We love celebrating Black excellence. And we should. The first Black CEO, the only Black partner, historic appointments - these matter. These are victories.

But somewhere along the way, something shifted. Black excellence stopped being about actual excellence and started being about performing a version of Blackness that makes the ruling class comfortable.

There's a version of Black excellence that's become popular in corporate America, in academia, in predominantly white institutions. And it's not real excellence. It's performance.

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