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An exploration of black-related words

In Word of Mouth Michael Rosen is joined by Jeffrey Boakye, head-teacher and author of Hold Tight: Black Masculinity, Millennials & the Meaning of Grime. Jeffrey’s latest book, Black, Listed, is a glossary in which he examines many of the words used by and about black people and explores black British identity, including his own, through language.

From “road” to “rude boy”, Jeffrey shares some of these words and what they mean to him personally, a child of Ghanaian immigrants who navigated growing up in Brixton in the nineties.

1. Black

The word “black” has always been a default for Jeffrey: he’s always been a black person from a black community. But, he says, on exploring the concept further he came to the realisation that black essentially means “not white” - we have learnt to talk in binary, with black and white as opposites.

But in saying that black is the opposite to white, which is associated with purity, goodness and trustworthiness, are we suggesting that black represents everything impure, bad, and untrustworthy?

It’s also a curious label because although the human body comes in many different shades of brown and pink, is anyone’s skin actually black?

2. Mixed-race

This is an IED (Improvised Explosive Device) in disguise, says Jeffrey: “an explosive device ready to go off in your face.”

Black is a curious label because although the human body comes in many different shades of brown and pink, is anyone’s skin actually black?

It’s commonly used to refer to someone of dual heritage, or more than dual heritage, but if you start interrogating it, it’s problematic.

If there is a mixed-race then there must be an unmixed-race – and what does that mean? Humans have been moving about this planet for too long for any such thing to exist.

To try and simplify mixed heritage by calling someone mixed-race immediately takes us into a dark and difficult area where we’re dealing with the concept of racial purity.

3. Half-caste

This is an even more problematic term to describe someone of dual heritage, now widely considered unacceptable. It is derived from the term “caste”, which comes from the Latin “castus”, meaning “pure.”

Jeffrey questions the idea of being half of anything. He says we should think about ethnicity in terms of a cake: it may be made up of different ingredients, but once a cake is baked it is changed forever and cannot then be taken apart.

Whatever component parts we’re made of, whatever our heritage, we become a new whole.

4. Auntie and Uncle

For Jeffrey, his “aunties” and “uncles” weren’t necessarily biological relations, siblings to his mum and dad.

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For him, any adults in his parents’ lives were automatically aunties and uncles - he would give any new grown-ups these monikers as a first port of call.

Part of it, he says, is an inter-generational respect system: a hierarchy that lets kids know that they’re part of something wider.

But it’s also about warmth and intimacy and creating a huge extended family, something that is important within a community where many people have been displaced.

5. Fam

“Fam” is simply a reference for family, but Jeffrey believes there is “poetry” in this simple term.

It’s short, almost infantile, so you feel younger as you say it. And it’s also welcoming: though it’s just a word, saying “yes fam” is almost like stepping into the home with someone.

6. Road

Jeffrey’s family are Ghanaian, but he was born in Britain and grew up in Brixton in south London.

A way of life that many of his peers threw themselves in to was “being out on road”. This meant living a life outside of the home, being a rude boy.

Jeffrey, however, admits that he was never drawn to “road” himself.

7. Rude boy

Being called a “rude boy” was one of the highest accolades bestowed on a young black man in the nineties.

β€œRude boy” is a term from Jamaican culture, referring to someone who is hardened by the street, someone with attitude, possibly a gangster.

A term from Jamaican culture, it refers to someone who is hardened by the street, someone with attitude, possibly a gangster.

Jeffrey says Caribbean culture had a huge influence on the whole black community when he was growing up.

It was deeply un-cool to be African and many Ghanaian and Nigerian kids at his school would ditch their traditional African names in preference for names like “Junior” in order to assimilate.

8. Bounty

“Bounty” is a deeply offensive label that springs from the notion of a coconut being dark on the outside and white in the middle – it’s used to describe a black person who tries to act like a white person.

When it was levelled at a young Jeffrey it scratched a raw wound. As someone who refused to adopt Caribbean patois he was already asking himself the question, am I being too white? Am I ignoring my blackness? Am I cultivating a blackness that’s authentic enough?

9. Blick

“Blick” is a racial slur against very dark-skinned black people.

As a teacher, Jeffrey has witnessed black kids calling each other “blick” as an affront. His approach is to ask them, just how is that an insult? Are they saying that being white is better?

By opening up the debate he hopes he can make children think about the meaning behind the word and question their use of it.

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