Quote:
Originally Posted by rhoyaltempest
This is sooo true and I wish people would get it. I have navigated both worlds (predominantly black vs. predominantly white) all my life and noticed that when a Black person is called out for "acting white" by other Blacks, it's not always because the person is being accused of speaking well and having high academic standards. A lot of times they are speaking of the person's disconnection to their culture and other Blacks. I have watched some of these persons purposely not speak or interact with other Black people and try to act like and do what their white peers were doing, including allowing their own hair to break off and fall out because they were washing it every day and using products (with drying agents) not meant for their hair texture. This kind of thing is what is meant often times when a Black person is accused of "acting white."
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Oh, now those people are "confused." They'll have their Sarah Jane moment in a minute...
My experiences weren't because of grades, language, or economics, not at all. The college prep program that I attended was primarily middle-class Black kids who were college-bound. They just had very strong ideas of what it meant to "be Black," perhaps it was where they were from, maybe it was the fact that they were 16 and 17 years old and omniscient. Who knows?
So, when I talked about going skiing or hunting, they didn't understand, because Black people they knew didn't do that kind of stuff. What they called "acting White," my family and I called "simply outdoorsy."