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Replies to '01/12 Racism Experiment'
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January 12, 2006, 4:18 pm PST
 Quote From: jojo80 I agree with the quote regarding the biracial daughter appearing to be ashamed of her blackness. We all have to define who we are in order to feel pride and self worth. We live in a society that still attempts to brainwash us into thinking that the more white we look and sound the further we'll get. Telling someone that their racial heritage should be ignored is the same as telling them that they should'nt care about their family or themselves. I use to get so upset and cry when white kids would spit on me or call me names in school. College was even worse. Now that I'm working I'm still dealing with whites who watch the news in hopes of seeing an African American who has broken the law, just so they can come to work and talk about it all day, in an insane attempt to feel superior and validate their racism. I've complained to Human Resources, but ofcourse, they try to make me feel that I should just be happy to have a job.
I no longer get upset or cry about these situations. I confided in an elderly family friend about what was happening to me and she educated me about my rich beautiful cultural and racial heritage. She gave me books to read and videos containing information about my people that I had never en heard about. She taught me about the Africans who built nations and traveled the world educating other people about every subject known to man. But most of all I learned about the courage of a people who could not be stopped. This country in soaked with the blood of my ancestors who gave their lives for those who had not even been born yet. The more I learned about my history, the stronger and prouder I became. I feel nothing less than blessed that God chose to make me black. I have no problem with other races being proud of who they are, cause I am so proud of who I am. People of different races do have many differences that are unique to their particular culture and heritage - Thats what makes us special!! Being African American is'nt just a color, its a way of life. People who are insecure about their color, tend to imitate other races. Biracial represents a person whose biological parents are different races, every biracial person I know (and I know quite a few) Identifies more with one race than the other. I even know people who are half black and half white who hate white people as well as one's who hate black people. Unity will never be a possibility in any great measure until we first achieve equality. I think that fact has been proven over and over again......LOVE YOUR SHOW DR. PHIL.... am biracial, my mother is black, my father is white. Black people don't like me cause I'm not black enough & I get more respect from white people, & it's not because I act too white. If anything, I look mexican. I too have heard at times that I try to "act white', and since I am married to a white man & have never dated a black man, well....I'm sure you know the rest. By the way, me marrying a white man has to do with preference, not trying to be white or denying my black heritage.
But let me ask you this question? What is sounding white? Is it not speaking a made up language called ebonics? What is acting white? Is is not acting ghetto? I hate to break it to you, but you CANNOT act a color. You act the way you were brought up. It has nothing to do with what color you are, your heritage or even your education. It has totally to do with your environment & the way you were raised. My mom has doesn't speak "ebonics because she wasn't raised that way. She was raised to respect herself & others, & that's how she raised us. She didn't raise us to "act white".
I've run accross plenty of educated black people who talk like they came straight out of the hood. I am not ashamed of my black heritage, but then I don't know much about it. I know that my black grandmother's mother was Cherokee Indian, & her father was black & I know that my black grandfather's mother was French & his father was black. I know that my mother does not call herself African American because her blood line was born & raised in America. Only a person who was was born in Africa & is now a citizen of the United States is an African American. Black people are just Black people.
Let me tell you how I identify my self........I AM A CHILD OF GOD. He made me, He loves me, & in the end, He won't judge me on whether I consider myself black or white or whatever! |
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