After #GrowingUpBlack began trending on Twitter, #GrowingUpWhite soon followed. The first focused on things that most black children had in common like sitting on the floor while your mom slathered "Jam" in your hair and braided it. The second hashtag, however, focused little on the things that white children all had in common while growing up and simply highlighted stereotypes placed on black Americans everyday. I began having a conversation in my head between myself and some of the tweeters; a conversation that I have had many times in person with multiple people.
"But your hair's so long, and you talk so nice.
So articulate when you speak.
Girl you're basically white on the inside!"
No, just like you in there, it's pink.
"But you don't have an attitude like the other ones I know.
And you don't know how to braid?
Girl you are like whiter than me."
My abilities don't determine my shade
"You like fried chicken and watermelon too?
Must run in the family like those big mouths.
Girl maybe you are a just little black."
Excuse me, but those are just foods of the south.
"You know your dad and he's never been to jail?
You say he raised his kids right?
Girl you are as white as all of us"
I won't apologize for not fitting your stereotype
When I was blessed with this brown skin, this excess of melanin, I was born into a complicated caste.
They said that to be white was to be right so I had to rise above to the top of my class.
Do the best that I can do to give no reason to excuse me as some lazy, rude, unintelligent black girl.
To beat the stereotype.
To represent my race in ways that the media refuses.
"Wait, you like Luke Bryan and hate Lil Wayne?
I never would've guessed you like country music, man!
Just like an Oreo "ho-ney chile!""
But country derives from the beats of my motherland
You don't see color. You left that past in the past, but your confederate flag's sewn on your backpack.
Projecting on me your ignorant misconceptions and presumptions simply because I'm alive and I'm black.
Social media is quite possibly the largest platform in which opinions can be shared with the rest of the world, often with a simple hashtag. If we, as a tech savvy generation, can step out of an old age to learn how to tweet, post, and reblog within a matter of minutes, we must also accept the responsibilities that come with it, including thinking before we type. Let's rise together as a society and, like dial-up, leave racial stereotypes in the behind.
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