Apr 22 2012: My earliest memory of learning about my blackness was in elementary school in rural Alabama, I was maybe 9 or 10.
You see, I was born into a military family and we traveled frequently. I grew up with Whites, Blacks, Hispanic, mixed...you name it and I never knew or realized or possibly even thought about the fact that I was different except that my hair was not a straight as my best friend’s. My parents were not really political or religious, so I never heard about my African American heritage except for Black history month. But when I moved to Alabama my world changed. I was no longer just a normal kid. I was different, special, and unique. High yellow and white girl was something I heard on a daily basis, I was ridiculed and picked on because I was different. You see I went to an all black school, where I was the lightest person in the school with long hair and a strange accent.
To me...I was just me...average. But from the moment I stepped into that school, my reality changed. I learned about the power of color and the separation it causes even within my own race. I experienced my first dose of racism from my own people.
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A comment on Conversation: How did you first learn to be black or African or what was your earliest memory of learning about blackness/Africaness as different?
You see, I was born into a military family and we traveled frequently. I grew up with Whites, Blacks, Hispanic, mixed...you name it and I never knew or realized or possibly even thought about the fact that I was different except that my hair was not a straight as my best friend’s. My parents were not really political or religious, so I never heard about my African American heritage except for Black history month. But when I moved to Alabama my world changed. I was no longer just a normal kid. I was different, special, and unique. High yellow and white girl was something I heard on a daily basis, I was ridiculed and picked on because I was different. You see I went to an all black school, where I was the lightest person in the school with long hair and a strange accent.
To me...I was just me...average. But from the moment I stepped into that school, my reality changed. I learned about the power of color and the separation it causes even within my own race. I experienced my first dose of racism from my own people.