26 February 2009

black like me

On Mardi Gras, I went out with my 4 closest friends.
Ladies drank free, which was more than alright with us. We talked, per usual, about the events and experiences that made up our day.
DM told about her lunch how she and a friend went to a like soul food restaurant , Somebody's Chicken and Waffles and her friend said she take one of her white friends there. She replied that she didn't have any white friends, but she would take me.
I laughed when she told me it.
I've never been considered black enough.
I went to predominately white schools and always blended in with the white kids.
I remember in 4th grade in New Jersey being called an Oreo and being really distraught before being really annoyed at the stupidity of
Only in college did I start heavily associating with black people. I got involved with BSA through meetings, participated in the MBOU pageant and was on exec.
It was a sort of culture shock being around so many people who looked like me, but in many cases had very different backgrounds and narratives than I had. That's one of the things I might miss a lot about leaving OU
It's whatever.
It's constantly on my mind how some people seem so fluid and can flow between cultures .I've always been thankful that I could be with other people and yet, keep myself. The only area that might be shaky in is my affinity for Jewish culture...
I can't help but think that the affinity that I have for other cultures is a gift from God. It's so random to be born in the United States of any given ethnicity,but to develop or foster a love for the unknown, in a sense to domesticate the unknown, so its not foreign, that's cool. I've recently picked up the memo that I've missed out on that Latin American cultures are beautiful and intriguing. I wish that I had been more actively involved with PanAm the last 4 years. I have until May 12 to make the most of it :)

2 comments:

Unknown said...

You know I meant no harm... And Actually I meant that I feel that you would be the most shocked by the experience of going to Mama E's Chicken & Waffles... errbody else, I feel like, has already had such an experience earlier on in life. Additionally, I also had very few, if any black friends before college. Thats mostly b/c in Black folk dont live out in Western OK. But youre lucky to have the opportunities to get involved with and gain such an appreciation of other cultures. Altho I was the only Black person, I was only around white folk, and b/c I was poor I didnt get to interact with too many diff. cultures til OSSM. So Go YOU... be Awesome... especially since thats the only way I'll keep associating with you :)

JLuc22 said...
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