Ramblings of a Social Outcast

Run and tell that...

So, finally, I decided to make a post about race. This should prove interesting.

First off, how does race affect my family dynamics: it doesn't. That was a bit abrupt so let me explain. Both my parents are white, A and little J and white. Big J is biracial and I'm black. As far as I can tell none of this has affected our family dynamics. Although when we were younger A used to tell me that Mom and dad didn't love me because I'm black. Being the brat I am, I'd fire back that she was an accident.

My parents have protected big J and me from their racist relatives so I've never met any of those asshats. Not to say that all my relatives are racist because they certainly aren't they accepted Big J and I the same as A and Little J.

Now, on a larger scale as far as my town goes, I'm one of maybe 6 black people in this town. Let me tell you, black history month is fun. Back in elementary school, the kids thought I was the repository of information about blacks and what we've done, invented and other such things. It's a lot of pressure to be the represent for your race when you're just a kid.

I've only been harassed a dozen times though, so things aren’t that bad around here. The earliest memory I have of this is from pre-school. One of my friends said her mom told her not to hang out with me because I was dirty. The little girl thought it was silly. If I remember right she said, "You're not dirty, you just have a good tan." We went back to playing.

Later on in elementary school black history month came up and some kid decided that because I was black, I was her slave. I think this was in kindergarten or 1st. These were the same years I was spit on when I was riding the bus. That was a different girl, but once again I was called dirty.

Nothing really happened in middle school. Thus far in high school, I've only had one incident and he was a stoner anyway so I didn't really care. He told me to go back to Africa and I told him I was from Arkansas. That response worked very well.

Labels: Adoption, Maybe I'm a bit fabulous?

posted by Manda at 5:00 PM