Blerd is often defined as persons of color who enjoy things labeled as nerdy and geeky. There is no specific gender, skin tone, sexuality, etc. Oftentimes people have never heard of the term or even recognized that they themselves were Blerds. SwagHer spoke exclusively with Kenisha Williams co-founder of Blerd Domination. Blerd Domination is all about black nerd culture because whatever space we’re in we bring the culture with us! Our game highlights were not only mainstream popular culture, but also Black contributors and innovators in the nerd pop culture landscape.
She shared with me how Blerd culture is growing and her beliefs.
“I believe that in the past a lot of Blerds felt left out of the landscape of popular culture because we didn’t see ourselves in it. But now with our favorite franchises not only including people of color but actively creating characters that look like us, more now than ever, black nerds feel free to express themselves through activities that were seen as solely for “white folks“ in the past. However Black people have always been into superheroes, sci-fi, comics, and other fandoms. It’s just that we haven’t always felt welcomed in those spaces, but now we either feel welcomed or we’re creating our own spaces to interact with each other. The popularity of social media has exploded the number of people that you can interact with who share the same interests. However, for example, someone like my father who had always loved science fiction, when he wanted to talk about it, only a select few people he knew were also interested. Now we can cross state and even continental lines interacting with people who share our interests.”
Some famous blerds are Lavar Burton (Reading Rainbow), Donald Glover, comedians Keegan Michael Key and Jordan Peele, and President Obama.
Actor Alphonso McAuley, who played blerd Cash on the now-canceled Fox comedy “Breaking In.” stated that “up until now, black nerds weren’t being celebrated.” McAuley also said that “we’ve seen the thug, the athlete, the rapper, and the comedic best friend. This is something different.” His character Cash was into “Star Wars” and all things blerd.
There are groups and also Instagram accounts dedicated to showcasing Blerd culture.
| Black Nerd Problems | The Blerd Gurl | The Cookout |
| Urban Anime Lounge | Blerd Events Calendar | Arcade Tokens |
