Black mark. Black magic. Black-hearted. Black market. We casually use words and phrases like “black sheep” and “dark times,” but their real-world implications should make us reconsider.
According to researchers, the use of “black” to describe bad things is subconsciously racialized. For so long, blackness has connotated negativity and disgrace, while white is associated with decency and purity. These connotations aren’t harmless, either.
Research about the “Bad is Black” effect has shown that darker skin is associated with perceptions of evil, suggesting that dark-skinned people are perceived as more likely to have committed an immoral act. We live in such a carceral society that this correlation leads to the disproportionate criminalization and imprisonment of our people.
Words matter, and with anti-Blackness embedded in the languages we forcibly inherited due to colonialism, it's important to be intentional with what we choose to say.
We don’t have to do what they do. We can release these words and anything else that associates our beautiful Blackness with negativity for good energy instead.