African American women in CPC, opinions, please?

[Munchkin03]

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."

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."

[rhoyaltempest]

Originally Posted by Munchkin03

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."

Yes, but I'm sure you knew what they meant. Although things are changing because diversity is becoming more widely accepted and people now have more friends of different ethnicities and are therefore broadening their horizons, in predominantly Black communities, not a lot of folks do the "outdoorsy" thing and in predominantly white communities, not a lot of folks are doing some of the things that Black folks commonly do in predominantly Black communities. So we all know exactly what is meant by this although I'm not saying it's fair to accuse someone of "acting white" because of it.

Then again, maybe you've never lived in a predominantly Black community? You still should know what they meant though.

[Dionysus]

I'm convinced there's some black beat that most black people hear, and a few of us do not hear it.

It goes way beyond a preference for hunting or skiing, or not.

I don't know what you mean.

[DrPhil]

Originally Posted by Dionysus

I'm convinced there's some black beat that most black people hear, and a few of us do not hear it.

It goes way beyond a preference for hunting or skiing, or not.

I don't know what you mean.

LOL. The Black beat is just like the commonalities that other races, ethnicities and cultures share with one another. You hear some of it but you don't have to hear 100% of it to know how to identify. The biggest thing is to not appear so detached that you seem judgmental and holier than thou. That works both ways, though.

Originally Posted by Munchkin03

Nope, didn't grow up in a predominantly Black community.

Yes, I understand what they meant now, when I was 17 not so much, because the things I grew up doing, most of the Black people I knew did as well. It wasn't so weird that my father golfed because most of the men in our family and most of his friends did. We camped with other families. Again--nothing that didn't seem "Black" to me. But, for those people, it was like I had three heads.

I see now, 12 years later, that it was more a reflection on them and a limited scope of what it meant to "be Black." As a high school senior, however, it was a different experience.

Blacks of higher socioeconomic status will do things like golf and traveling (camping should be reserved for the Girl Scouts and Boy Scouts as far as I'm concerned ). However, since most Blacks of higher SES are first generation well-off, older Blacks are fully aware that what they enjoy doing is not what they were socialized to identify as Blackness. As a younger Black person you wouldn't have known that so you didn't know what the hell those Blacks were talking about.

I think it's important to note that Blacks of higher SES do not abandon the racial and cultural identifiers of Blackness. And when Blacks of higher SES think they have fully assimilated and fully identify with whites of higher SES, they are reminded of the instances where Blackness carries more weight than SES. The -isms aside, there are still things that some Blacks of higher SES will not do that some whites of higher SES fully identify with.

[VandalSquirrel]

Originally Posted by DrPhil

LOL. The Black beat is just like the commonalities that other races, ethnicities and cultures share with one another. You hear some of it but you don't have to hear 100% of it to know how to identify. The biggest thing is to not appear so detached that you seem judgmental and holier than thou. That works both ways, though.



Blacks of higher socioeconomic status will do things like golf and traveling (camping should be reserved for the Girl Scouts and Boy Scouts as far as I'm concerned ). However, since most Blacks of higher SES are first generation well-off, older Blacks are fully aware that what they enjoy doing is not what they were socialized to identify as Blackness. As a younger Black person you wouldn't have known that so you didn't know what the hell those Blacks were talking about.

I think it's important to note that Blacks of higher SES do not abandon the racial and cultural identifiers of Blackness. And when Blacks of higher SES think they have fully assimilated and fully identify with whites of higher SES, they are reminded of the instances where Blackness carries more weight than SES. The -isms aside, there are still things that some Blacks of higher SES will not do that some whites of higher SES fully identify with.

I had this experience with my college friends who are Latino/Hispanic/Spanish speaking/how they self identify that they had never been camping or rafting, and outdoors activities were unsafe or just crazy. One person explained to me that where their family was from in other countries, camping is dangerous. Animals will get you, people will get you, and the equipment is very high cost. We started out by going to a camp site near us, where you're just off the highway and can see the lights of town from a hill, rented equipment from the student center, and had a good time.

They're not doing the crazy remote backpacking trips I do, but they will go car camping and are becoming more comfortable with the outdoors. I can see a definite area where outdoors groups and companies can start bringing out of doors experiences to people who aren't monied and white, but they will fail if they don't find out why they aren't going in the first place. Boy and girl scouts is a good place to start, as well as Boys & Girls Clubs who have camping. I worked at a BGC camp and we had the kids all year at the club in the city, so the two weeks in the summer wasn't a blip on the radar. We got kids into the outdoors and on weekend trips by defraying costs and being there after school. This BGC covered all kinds of kids though, and the ethnicities, economics, and home lives of these kids was all over the board.

[PiKA2001]

Originally Posted by VandalSquirrel

I had this experience with my college friends who are Latino/Hispanic/Spanish speaking/how they self identify that they had never been camping or rafting, and outdoors activities were unsafe or just crazy.

I have had similar experiences myself. 98% of the people I associate with in here are Latino and camping is not popular at all with them. Any time I bring it up or try to plan a trip they look shocked I even brought it up and say, "camping....like in a tent? Oh no I don't do that stuff!" It sucks because we are only a two hour drive from the Lincoln National Forest which is absolutely perfect for back-backing. I've even looked for local "outdoors" groups or clubs via craigslist or meet-up with no luck.

[sigmadiva]

Originally Posted by DrPhil

...



Blacks of higher socioeconomic status will do things like golf and traveling (camping should be reserved for the Girl Scouts and Boy Scouts as far as I'm concerned ). However, since most Blacks of higher SES are first generation well-off, older Blacks are fully aware that what they enjoy doing is not what they were socialized to identify as Blackness. As a younger Black person you wouldn't have known that so you didn't know what the hell those Blacks were talking about.

I think it's important to note that Blacks of higher SES do not abandon the racial and cultural identifiers of Blackness. And when Blacks of higher SES think they have fully assimilated and fully identify with whites of higher SES, they are reminded of the instances where Blackness carries more weight than SES. The -isms aside, there are still things that some Blacks of higher SES will not do that some whites of higher SES fully identify with.

This.

[Munchkin03]

Originally Posted by DrPhil

And when Blacks of higher SES think they have fully assimilated and fully identify with whites of higher SES, they are reminded of the instances where Blackness carries more weight than SES. T

I like to call that the "Sarah Jane" moment, after one of my favorite movies.

Also, there's stuff that isn't even based on SES, but on the rural/suburban vs. urban divide. I think we were discussing in another thread that some Blacks think having a dog is a "white" thing to do--if you're growing up in the city, yeah, it's impractical in some cases, but a lot of people in the country have dogs regardless of their SES.

This is way more fun than a witch hunt.

[Honeykiss1974]

Originally Posted by Munchkin03

I like to call that the "Sarah Jane" moment, after one of my favorite movies.

Imitation of Life.....Best movie EVER!

[DrPhil]

Imitation of Life is my favorite movie.

Wow, Munchkin03, I've never heard anyone say that owning a dog is a white thing to do. LOL. I guess that makes sense if they're talking about people in neighborhoods where they aren't allowed to have animals. But, there are so many low income and project areas in the city with dogs. Like you said, country Black folks have ALWAYS had dogs.

I can see people saying that BUYING a dog from a pet store or adopting a dog from the SPCA is a white people thing to do. LOL. A lot of Black folks (disproportionately low income) either FIND dogs in the neighborhood, adopt them from a local "breeder", or buy them from a local "seller."

I can also see people saying that WALKING a dog is a white people thing to do. "We don't walk no dogs...dogs walk themselves." Black folks are why leash laws were created...LOL...not really. My family rarely walked our dogs and we had TONS of dogs (not all at the same time) throughout my childhood. We had a huge backyard and our dogs would chase themselves around trees and stuff. I guess walking them was seen as extra. LOL.