BEING BLACK V.S. BLACK CULTURE: BY DNA OR BY ASSOCIATION?

Hey UN•THERAPIST,

We need your help UN•THERAPIZING something…

📌 What does it really mean to be "Black?"
📌 And does it carry the same weight it did when we were growing up?

In our session, we found ourselves circling a question that sounds simple… but isn’t.

📌 Is being Black cultural, or is it DNA?
📌 Is it heritage written in your cells?
📌 Or is it rhythm, language, experience, and shared struggle?

Because depending on who you ask, the answer shifts.

Some say it’s biological. If it’s in your bloodline, that’s the end of the discussion. Others say it’s cultural. If you live it, speak it, embody it, then that’s your claim.

Then you have those who don’t even want to use “Black” at all.

And then there’s “Afro” this and “Afro” that. Afro-Latino. Afro-Caribbean. Afro-something.

📌 Where did “Afro” enter the chat?
📌 Is that a bridge to Africa? A rebrand? A distinction?
📌 A way of saying, “I’m connected… but not fully claiming?”
📌 Or is it just evolution of language in real time?

And here’s the deeper layer…

📌 Does being Black hold the same connotation today as it did for our ancestors?
📌 Has it shifted from identity to aesthetic? From survival to selection? From lineage to lifestyle?

📌 When people classify themselves now, are they honoring DNA, culture, proximity, preference… or something else entirely?

Join us for another session of UN•THERAPY as we UN•THERAPIZE Blackness as DNA vs culture, the evolution of identity labels, cultural claiming vs cultural living, and whether being Black today means what it meant yesterday.

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