Of a darker color | Teen Ink

Of a darker color

March 28, 2010
By Howler GOLD, Cerritos, California
Howler GOLD, Cerritos, California
17 articles 5 photos 20 comments

Favorite Quote:
"Life is not abut the number of breaths you take but about the moments that take your breath away"


What bothers me the most is how I can not be invisible. I don’t want to, but I would like for no one to see me because when people stare they see right through me. The color of my skin degrades the rest of my appearance and who I am as a person and they don’t even know me. Who are they, you ask? Society, my own kind is racist against me. The thing is, I’m proud to be black, I walk with my head held high and look past all of the stares and odd looks from employees when I walk into a high class store. The most irritating situation however is not only the employees following you around the store while the girl across steals something, but how other races make fun of me for being black.

A lot of other races mock black culture and how we love ‘fried chicken!’ What if I hate it? I don’t but still, what if I’m not even black? The color of my skin still hinders me because I’m dark and to be quite honest I don’t think that’s fair. My dad tells me all the time “that’s life”; I deal with it, I sit down at lunch while the Asian and Filipinos say ‘n*gga’ like its cool knowing that me and my friends are listening. It’s so annoying and offensive, but I guess we taught it to them. However, you would think what monkey see monkey don’t do, but I guess the saying is actually true, blacks refer to one another with the ‘n’ word and now the whole world thinks it’s okay!

What is the most racist outrageous subject I have experienced was how someone called me stupid because I’m black, I wanted to jump down his throat and tap on his kidney’s but in situations like those, I fight back with words. But the question is, how much longer am I going to have to keep on fighting? I don’t know how it is to be of another race, but I know being black is tough and all you go through with is racism and I wonder when we’ll we be able to sit back and relax for once without societies stereotypes talking down to us because we are African American and a minority. To be black is to be beautiful, we are of so many different colors and cultures, I wish others would understand that and stop looking at me from the corner of their eye or assuming that a gun is in my bag. The truth is I’m an educated black lady who knows who I am and where I’m going.

The author's comments:
It is what it is... I guess being human for everyone is not the same because even though as humans none of us are perfect and we are going to make mistakes; People who are racist will always be blind to that fact.

Similar Articles

JOIN THE DISCUSSION

This article has 1 comment.


on May. 4 2010 at 7:35 pm
sunnyhunny PLATINUM, Litchfield, New Hampshire
22 articles 3 photos 329 comments

Favorite Quote:
&quot;An eye for an eye makes the whole world blind.&quot;<br /> -Ghandi

It's very sad that people in our society will hold stereotypes around black people, even if they live the same way and are engaged in society the same way that their white friends are.  And what if they weren't?  What if all black people really did love fried chicken and all black people talked a certain way?  What would be wrong with that?  There is just so much wrong with the way people rationalize this kind of thing.  Just because someone's skin is a certain color doesn't mean that they are in a gang and steal and wear only certain clothing.  I'm sorry that you have to deal with this, and let's hope that your peers become more mature about racial prejudice as they get older.