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Old 01-05-2004, 05:16 PM
Eclipse Eclipse is offline
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Join Date: Apr 2000
Location: Atlanta, GA
Posts: 1,929
While I have had people tell me that I "talk white" or act like a white girl because I didn't go to my neighborhood school or because I was the only black at my elementary school in the gifted program I choose to focus on those people who are secure in themselves and saw education and articulation as something to aspire to.

I made the decision to "rebel" in junior high and go to my neighborhood school (it was called Martin Luther King, you figure out the demographics! LOL) instead of the school that most of my elementary school classmates attended. I remember reading aloud one day and this guy in my class (who was in the same grade, but about 3 -4 years older) who was called "Ju-baby" (don't ask why) said "D@m! She shole can read good! How you learn to read like that? Read something again!" I was so scared I just started reading! LOL HE would even tell other girls to "leave that smart girl alone." I've always wondered what happened to him...

I have an aunt that when I started my first job out of college who would tell people about my "big office" (I had a cube) and how she didn't know what I did, but I was "in charge of a whole lotta white folks!" (I was only in charge of my self, and when I did become a supervisor I supervised 3 people--but they were all white!) LOL I have relatives to this day who will call me about legal matters, medical issues, etc. and assume that because I went to college I should know all of this stuff! Heaven forbid that I do know a little bit, they just beam and talk about how smart I am. My mother, who was the first in her family to go to college, is to everyone "the schoolteacher." As in "ask Virginia.. You know she's a school teacher."

I think that when somefolks say things like "you talk black" it is a mixure of regret (wishing they had the opportunities you did) and awe that is expressed in a negative way. Unfortunately we don't always know how to complement each other.

I also think part of the "black experience", if you will, is teasing. Look at the "Dozens" for example. If someone cracked on you about your taste in music, clothes, etc, you had to have a comeback to them whether their teasing was based on how "white" something is or just that it was plain ol' funny looking.
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