a moment of clarity.

words.

for your consideration...

"... any time white folks do something that people of color have been doing forever, they manage to take all the damn credit. I learned this lesson before I learned my timetables. It's an essential fact of American life. In elementary school, my teachers told me that Christopher Columbus had discovered America, regardless of the fact that some of the greatest civilizations that ever existed thrived on this continent long before he arrived. They talked at length about the Capitol Building and the White House, but conveniently forgot to mention that it was enslaved Africans who actually built those shining symbols of democracy. What's crazy is that the same sort of shit happens in culture, too—Elvis was named the King of Rock 'n' Roll, when we all know Chuck Berry really wears the crown; Miley Cyrus became the face of twerking, even though I was getting twerk long before Miley was even Hannah Montana; and business magazines proclaimed that Iggy Azalea ran hip-hop, despite the fact that she can barely recite the rhymes T.I. wrote for her.

Yes, black folks have a problem when we see white people angling to dive into our culture. It's not that we don't wanna share it and embrace the sort of melting pot ethos that makes this country an exciting place to be. We just don't wanna see white people rocking dreads today, because we know that they will be telling us that they invented them tomorrow. This loss of credit isn't just an ego thing. The dissociation of black people from the very real contributions we've made to this country has done incalculable damage to the psyche and socio-economic standings of black Americans. This country was literally built on black bodies. And yet, blacks have very little to show for the sacrifices and suffering endured by our ancestors in making this place the economic and cultural powerhouse it is today..."

VICE: Justin Bieber's Dreadlocks Show How White People (Still) Steal Everything