Answering an ask about race and metal

Is it bad that I'm black and I like metal? I never associated myself with black people. Feels like I was born the wrong colour

ms-demeanor answered:

It is in no way whatsoever bad that you are black and like metal. Rock on.
But I’m really sorry that you feel disconnected from black culture and people, and I’m sorry that there is so little representation of black fans of metal and black metal musicians that you feel like you were born the wrong color for enjoying the things you enjoy.
My favorite metal band (and band in general) is Faith No More. Here they are killing it a couple months ago with one of their early singers, Chuck Mosley:

Chuck was with the group in the late 80s and went on to perform with Bad Brains for a bit in the early 90s before doing solo stuff, including a 2009 project called “Will Rap over Hard Rock for Food” with Jonathan Davis and members of Cobra Verde and Pro-Pain. Chuck met Jonathan Davis when both of them were playing Ozzfest. People are critical as hell of his voice and singing style, but if nothing else Chuck’s work and list of collaborators (which also includes Rob Zombie and Marilyn Manson) helps to illustrate that black folks have a place in metal.
I know Chuck Mosley is just one example (and he’s the example I know best and happen to have pictures of) but there are hundreds of examples. Body Count is a great metal band, and when you look at those two it’s immediately obvious that the genre of nu-metal wouldn’t exist at all without rap as a major influence. And there are plenty of people who will shit on the concept of metal and rap combined but that’s never going to change my mind about what an influential track Copkiller has been for metal as a whole.
Derrick Greene has been fronting Sepultura since 1997. Sergio Vega has been with The Deftones since 2009. Hell, Jimi Hendrix pioneered the use of feedback and wah-wahs - his music was a huge influence on early metal and I feel totally comfortable saying that metal as we know it today wouldn’t exist at all without him. And there are more, hundreds more bands and singers and musicians of color who have influenced and belong in metal.
From your spelling of “colour” it seems like you might be from someplace outside of the US and honestly I can’t speak to the scene in the rest of the world, but even in the US I know that there are plenty of black people who feel excluded from metal, or who live in predominantly white areas and feel isolated from both their ethnic culture (since in the US many black folks don’t know their ethnic background as a result of slavery) and their racial culture (in this context specifically American Black Culture). I know black nerds who feel like they don’t really fit in to either black culture or nerd culture. I know black goths who feel similarly isolated.
But what we’re talking about here is pop-culture. The metal scene is a pop cultural phenomenon, wholly artificial and centered around an arbitrary taste. The same again with nerd and goth cultures. You don’t need anything to belong to a pop-culture culture than an enjoyment of the media it’s centered on. You belong in metal if you like metal. It’s yours, you have every right to enjoy it and share in it and go to shows and feel safe and have a great time.
I hope you can find some way to feel more in touch with the cultures you want to participate in. Whether that means getting together a group of concert buddies or starting a local message board for black fans of metal or getting more in touch with your cultural background through your family it seems like it might be something worthwhile because your ask makes it look like you’re struggling to find answers and affirmation and unfortunately I’m just a rando on the internet and I don’t really have any answers.
But I can try for some affirmation.
There’s no way that you were born the wrong color. You’re the perfect color to be perfectly you, and you have every right to love the music you love and be a part of the scene.