The color spectrum you didn't know existed
Ever notice how western society tends to keep the conversation about race strictly in the binary? It’s lowkey limiting. The team behind The Long Wave recently did a deep dive into how Black communities around the world actually talk about identity, and real talk: it’s giving poetic, complex, and incredibly nuanced energy.
In parts of Sudan, you won't hear a singular word for “Black.” Instead, people use colors like green, red, yellow, and blue. But don't get it twisted—these aren't just literal color tags. “Green” implies a deep, uniform hue often linked to attractiveness, while “yellow” carries an unstated vibe of beauty. Meanwhile, in Ghana, the Ewe language uses ameyibɔ to describe a beautifully dark complexion, and the Twi word kɔkɔɔ (which translates to “red” or “ripe plantain”) is used for lighter skin tones. In Brazil? They’ve got a massive array of 136 variations, including the hilarious term “disappearing donkey” for when someone's skin color is just too hard to categorize.
The western filter
When these diverse communities interact with western culture, things get complicated. In the US, the legacy of the “one-drop rule” has flattened these nuanced descriptors into a single political identity: “Black.” Our own Micha Frazer-Carroll noted how she went from being identified as “mixed race” in the UK to being categorized simply as Black, largely due to the cultural gravity of American racial politics.
Why it matters
These local vocabularies aren't just fun linguistic trivia. They exist in the spaces between political activism and personal history. While they definitely aren't free from the messy impacts of colorism or colonial history, they represent a way of defining Blackness on our own terms. It’s a reminder that identity is way more than just a reaction to oppression—it’s also a space for wit, history, and the beautiful, complex ways we relate to one another across the globe.
