• ”You are so white”
• ”You sound white”
• ”Who even uses such words, that’s so white”
• ”You listen to white music”
• ”You want to be white so bad”
• ”You act so white”

These are some of the things I’ve grown up listening to from my peers. When I was younger it bothered me, I would be nervous to be in large groups of black people because I was afraid they would make fun of me or call me and ”oreo”, ”white” because of my interests and choice of vocabulary.

”African American students who do well in school or engage in pro-school behaviours are negatively sanctioned by the same race peers for acting white”

The acting white hypothesis (Fordham & Ogbu 1986)

I find it absurd that people are seen as outcasts or ”sell-outs” for doing well in school and being educated, just because someone is well-spoken and has different interests to the stereotypical black person, that doesn’t mean they are ”acting white” stop calling black people white, that isn’t a thing. Just because I choose to listen to Mumford & Sons over ”2Pac” doesn’t make me less black than the next black person. Do you see how ludicrous that is?

Before anything I am black, I am a black woman. This is the first thing people see. In all honesty, no one look at personality in the beginning, the first thing people will look at is your appearance which I am aware of and as I transitioned to adulthood, I’ve been okay with it I only say this because my people almost made me feel insecure but now times have changed and a lot can happen in the past few years, we are more aware and conscious of what to say. 

In case you missed it, I am black, I am proud to be black and would never change it for the world. I am proud of my roots, I will always embrace my blackness and my people will always be uplifted because we are all we have because in case you haven’t noticed, the whole world hates us in one way or another. As someone who has gone through her entire life, I’ve grown to be proud of my background and who I am today.

Happy Black History Month!