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Can I just say I am sick of the phrases "acting white" and "acting black"?
I definitely heard that I "acted white," particularly in high school. I went to a magnet school and ran track and was a cheerleader at my neighborhood school because my magnet school didn't have sports. Well my neighborhood school was about 99% AfAm while my magnet school was like 40%. Also, my neighborhood school had about 30% of the kids going on to college and my magnet school had about 98%. So I was teased and called "prep monster" but it never made me want to assimilate. I was just like oh well, life goes on.
Now this could be because I was only at the neighborhood school for sports practice and didn't spend my whole day there, but I really didn't care. I knew who I was, what I was about and where I was headed. I didn't think I was better- I just knew I had a better futue.
I think growing up academically focused and AfAm in this world may, at present, single a child out for teasing, but the parents MUST do a good job of instilling a sense of self in the child. I additionally think, however, once a student realizes that there is no "acting black" or "acting white" he/she will be even better off.
As AfAms why do we buy into the idea that education and succes are only for whites? This idea is ludicrous. Clearly education is not just for white people, but the arguement simply underscores the need for more AfAm success stories. I may not like Condie's politics, but I am glad she is where she is, because clearly her skin is brown like mine and didn't get any lighter just because she is an academic achiever.
So I will teach my kids that when people tease them for "acting white" simply because they desire a better life and future full of education (the great equalizer) to use that as motivation to be another AfAm success story who can hopefully neutralize this awful idea by personally disproving it.
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