Recently, I have seen a lot of articles about the idea of the "alternative" black girl. You know the girl, the one with a pink Afro and numerous piercings, the black girl who deviates from her script. While some of these articles deal with the realization that black girls can too be "alternative" or different, my problem rests in this inherent belief that all black girls are the same. The stereotypical way in which black women are looked at is extremely frustrating. I am what is considered an "alternative" black girl. In the past two years alone, I have dyed my hair three different colors, pierced my nose and cartilage. My favorite band is Fall Out Boy and I knit for fun. So why is it that for me to be considered a black girl, I must add alternative to my description?
By definition, alternative means employing or following nontraditional or unconventional ideas, methods, etc.; existing outside the establishment. What is the establishment that I am differing from? Is it the idea of the "authentic black girl"? The black girl who has large hoop earrings, who is loud and angry, who only listens to rap? Not every black girl is like that and that is why being called an alternative black girl angers me so much.
Why is that my race is so pigeonholed? Black people, black women in general, are all so different. I love jamming to Fall Out Boy, but I also love bumping to Kendrick Lamar. Despite all of the different music and activities that I love, I am still a black woman. My actions do not in any way take away from my blackness. If anything, they enhance it. I am able to appreciate and understand different cultures and learn from them. Why does that make me "alternative?" I am a proud black woman, my black is beautiful, as is everyone else. I am tired of the stereotype, which requires every black girl to be the same, and is surprised and almost attacking when they are not. We are individuals and should be looked at as such.
The idea of the "establishment" of black is frustrating in that black is looked at as bad, as violent and entitled. It is upsetting when you realize that the idea of alternative can also relate to how we are seen in the media and society. When a black person, or really any person of color, commits a crime, they are seen as representative of their entire race or anyone who looks remotely like them. Yet when a white person commits a crime, their actions are viewed as those of an individual. This can be seen in the way media portrays the crimes of these different races. In "The Color of Crime,"by Katherine Russell-Brown, she notes the stereotype of the “criminal black man” and how people often associate young black men with crime in American culture. The stereotypes given to us are not only unflattering but also extremely harmful. Whether it is crime or just liking waffles and chicken, there is this assumption made that the actions of one mirror the actions of all.
This relates to the idea of "alternative" because calling us "alternative" is also putting down my race by calling me different from them. Calling black people who do not fit that stereotype "alternative" is the equivalent of saying, “You’re not like other black people." As if being different and liking different movies makes me somehow "better." I am no better than my fellow black sisters because I have other interests.
My problem with the word "alternative" is that it hides a larger issue of racism and stereotyping. My problem with the word "alternative" is that it means so much more than people want to believe it does. To me, it is an insult and needs to be dealt with accordingly. I am more than my interests and my race, so do not count me out just because they do not look the way you want them to.