. It felt very clear that I was *not* in their in-group at all; there was a huge cultural divide that feels explicitly upheld.
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Aella
@Aella_Girl
This was all kind of surprising to me; I don't know if this is specific to Clubhouse or if this is the way black people view the world in general? And also why haven't I really understood this or heard people talk about it if it is more common outside of Clubhouse?
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Robson
@BaltranRelay
Replying to
@Aella_Girl
So what some black people would probably say is that it feels like that for them whenever they hang around a lot of white people. The whiteness of those settings is less explicit and almost invisible to white people because its become a default context. Not so for nonwhite people
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Aella
@Aella_Girl
Replying to
@BaltranRelay
but when i'm with white people we almost never talk about whiteness, and dont relate it to other things in conversations. We just... have conversations. I don't get why black people dont just... have conversations.
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Aella
@Aella_Girl
Replying to
@KingCheezo
and
@BaltranRelay
? I've traveled the world and been the single white person in predominantly black areas, but whiteness there felt different - sort of incidental - than whiteness in those clubhouse rooms. After an experience of explicit othering based on my race, yes I started a conversation.
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Ian Gryglewski
@IanGrygs
Replying to
@Aella_Girl
and
@BaltranRelay
Have you ever worked and lived somewhere where you are a minority, and there are significant cultural differences - some of which drive you a little crazy? Such an experience is common for foreigners in say, China or Japan, and expats will often find gathering holes to complain.
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Aella
@Aella_Girl
Replying to
@IanGrygs
and
@BaltranRelay
It's a bit different but sorta - I was homeschooled and isolated from the outside world until I was an adult. I experienced a cultural disconnect for several years - I didn't know the pop culture or the music, lingo was different, my clothing was very out of touch.
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