This morning, Jen and I will be talking about Black Excellence with Ada Akpala. Ada is the content director for the Equiano Project. In a recent conversation with her friend Patience Xina, Ada gave deep thought to the Black Community, however defined, and the idea of adding an adjective “Black” before “Excellence.”
This topic caught my attention as the creator of over 100 essays on Pioneer Black Lawyers since Black History Month in 2021. Had I done harm and added to polarization and divisiveness albeit with good intentions? These are questions that came to my mind as a curious person.
Ada followed up her courageous critique with a splendid essay My Problem with the Term “Black Excellence” which appeared in The Equiano Project on February 24, 2024.
Patience and Ada are native to Africa, Zimbabwe the Old Country for Patience and Nigeria the Old Country for Ada. Beats my Old Country of Hickory Hill/smile. I have always enjoyed hearing difference perspectives and viewpoints. Curiosity is how we grow in life. And so I reached out to Ada for an opportunity to chat about this colorized label, Black Excellence. Ada accepted and I am looking forward to a delightful meeting of the minds.
I want to understand how Ada perceives Black Excellence. Whether I agree or disagree with Ada is beside the point. The point is to ask “why” questions until we are both sated. That’s what writers do.
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My wife comes upstairs. And it occurs to me that my Black American wife could never have a deep conversation about race. No offense intended. Some people accept inherited norms and mores. Life is conformity. What do other people think about race? Then, I will know what I think about race. An unexamined life.
Even though I live 5,400 miles from Ada, we share the same vibes about race. We are curious. We question. We are individuals. We are touched with the muse of creativity. We want to explore the purpose and meaning behind words and labels. A few months ago, Ada reached out to me. She had read my Substack essays and was intrigued. We were of the same tribe, not race but the tribe of the inquisitive, the tribe thirsty for knowledge.
It is funny how, in the modern age, people of a kind will find one another across a continent and ocean.
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Conclusion: And so my engines are reviving up this morning. I reviewed Ada’s essay on Equiano several times. I watched her dance of the intellectual with Patience at least three times. I’ve written up many questions and exchanged thoughts with my co-author, Jennifer Richmond.
In the end, these are the activities of the anxious introvert, the highly sensitive creative who wants to get it just right. I know it is the aim and journey, not the destination, that matters. It is like preparing for a question from the professor in law school or prepping a witness for trial. One over prepares so the main event goes well.
I shouldn’t worry come to think of it. When two creatives come together in curious song, the universe opens up and words become melodic. It will be like a symphony of ideas, the chorus of discourse, the oboe of Gabriel.