Acting White???

All my life I've heard some variation of this directed towards me. My father had told me I "talk like a white girl." People I barely know have said I "act white" because I'm quiet when you first meet me. A guy once told me that I was a black-white girl because I said I didn't live in the ghetto and I know I was better than him, not all people, just him specifically. Let's think about it though, what exactly is exacting white?


Do people think this about me because, for the most part, I speak "clear" English? Meaning, you can understand every damn word that comes out of my mouth. Do people think this because I tend to speak "proper" instead of every other word that comes out of my mouth being some type of slang? Do people think this because I don't run around acting like a fucking fool, yelling at the top of my lungs, or acting "ghetto", with people I don't know? Do people think this because I don't live in the ghetto, never have lived in any "real" ghettos and don't pretend like I have?


I remember a friend of mine told I eat like white people do because I don't mix my spaghetti and the meat sauce all together, I eat it like you do in the resturants when you put the noodles on the plate first and then put the sauce on top. She told me I was ACTING WHITE because of that. Seriously, the way I eat spaghetti makes me more "white."


So there's a "nigga" way of eating now? I have to mix the spaghetti noodles and sauce together to be more black? This acting white shit has really gotten out of hand.


Now let's be completely real, there are things that white people do and black people; things that people of every race are more know for doing. Mexicans eat beans, Black people eat fried chicken, White people eat green bean casserole, blah blah blah BUT why does speaking proper have to be a white thing, or why should acting like you've got some home training be a white thing... why does THE WAY you eat spaghetti have to be a fucking white thing?


Black people need to get out of this "if your not acting ghetto" then your "acting white" bullshit. Most black people won't just come straight out and say this is what they mean when they say someone is "acting white", most may not even realize it, but this is in general the thought process behind this phrase. People everywhere associate being ghetto with being black and the opposite with being white. That shit is fucked up though and black people should not be accepting that. Yet, black people are the main culprits in accusing other black folks of "acting white."


Now, if I see a black girl who only dates white guys, talks like a "valley girl", dresses like them white preppy chicks do, has her hair permed with a long straight weave in, works at Hollister or Abercrombi and Fitch, wears bright pink lipstick that she know's she's too dark for and only has white friends in general; yea I'ma say she "thinks/wishes she's white" or she's acting "white" because in that sense she probably does wish she were white and yes she is "acting white." Regardless of how your raised or who your raised around black people will always know the difference in behavior they have with white people and if a black girl is acting this stereotypically "white" then it is damn sure safe to say she's acting white BUT what I won't say she's acting white for is if she speaks proper. I won't say she's acting white if she doesn't live in the ghetto and is proud of that. I won't say she's white because of the way she eats spaghetti.


Everything NON-GHETTO isn't acting white. Now, let me say this before I offend anyone further. I am not saying there is anything wrong with being from the ghetto. Shit, you can't help where you come from but there is a problem with acting like the stereotypical nigga/bitch who's from the ghetto. There is a problem when you associate anything non-ghetto with being white.


Back to myself, I don't view myself as "ghetto." Do I do nigga shit, yea, but am I ghetto? No. I'm tired of feeling like I have to prove my blackness to other black folk. My SKIN COLOR should be enough right there. No matter how I talk, eat, interact with people; I am still going to be BLACK. That will never change. Why should anyone have to act like a fool to be "black enough" and yes the way people view others as being black is acting like a fool. I feel I act blacker than most people, bc black to me doesn't mean acting ignorant; it's accepting who you are, being proud of your skin, wanting to help your people and living life knowing that shit is set up to hold you down but pushing past that to have the life you deserve. Those are all things that being black means to me and I'm all that and doing all that. Being black to me isn't about acting like some ghetto ratchet ass hood roach and that's not what being black should be to anybody else, especial black people.


So really, all this "acting white" shit, needs to dull down. I'm not saying to completely stop saying it because I do feel there are times when it is appropriate BUT I am saying stop viewing everything not stereotypically "black" as white. That's just another form of self hate and one more way of keeping us down as a race.


MzBwnSkn