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Out Of London, Out Of Black: The Misconceptions Of Black Women From Hertfordshire

Personally, I have never been conflicted with my identity. My dad taught me from a very young age that my skin is black; thinking this even makes me laugh because something as obvious as what I am shouldn’t have to be taught, but here we are! When we would go to the shops, I would see him nod his head at another black man, I’d ask, “Who’s that?” and he’d respond, “He’s just another black man.” There seemed to be a general sense of unity among black people and I liked it.

However, as I grew up, I started to see that being black was not as simple as it seemed when I was younger. Living in Hertfordshire, I’ve at times felt my blackness being challenged and as a result I did things to ‘enhance’ my blackness. I remember growing up, my siblings listening to ‘21 Seconds’ by So Solid Crew and thinking that UK music was so cool. I held onto that and when I reached secondary school, despite there being very few black people, the ones that I met seemed like UK music gurus.