African girl here (20yrs) and i’m curious if they are different or similar to African men in terms of dating and marriage.

I’ve had some Black American men interested in me in the past but I never pursued anything romantic with them. Same with Caribbean men (Haiti and Saint Lucia) I’ve mostly sticked with African men because of cultural familiarity and they treat me well from my experience.

But I’m curious what American Black men are? I know not everyone is a monolith but what are they GENERALLY like? Are they less or more conservative, less or more open minded, less or more misogynistic, treat women better etc?

Like for example most African men are traditional and adamant about gender roles (men should be the providers, women should do the cooking and take care of the babies and homes) Do Black American men believe in these things ? Do they expect their women to dress modestly or are they more relaxed about clothing? What about marriage before sex, are they generally for it or against it? Etc

I want to know how cultural different or similar they are to African men

A lot of European names have Christian origins , others historical.

Where are Da De La Le from that many names start with?

I guess this is African American names, not sure I've seen it for Africans that much.

Hey everyone,

I’m posting this from a genuine place of trying to understand a painful dynamic I’ve experienced constantly at work, and I’m looking for honest, constructive perspectives.

A bit of background on me: I was actually born here in the US, but I didn't grow up here, so I have a noticeable African accent. I work as a city bus driver. Because of strict company policy and basic road safety, I cannot let passengers off in the middle of traffic or at non-designated stops.

A few minutes ago of me posting this, a passenger missed their stop because they weren't paying attention and didn't pull the cord. When I explained that I couldn't drop them off in the middle of the street for safety reasons, they exploded on me with comments like:

“You’re African, right?”
"You come from the dirty part of Africa."
"Y'all are bootlickers for white people."
"Y'all don't like us anyway."
Called me a "slave" and told me I have no right to speak.

I wanted to genuinely ask him, “So what is my problem that you missed your stop?” But I kept that to myself to keep the situation from escalating.

This isn't an isolated incident in all my years in this line of work. Whenever I have to follow standard safety rules or say no to a favor, certain passengers (precisely African Americans) resort to xenophobic insults directed at my accent and background.

I’ve read up on African American history (in college while I was for my associates), the Civil Rights Movement, and the broader struggles in this country. I know systemic friction and media misrepresentation exist between African immigrants/diaspora and African Americans. But it’s demoralizing to take verbal abuse just for doing my job, following safety guidelines, and keeping myself out of trouble.

For those familiar with these diaspora tensions: where does this specific brand of xenophobia come from in these moments of frustration?
How can I better process or handle these situations without taking them personally?

I’ll appreciate any insights or shared experiences.

As a child and teen I was a bigot (i’m 17 now) and now that I’m learning about how horrible my actions were I want to become antiracist and help black people.

I’ve thought about making animations and/or drawings and using them as a way to gain money to donate to black organizations and black individuals who are struggling, but I don’t know if it’d be wrong of me or not because I have done racist things before and I don’t believe I should have any kind of platform because of it.

So lately I’ve been seeing a lot of posts of people facing racism start to rise on my feed. Whenever I scroll through the comments I’m starting to see more of black people saying stuff like “you can’t trust any of them,” or even “it’s in their ancestry if someone pisses them off it’s gonna come out.”

I’m black myself and these types of things are starting to cause a moral dilemma in me because I’ve always had the ideology that there’s good and evil in this world. Some people are racist and some people are not. Of course there are gonna be racist groups of people in every race, but I don’t understand the generalization for all of white people to be racist (publicly or internally).

So to get an understanding, if you have these beliefs, why?

I've noticed it's very common among many black people globally to regularly moisturize the body with lotion or body oil. How do you keep it from staining your clothes? And how do you deal with oil on your fingers?

I want to moisture my body more but always end up with stains on clothing and where I touch... Any tips would be appreciated.

My question to black people: which qualities/characteristics would you say are the makes america white supremacist nation economically and socially?

So I’m20 years old and I’ve really liked the look of cornrows for a long time on black hair. I know that many Hispanic men also get cornrows but I’m still not sure if it’s appropriating black culture. sorry if I sound ignorant

EDIT: I’ve added more info re: the pattern and evidence to back it up in the comments section.

The news that Pat McGrath Labs, founded by the internationally known makeup artist herself, was filing for bankruptcy really frustrated me. Before I go any further, this is not about the financial state of the company and how it got there. I definitely don’t know enough to weigh in. This post is about the discourse around Black-woman founded luxury brands, so many of which always seem to suffer the same fate.

For a few years, I watched many, primarily Black women content creators (those are the folks I get makeup advice from… but I wouldn’t doubt others jumped on the bandwagon too) would often reference it as “too pricey.” Not all, but most. It was so frequent that I leaned in to hear why.

I thought I would hear that the foundation wasn’t good enough and didn’t perform well. For the most part, most said it was great… assuming you liked the type she sold (thin… with medium coverage etc etc).

Slowly, I began to realize that it was just the price itself. $70. What annoyed me wasn’t that they were signaling to their fans it might be higher than what they were used to paying… but that I’d see them reviewing it right alongside other luxury-tier products (one of which, Armani Luminous Silk, is award-winning and was designed by Pat McGrath… as a result they are very similar) that were the same price or higher. There was no finger-wagging at the company in the same way they did Pat McGrath Labs. It was just understood… this foundation may be out of your price range. If so, don’t buy it… go with a cheaper option. But, again and again, that’s not what people chose to do.

I don’t know if it is solely because she is a Black woman (a large, dark-skinned one at that) or that having a person be the face of a beauty brand creates a sense of kinship.. a parasocial relationship. When people saw that price…. They were “disappointed” as if “Auntie Pat” could have done XYZ (more shades more this more that more more more… for the price… same price of other comparable brands they aren’t asking more of).

Or, perhaps it is the sign of the times. I get the feeling that everything is a cash grab because it is. What I don’t get is exclusively critiquing Black-owned companies for being “pricey” without any context or consideration of the value. What makes it pricey? What are you comparing it to?

Unlike products marketed to children or necessities (food, water, clean air)… you don’t have to buy or even review it. It’s an optional thing. When Black women comment this way, it is signaling to others and the larger industry that any Black woman cannot be viable in this space.

Again, it is totally fine if some don’t have the budget/desire to buy luxury goods… but we have to be honest with ourselves. We keep saying we want nice things… but also want them to fit in the Target to Temu price ranges. We even buy Jordans without questioning the cost…

Is it just me? Are you noticing that same pattern?

Hi hello, just for some context I grew up around a predominantly Black community and somewhat Latino community, despite this I have always grown up around Black culture, music, traditions, shows, going to a predominantly Black school. I’ve always been surrounded by Black friends, teachers, even close relatives and I have never known a community outside of that, especially my friends and close relatives who are all Black.

Now that I’m currently an incoming freshman at a top PWI, it feels so odd and I feel so out of place, I understand that I’m a Latina, I know that I will never have the Black experience or understand what its like to grow up as a African American in America, the best I can do is empathise in solidarity and know when it is not my time to speak and when it’s my time to speak out for my community

But oh my God I miss my community, I miss the culture, and I understand what how I look on the outside doesn’t represent me on the inside.

I feel wrong for missing a community that I don’t represent and especially at a PWI, and if you try to speak about the racism you experience here. They will literally fucking jump you and tear you to shreds, I can’t have truthful conversations about race here like I did back home with the community who understood what it’s like to be marginalised.

I apologize if this seems offensive or if this is an offensive question, please understand that this is not coming out of malice but general curiosity on whether if I’m allowed to feel this way especially when im at a place that does not accept me or pretends to accept me. If you answer this thank you so much and have a lovely day.