The myth of the “good Negro” must end

By Izayah Morgan

Opnions Editor

Black History Month turns 100 years old this year, the term being coined by Dr. Carter G. Woodson, the second Black person to get a Ph.D. from Harvard. Often, I find the only time Black history is showcased is when it is highlighted that we were previously in chains or when it's “our” history month. 

Oftentimes ignored, except for the beginning of the month or highlighting only the tragic points in Black history, our history is confined to a point in time when we were treated as less than human and discounts the beautiful history of innovation, revolution, and curiosity of Black people.

In every aspect - whether it be slavery; Jim Crow; biases in the justice, housing, and health systems; or the microaggressions one can experience in everyday life - somehow Black people still find a way to rise. 

But not without the everlasting pressures of white society, which frames every form that Blackness takes as problematic except for a few the white majority deems acceptable. 

A caricature of a hyper-unproblematic Black individual is one of these exceptions - often referred to as the “good Negro.” The unproblematic version of what was thought of at the time as the subhuman race - whatever that means. The “good Negro” is most often associated with Black men.

The remnants of this thinking wormed their way into my childhood.

As a younger individual, I was told that if you want a real job, you have to have your hair “clean” and short. If you want to work in sales and be successful, you must have an accent that doesn't sound too “offensive” to white people. You have to make sure you're not wearing anything “unprofessional” because then nobody will take you seriously in a meeting.

I heard from the Black women in my life that I couldn’t be too loud and aggravated when white people brought up an issue they had, even though I’m just showing my passion. 

Often, Black women are told they are too masculine to date and they must be more “feminine” or “submissive” to fit the caricature white people have in their minds.

So, the fact they are worried about how I am presenting myself speaks volumes to their character.

This still subjugates them to the “good Negro” myth. Oftentimes, Black women would be raped by slave masters and their friends and give birth to children who would be thrown away or sold.

So they proceeded to play into the “good Negro” caricature in order to appease people who didn’t like them to save themselves and their children.

This left a scar on the women of previous generations, so when they raised kids, they unconsciously passed this real fear and danger down to them. This is called generational trauma, something we experience from Black folks who are often trying to protect us from the larger white society.

People often think that trauma and playing into the “good Negro” myth is something you can grow out of after childhood, but it is necessary to recognize the root of the problem or it will never leave you. 

Even throughout my college career, I have been told that I need to tone down what I say, or that I need to dress properly in order to impress the “right people.” Or that students are not showing up in professional wear to class, aka wearing bonnets, durags, and slides.

I have even been questioned about where I'm going when I work in that building.

That “good Negro” myth prevails all throughout our lived experience. If you were just a “good Negro,” you wouldn’t deal with those prejudices. 

This thinking has two flaws. The first is that somehow being more palatable to people who dislike you because of factors you can’t control means somehow you will be treated better by them. In reality, the whole reason they mold you to be this way is because they don't like the authentic version of you.

Second, to the dominant, white-centered society, all Negros are still Negros. No matter how “unproblematic” you are, eventually you’ll become an authentic version of yourself - that doesn’t fit inside the box whiteness has placed you in - and that’s what they fear.

People are always trying to separate Black liberation and Black oppression. It denies the complexity of our history and current existence, and that’s why the “good Negro” myth exists and why it must die.

Black history does not require you to fit in a mold that white society deems acceptable. Because you are never acceptable to them, only tolerable to the point where you don't become a problem for them.

Don’t feed the system the version of you that’s more palatable for them to digest.

Be the problem - not the “good Negro.”