How you dress, how you talk and how you approach work says something about you. It’s part of your identity that you formed as you grew up. But to many people, I will dare say most, it is also part of your racial identity.
Think back to the grade school lunchroom table. Did most everyone at the lunchroom table look just like you? If so, did you all pretty much act…well, the same?
Maybe it was at your little league games, your dance classes, your class field trip, your local playground or your summer camp that you realized everyone is not the same. Now that you have grown up-- whether you are flat out prejudice, a closet racist or tolerant of all people you may have heard phrases like "he is acting white" or "she is trying to act black." And here's a news flash for you, in 21st century America people can act Hispanic or act Asian too.
Just reflect on your childhood for a minute...
Did you wear your jeans baggy, loose or tight?
What slang phrases were commonplace among your friends?
Did you have a strong work ethic or were you lazy?
What profession is the prototype for your peers?
Black kids who wore real tight jeans weren’t acting black. White kids talking “ghetto” weren’t acting white. Hispanic kids who didn’t have a strong work ethnic weren’t acting Hispanic. Asian kids who didn’t want to study math and science weren’t acting Asian.
Or maybe that was just my school.
Majority Mind Questions
It may sound ridiculous but people do have these thoughts. What do you think about youth and adults acting their race? How should we act? When have you dealt with the act your race dilemma? Share your story!
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2 comments:
It's a scary phenomena this bag of race issues. I would almost feel more secure if racism were more overt, if the KKK were in hoods and not ties. That I feel that way really concerns me.
I also like to think that my slang comes from my immersion in Hip Hop culture, not my blackness. And that my love for chicken comes from Harold's being all but 3 minutes from my house.
And that my laziness comes from my sometimes-lazy father, not my BLACK father. But that's just me.
It's really not a tough jump in logic to go from saying "That guy's lazy cause he's black" to "that guy is just plain lazy". It's scary that hasn't happened yet.
Schools are not good models of racial behavior. If you observed the climate and subverted racial tone of your workplace, bank, and grocery store, you might learn a lot more. Again, that's my take...I wonder though...
I truly believe that social class is a large predictor of whom you will associate with. Unfortunately, social class seems to correlate with ethnic enclaves. So, instead of saying you act like an "upper class" person, it becomes, you "act white." And instead of associating certain behaviors with poverty, we say, "you act black" or "ghetto." I think it's impossible to act a color, but our actions are indicative of our environment; which in most cases will be a reflection of the majority color group that inhabits the area.
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