Maya Mackey: Is a cultural shift on the horizon?

Adobe Stock Illustration More than a month removed from Black History Month, I find myself pondering what Black Culture is, in modern times. There’s a running joke on X/Twitter that “we are losing recipes!” whenever young Black people (Gen Z) don’t know a Black classic, like a movie, song or “rule.” And while we mean no harm in teasing our younger kinfolk (cause you know, we’re all cousins), it does beg the question: Why are we losing recipes? And what recipes do we even want to keep? As with all traditions in all cultures, it is up to the elders to pass down the rituals, food, language, and customs that identify a group. So, if your auntie, uncle, mom, and so on didn’t teach you how to play Spades, well, that’s a recipe lost. But outside of Spades, Uno and Dominoes, Cookouts, Collective Dancing, and asking who made the Mac’ n’ Cheese, what is bonding us in the present? Every time I learn something about Black American history, the lesser-told stories about pioneers of The Civil Rights Movement, I get choked up. The resilience of our people is astounding. The bravery and courage our ancestors had to muster in the...