The meaning of "black" — Nicolette Bethel

In this year of commemoration, when we meditate (or ought to meditate) on slavery and its aftermath, it might be interesting to consider the fact that the connotations of the word "black" are not universally negative. On this blog (link got from Global Voices, again), two languages are considered in which "black" means freeborn or original, something with positivity and strength.It's worth remembering there are limits to our realities, especially when those realities denigrate who and what we are.Check it out:

Looking through Jeffrey Heath's 1998 dictionary of Koyra Chiini, the Songhay language spoken in and around Timbuktu, I was struck by the following entry:bibi * a) [intr] be black, dark [cf bii 2] [INTENS: tirik! T, fi! N] * be freeborn, noble (not a slave) *...