I have been American for quite some time now and it is easy to see that there is African in my blood. Society labels me as "Black/African American" but there are some "side effects that come with that in this country.The stereotypes say that my high school diploma shouldn't be perched on my table,like it is. As an 18-year-old female from the "ghetto" I should, at least, be pushing one stroller by now and have baby daddy issues. My father's identity should be a mystery, only solved thru the paper child support checks that come in the mail, and my mother should be a combative, bitter woman. College should be a dream that got deferred and illiterate should be my entire mentality and not only a mere word in my vocabulary.
So when people find out that these common place beliefs do not 100% fit me, they become skeptical, judgmental, confused and in my opinion, scared. In the short amount of time that I have been comprehensive on this planet, I've come to the realization that people can be cruel based on very simple things. The amount of melanin, for example, that shows on my skin can be very offensive to people and lead to false assumptions. I am a very friendly person who has no problem with any individual who may look different from myself. Religion, skin color, sexuality, or other various types of identification people have does not affect my personal life. Why do you allow my skin color to affect yours?
Queen Latifah said it best when she said that U.N.I.T.Y. was a unity. The more I come into contact with close minded people, I notice that not as many people know the meaning of that word as I had previously believed. I would like to hope that things will change but as of today there is a sexist, racist, bigot running for the presidency who should never have made it past candidacy announcements.
I have plenty of friends and associates who do not look like me, act like me, walk, talk, or dress like me. Our differences bring about conversation and bases for learning from one another. discrimination due to something that may not be appealing to your personal tastes is selfish and needs to be eliminated. Agreeing to disagree on certain matters is okay. Finding a middle ground that is stable is when friendships really bloom. Minds are opened when consideration and love are poured in to the situation.
The high school I attended and, did indeed graduate from, taught me an abundance of things. Getting along and building great friendships with pinks, browns, blacks and tans was just one of the natural occurrences of the day. It was not uncommon to sit with Bosnians, Iraqis, Yemenis, Blacks and Whites at one lunch table. If my brown skin scares you because of the horrendous stereotypes that you think belong to my race, I want to enlighten you to a fantastic view on life. Learn from everyone and you'll see, as I do, that there is only one race, and that is Human.
