We could not speak about it. We were brought up depending on one half of what we were - white. While the world would only see the other half - black. Moving neighborhoods might have been the best thing for the situation, if it wasn’t also the worst. It helped me discern the other half of myself, because the kids in the neighborhood were also seen by the world as black. But nothing could prepare me for the hate from my own people. Not black enough. I was inconvenient to some of my peers, and because of my light skin I was often teased for being stuck up. I wasn’t egoistic, how could I be when my shoes had holes, and my socks had holes, and my identity had holes. I felt different, no matter where I was, or who I was talking to. No one tells you who you choose to be. I thought if I ignored it I would be fine. Ignore the ignorance of my white family, ignore the ignorance of my black peers, and I would be fine. But I was not. How could I ever be when you face the harrowing question - who are you? Who was I? Why did I have to pick? This circled my mind. Like a shark lingering for it’s prey, ready to attack without
We could not speak about it. We were brought up depending on one half of what we were - white. While the world would only see the other half - black. Moving neighborhoods might have been the best thing for the situation, if it wasn’t also the worst. It helped me discern the other half of myself, because the kids in the neighborhood were also seen by the world as black. But nothing could prepare me for the hate from my own people. Not black enough. I was inconvenient to some of my peers, and because of my light skin I was often teased for being stuck up. I wasn’t egoistic, how could I be when my shoes had holes, and my socks had holes, and my identity had holes. I felt different, no matter where I was, or who I was talking to. No one tells you who you choose to be. I thought if I ignored it I would be fine. Ignore the ignorance of my white family, ignore the ignorance of my black peers, and I would be fine. But I was not. How could I ever be when you face the harrowing question - who are you? Who was I? Why did I have to pick? This circled my mind. Like a shark lingering for it’s prey, ready to attack without