Within the hierarchical, American class system, Blackness is often synonymized and associated with being “lower class”. That is, being poor, having limited resources, and having little formal education.
The subconscious associations are ever-present throughout American society. American marketing and advertising, one of the mainstream methods of communicating with and reproducing the current class hierarchy is clear about who gets what: Whites get the best clothes, the best food, the most premium opportunities, and secure, quality housing. Wealth accumulation is a given. On the other end of the hierarchy are Blacks, who are targeted for low-income opportunities, junk food, and ghettoized housing. Debt accumulation is a given.
As I traverse through life as a young Black American, set on becoming highly educated and financially stable, I cannot help but feel isolated and pegged into a stereotype that is not relevant to who I am and who I am becoming. As I look around, I have not yet seen a world that accurately embraces, celebrates, and represents the contribution Blacks have made to American society. As I educate myself and strive to set myself apart from the stereotypes that limit me, I feel an overwhelming pressure to represent and change the face of an entire ethnic community.
I’ve been thinking of the some of the best and brightest Blacks to traverse the global landscape. People like the well-knowns, Martin Luther King, Jr. and Coretta Scott King, Kwame Nkrumah, Ketanji Brown Jackson, Serena Williams, Kanye West, Kamala Harris, Tiger Woods…there are many to be named. How did they feel, being “firsts” or “seconds”?
I’ve come to understand that “Black Excellence”, while a light to our community, comes with a dark shadow: a legacy of intense and violent trauma, racial oppression, and, a necessity. Excellence is the only option for the Black person who desires better for him or her self.
Be Blessed!
Ashley Chandrashekhar
Earnest Supplication 
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