Quote:
Originally posted by ms_gwyn
AKA_Monet
I will answer your questions (I hope you don't mind, I not saying that I've have the same experiences as sistermadly or Jill, but perhaps have a little bit of insight)
Just a little background, I grew up in the ‘burbs, most of my friends were either Latin/Hispanic or Asian while in school...and of course my family and my extended family.
I feel very comfortable living in "both" worlds (and I hesitate to use that word, cause that really isn't it), I have clusters of friends from all ethnic backgrounds and I jump from one to the other, not that I'm keeping them separate, that is just the way it is. I don't act any different with any my sets of friends and if they happen to come together for some event, they see the same person.
But then there is the fact that I (will be) a member of a non-NPHC glo, it is just were I landed in life, as a young girl I just knew that I wanted to be a Delta, but when I went to college there was no Delta chapter present at my school (I didn't know about city chapters, this was back in 1991), so I went through rush for NPC found my home (a different story) and now I will become a member of a NPC through Alumna Initiation...it is the arena that I feel most comfortable in...and that really is the whole point of choosing an glo, the place where you feel most comfortable in and they accept you for who you are.
My real life friends and family do not have a problem with me doing this.......but when I come to a place like GC, lines are drawn and sometimes I feel like I have to straddle that line. But since I really don't live my life in GC world that should not be important. But also in my life (younger days) my "blackness" was questioned and was told that I wanted to be white, which of course makes me angry because is there a certain formula that makes a person black? Isn't it enough that black b/c of my ancestry? is there a handbook that I forgot to pick up?
I have never lead a "double" life and I will certainly not start to do that now....perhaps that is how sistermadly and jill feel.
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First let me say, Christ comes first, regardless of color lines.
I find this interesting. I grew up in the burbs and lived in mainly white neighborhoods. I have been told I "talk white" all of my life! But with this I never felt that I needed to prove that I was "black enough" I have never viewed the decision that I have made or my successes as being a product of extreme exposure to the white community. I attribute who I am, what I have accomplished and my faith to my family. How I was raised. I was raised aware. I was raised that my surroundings at the time, was not the make-up of the world. Growing up in a predominately white area, only increased my desire to learn more about my culture and to gain the experience of being around my people, which is why I chose a Black College. I never felt that I had to choose nor did I feel obligated to go to a HBCU to prove my blackness, it was my desire. No one can define who I am nor my blackness. My blackness and my culture aren't choices its my life and who I am.
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