Black Boy Joy

The Brown Sugar Café February 7, 2024 2 Comments

For so long we’ve taken pictures with blank expressions.
Canvases waiting for the liberation of a smile. Hiding away as if smiling means being less than a man. Or not man enough.

Pouring our joy into an ice-cold mean mug.
Instantly turning burning happiness and joy into a lukewarm beverage. Consumed by palettes that have developed a phantom taste of a time when laughter and joy only belonged [or so they thought] inside of a barrel.

Trying to climb out of the barrel, when being too cool reaches up with its claws to pull us down. Being tough catches us by our shoestrings to stop our escape.

Smiling is the representation of our strength because being able to smile with everything going on around us and all of the weight we carry takes more strength than anything.

Smiling shows just how cool we are because at any moment heated situations and topics could push us over into anger. But joy will always tip the scales back in our favor.

Joy is a Black boy smiling because he’s allowed to be a child without being forced to become a man. Joy is a Black man smiling because he realizes that his joy is what little Black boys see when they look at him. When they look at him they see themselves. And that is Black boy joy.

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