A couple nights ago, a (very pale) girl said "I was telling my roommate about how you know how just when to use your pretty white girl talk!"




My eternal soul prevents me from saying the words I wanted, so this had to suffice.

Pathetic

Sounds like a high school.

Nope very small university in the boonies.

Well I take plenty of classes at Auburn University with nothing but white people. So last semester in my History class we of course had to discuss slavery and the Civil Rights Movement. My friend and I (the only black people) would hear countless of ignorant stuff when we discussed stuff like this. We talked about the past elecetion and one white guy asks, "How can Obama become President when he's not Christian, but Muslim....he's not even from the US but he's from Africa." Imagine the look on my face lol!!

Most ignant thing that one guy told me was that I wasn't "black enough." This was from h.s. in the tiny, little, itty, bitty town that I live in. We were having a dicusson on Black History Month or something. But he proceeded to tell me that I "wasn't black enough," because of my position on something. My response, "Do I have to be black as tar on the ground to be considered black?" He proceeded to leave me alone.
Second most ignant thing, secretary where I was working continued to question my race/ethnicity. She: "You don't look black." Me: "Excuse me?" Her: "Well your last name isn't black." Me: "Yes I know it isn't." Her: "Well how did you get that last name?" Me: "My parents were married and that's how I got it, or did you think that Black folks didn't get married?" Her: "Ummmm, well, yes, but you just don't 'look' Black." Me: Same response as I said to homeboy from years ago. Her: In a huff "Well!" Me: I left the office buildling and the office to return the next day.

Why did this man not more than 30 minutes ago try to compliment me on my GOOD HAIR???? He for real sounded like he was trying to give me a genuine compliment. I went completely and totally silent and then...the lecture. We covered everything from "any healthy hair is good hair" to "devisiveness in the community" all the way up to "perpetuating the stereotype." Almost 3 straight minutes without even taking a breath. There will be no ignorance on my watch! Talkin' 'bout "good hair" in 2009, you musta lost your mind...

I have identified ignorance my nemisis. Being the superhero that I am I try mightily to combat it.
The scene:
There are five of us. All black women. 2 Nigerians, 1 Nigerian-American/ African American Alabamian, 1 Ghanain American, and Me (African American).
The set-up:
We see the EBT (BET) cheesey commercial with the Dr. King cartoon picking up the little girl. We then begin to discuss Dr. King and Malcolm X. One of the nigerians asks who died first.
The ignorance:
The Alabaman says that Dr. King died first. I look up from my ipod like WTF?? I look it up on google to find the exact date Malcolm died (I knew the year only) and we establish that Malcolm died first. The Alabaman then says:
"its kinda like Tupac and Biggie"
The Nigerian who asked the question then says "so which one is which? Malcolm X is Tupac or is it Martin"
It is then established that Malcolm=Pac and Martin=Biggie.
Sad!

The weight of my cranium smashing into the laptop almost cracked it. My head dropped with that much purpose. I'm putting the Geek Squad on speed dial as a back up for furture posts.

OMG!:eek:
I think I woulda died practically right there from the ignorance of it ALL!
This is BEYOND sad--this is...well...enough to make you jump up and hurt somebody bad!

LOL! I just got up and walked away. The 2nd part (about malcolm/tupac=martin/biggie) was a joke, but the "its kinda like" was not a joke. She was serious.

I can understand a "joke" but some folks just take it TOOOO far.
You are better than me. I think the look from my face woulda made them be like, "er...um...I think it's time for us to...go?"
I can understand if you DIDN'T KNOW (as IF that's possible) but some of these young kids today, it's like, Black History Month--wow, whatever, seen it, heard it, know it. They just don't have any perspective or for some, just any Respect. I dunno, maybe it's just me.:(

Tell me why I had this experience recently with a White woman? Somehow we got on the subject of my students' braids, and she says something like "You don't wear those because you have the good hair." When me and my co-worker looked at her like she had lost her ever-loving mind, she says "That's what they call your kind of hair right? 'Good hair,'" all pleased with herself like she had the inside scoop. I tell ya...:cool:

The Nigerian girl who asked the question didn't have as much perspective as American educated young people do. She didnt go to school in America so she learned as much about Black history as African Americans learn about Indian history (ie: one paragraph on Ghandi).
The comment was ignorant, but the idea behind it was understood. She was well aware that the comment was ignorant, but she said it. We are all aware of black history (though some of us more new to it than others) so it was just funny as heck. Ignorant, but still funny. This is what happens when you mix BET with Black history.

This scenario is a classic argument for a) not restricting Black history to one month and b) ensuring that all BLACK folks learn BLACK history, not just African-American history (vice versa for Black folks from other countries). Sadly, we are all still colonized to an extent so we must proactively teach ourselves and our children because the schools don't :mad: