Dark Colors

The Black Things We Fear

Black cats, black magic, Black people, and more.

Kimberly Fosu
ZORA
Published in
9 min readMar 5, 2023

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A black cat. (Photo: Huda Nur)

Black

“Your shirt is evil! Your shirt is evil,” my little nephews and nieces yelled, pointing at my black t-shirt.

I have fifteen nephews and nieces and 7 of them and my daughter were present and they all had worried looks on their faces.

“Uhm okay. What are you guys up to?” I asked as I walked towards them to see what the fuss was about. They were looking at a textbook and they pointed to the color chart and the meaning of the colors. One of the meanings listed for black was evil. They were working extra hard to wrap their minds around this new knowledge.

From the look on their little faces, they were so surprised that I would wear a color that was evil.

If black meant evil, why would anybody use, buy, or wear anything that’s black? They were confused!

My niece asked what my favorite color was.

“Black,” I said.

“Auntie, black can’t be your favorite color. Black is evil!” she snapped.

My daughter was there too. She was in deep thought about what she’d just learned about the color black. Black is bad?

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ZORA
ZORA

Published in ZORA

A publication from Medium that centers the stories, poetry, essays and thoughts of women of color.

Kimberly Fosu
Kimberly Fosu

Written by Kimberly Fosu

Purpose coach focused on spirituality, faith, and inspiration.