Race Matters

[dyvinesweetness]

I remember when I was about 7 years old I was coloring in a coloring book. I wanted to color one of the pictures to look like me. Seeing as how I knew I was a Black little girl, I picked up a black crayon and began coloring. Instantly it felt weird, but I kept doing it. When it was done it looked SO odd to me. I couldn't reconcile why I was Black

Comments

[musikmanmike]

i dont have a concious memory of the realization.. but ma mom said otherwise. idunno how it came up, but she told me that when i was about three, she had me in the store with her and suddenly i busted out with "look momma, it's a Mexican!!"

now, i have no recollection of this whatsoever, nor can i even relate to what type of mindstate i must've had that long ago. the earliest memory i have is from when i was three, but it's only one and it's mad unrelated to this.

i also remember askin an Asian-American kid if he could teach me Karate sometime durin elementary schoo. he looked at me, a bit angrily (rightfully), and asked why i thought he would even know Karate to begin with. after the initial feelin of stupidity, ma mind opened that much more. i think i was about six when that happened.

and i remember once i thought this Latino dude was Asian-American, but i think i found out he wasnt before i opened ma mouth about it. that conditioned me to not assume what people's race was.

but i think i was always conscious of the fact that there are different "races" (supposedly). specially with ma grandfather around. dude was from Mississippi, and was always goin over stories from his past, so i learned bits about racial tension as i came up around him. and since i lived in his house for most of ma life since i was three, i probly knew about race since around then. lol, he used to go on and on about "them lies in that damn bible.."

~mikey.

[musikmanmike]

and i remember once i thought this Latino dude was Asian-American

lookin back on it, that mighta been the other way around, im not sure. i know i got it mixed up tho, and that i was lucky enough not to mention it before i found out otherwise.