"You're an oreo." The first time I heard that phrase was in 7th grade not having the slightest clue what it meant. I immediately asked the guy who called me that what he had meant by that, and he said "you're black on the outside and white on the inside." Ever since that day that word has been stuck to me. It has followed me everywhere I went. Of the year of 2016 we are all aware with the term "oreo". Urban Dictionary would define it as: "Term for African Americans that the black community is generally offended with for betraying their roots usually for dating Caucasian girls, dressing too white, talking too white, etc. The term is branded OREO since they are "Black on the outside, White on the inside."
Being called this for the first time I was extremely offended and confused. I mean I'm black, I have two parents with brown skin, what was more is there to being black other than the color of my skin. Just because I enjoyed my morning Starbucks caramel frappe just as much as the next person, and would die to see Taylor Swift in concert didn't make me less black. I never knew I was required to act a certain way to be black. That to "be black" there was certain personality traits I had to carry. Who knew that personality traits where genetic? I was just me, and nobody else. A lot of people referred to me as an "oreo". It wasn't only white people. Some of my white friends would say "You're don't act black, you're literally one of us." Or "you're basically white you're not loud, and ghetto." So to be black I had to be loud a ghetto? If that was true then I haven't encountered that many black people in my life. But the thing was I was black, how does one act a color. If it wasn't them, it was other black people. My own race would look to me as an outcast. They'd claim I'm "whitewashed" or wasn't proud of my background. Why? Because I'm being myself and no one else? Some would even bully me at that age because my personality was different from them. Everyone had something to say about me using this word. Literally everyone!
Eventually as I got to my early years of high school I began to embrace the once hated nickname. I took it more lightly than I ever had. Society had convinced us all that black was bad, and white was good. All you'd see in the media was black people being portrayed negatively. Over time even though I'd never admit it I began to believe it because that is what I was taught. At the time everything was taken and done so lightly that I myself didn't know I was being brainwashed by society. Black people as a whole had been stereotyped as being "ghetto" or "ratchet", having the qualities of being loud, belligerent, rude, repulsive, all the negative names you could think of. Of course nobody wants to want me to labeled so negatively. I did everything to avoid being labeled as that, so I really began to take the "oreo" thing to the next level. Every time somebody would call me it, I took it as a compliment. My twitter name became "sarahthaoreo", and I was famous at my school for it. I took pride in being know as the girl who "acts white", because society taught me it was better to be white than to be black. I played the role to the fullest. Why should I feel obligated to act a certain way to avoid being labeled. Even though my personality type fit the "typical oreo", I felt as if I could never let loose. I always had to keep my guard up so I wouldn't be stereotyped. If a white girl was loud in the hallways, she was energetic, but if a black girl was loud in the hallways she was considered ghetto. White privilege in the simplest form. Being a black girl was hard in the society we lived in. Black girls were constantly taught that they weren't good enough, or they were pretty enough. They weren't even good enough for guys their own race
Going into my first semester in college, people began to question whether I even liked my own race with my choice to recruit National Panhellenic Council sororities instead of National Pan-hellenic Council. If you're not familiar the difference is Pan-hellenic is historically black, and Panhellenic is not. Growing up in the environment I grew up in I was always surrounded by every race, and I enjoyed the diversity. So making my decision I wanted to be in a sorority with different races. Although Pan-hellenic is open to all races, majority of all who join is African American, and i didn't want to limit my circle to just one race. Neither was I a fan of things with labels. Being in a panhellenic sorority, for the time I was in it, gave me that. Nobody ever labeled me, or treated me any different. We were all just girls. My race took that as me being ashamed of being black, or again being "whitewashed" when it was never like that.
Looking back at it all, it's crazy how much I experienced for being myself. Race is nothing more than a human made idea, used to classify people who are believed to be common decent. There is no biological fact behind race, yet it's used to discriminate in divide. I don't believe that the color of your skin shapes the type of person you are, but what I do believe is the type of environment you're in is what shapes your personality. Socialization comes from the institutions of families, schools, and etc. I was raised in the suburbs by African parents, I behaved the only way I brought up and shaped to behave.
So to everyone, just because I'm black doesn't mean I have to hang out with only black people. Just because I chose to hang out with every race, to be more specific any individual similar to myself, or that makes me happy, that doesn't mean I don't like hanging out with my own race or I'm ashamed of my race. If you're cool, you're cool. I don't care if you're black, white, purple, or green. To everyone, race is nothing more than a skin color. So stop living on stereotypes, if you live that you'll miss out on some great people because you were to busy looking at their color of the skin. Aim to see people as people, not colors, because there is so much more to people than just their skin. To everyone, the most important thing is black isn't bad. Don't let society convince you that black is inferior to white. There are good and bad people in every race. There is beauty in every race. There is intelligence in every race. There's nothing wrong with being different than you're neighbor. The world would be boring if everyone was the same.
