Growing up in a family filled with strong, black women who had received higher education, I always knew that I wanted to go to college and be more like them when I grew up. These women include my mother, my cousins, my aunts and my grandmother - some of which have earned their master's degrees in their desired fields and are working on their doctorate. Whereas the men in our family, have gone a completely different track. My great grandfather barely finished the 3rd grade before he had to start working for his family, my father got a job straight out of high school and had only attended college for a semester, and most of my cousins have stayed at home getting jobs to help their parents. I hope starting with my younger brother who is nine years old, the males in our family will go to …show more content…
Although I grew up in the suburbs, I was the most urban of my peers - and one of the only African American students, not to mention a girl. Also to add onto my struggles, I was the only child, so I didn’t know much about interacting with new people who were my age. Sometimes I felt the other kids treating us differently but altogether it was a fun experience and I enjoyed being with people of different races and learning more about their families. When our family got back together and came towards the city, the other African American children would make fun of me and say things like, “You talk too white,” or “You don’t even act Black.” This was hard for me because I had never heard of “talking white” just speaking with proper English, and by “acting white” they meant I was too introverted and listened to a different type of music than them - this was weird. Because I was taught to speak a certain way and carry myself a certain way, I kept myself the way I
In conclusion growing up with an ethnic background was pretty hard; I did not get ridiculed for looking different or doing things differently. There was when I had to assimilate to be accepted in a new town because I did not want to be known as a nerd if I played with the Asian kids instead when I was at school I adapted and changed my beliefs and played with the White kids to feel accepted. But, the hardest part was not in the social atmosphere it comes when it came to my parents. My parents put up these social barriers to not allow me to expand out of my own race. Growing up I broke out of their chain and started to explore different friends and started to date people of other races.
When it was time to make new friends, it would be hard for me because I was lighter than my siblings. If we lived in a mostly African American community I was teased, made front of and never accepted were as my two other siblings were. I was called a "Cracker" and "See-through". Kids ask my sister do we have the same father or parents. When we lived in a mostly White neighborhood and went to school, I was treated better than my sisters and I could see with my every own eyes, how both sides would discriminate and it made us mad growing
My parents were proud of being African American Guyanese immigrants, and they often speak about their grandparents who were Portuguese, British, and from St. Vincent. My parent’s sibling didn’t all look alike and their ancestors didn’t either and I never once heard them speak badly about them being lighter or darker. In fact, my father would boast about having ancestors that are White, Spanish and Indian. Gaining a sense of ethnic and racialized self both worked in my favor and against me. I live in a neighborhood surrounded by many different ethnicity, nationalities, and race. Along the years it changed, less and less Caucasian people lived in the neighborhood. I was raised around people of many different racial identity and ethnicities, this allowed me to accept them because I was exposed as an adolescent. My parents shared friends of various races in which they spoke highly about and they never instilled in me that I shouldn’t accept a certain race. However, I wish they taught me how to deal with those that are not so accepting of African
I wanted to wear brand clothes/shoes they did, I wanted to do my hair like them, and make good grades like them. I wanted to fit in. My cultural identify took a back seat. But it was not long before I felt black and white did not mix. I must have heard too many comments asking to speak Haitian or I do not look Haitian, but more than that, I am black, so I always had to answer question about my hair or why my nose is big, and that I talked white. This feeling carried on to high school because the questions never went away and the distance between me and them grew larger. There was not much action my family could take for those moments in my life, but shared their encounters or conversations to show me I was not alone in dealing with people of other background. I surrounded myself with less white people and more people of color and today, not much has
This is because after elementary, I moved into an Asian dominated junior high and high school. In this environment, Asian stereotypes were not taken seriously and were more often told as jokes. For example, what do you call a Vietnamese person walking a dog? A vegetarian! (my favorite joke). However, though I got over the stereotypes, my elementary years still haunt me as of today. I am now more socially awkward and uncomfortable when I am the minority or I am around white individuals. It frightens me that when I am around people who aren’t the same color as me because I feel like the judgments and incomplete stories will start to erupt, and that the incomplete stories will lead to the development of stereotypes and thus once again reenact my elementary years. This environment and atmosphere is reenacted every Monday and Wednesday’s in the WMST dialogue, where I am the minority and feelings of anxiety start to come
My purpose and goals in attending college is to make something of my life. It is a good thing. No one wants to be a nobody. But sometimes it takes time in order for one to realize this. & nbsp; Upon graduation from high school, I, like the majority of others high school graduates, had no clue what direction my life was heading or even what I wanted to become.
Having a college degree in today’s world is very important because more companies and businesses are requiring that anyone they hire has at least a two-year college degree, which is also known as an Associate 's degree. High school graduates and other people who have had thoughts about going to college should do so because it is getting harder for just a high school graduate to get a job, this is a result of hiring companies and businesses don’t want anyone without a college degree. Having a college degree will open more opportunities for the future. By doing so they further their lives and create a future that they want.
Middle school was an awkward time for almost everyone. A time where we found ourselves and who we truly are. In middle school, I went to predominantly black school so I didn’t have to experience socialization much. But, since I was taught to always act a certain way, and speak properly with intelligence the term “acting white” came into play when I went to middle school. In black culture, talking properly, wearing certain brands, and carrying yourself a certain way all can be deemed by the black community at my school that I was “acting white”. They often told me that I wanted to be a white girl and things like such. I did not let this change the way that I was always taught to act.
Being the first one to attend college in my family has pushed me to continue my education. Now in today’s society a college degree is so important. I want my parents to be proud of me, and be happy with my high level career after college, and that starts with my education. I also hope to be an influence on my younger brother and show him that a college education is important. He looks up to me, and I need to be a good role model for him. I truly just want to get the best education and job for myself worth and make myself happy.
As a kid, I didn’t understand what race meant or its implications. I was pretty much oblivious to it. Race meant getting some kids together and running a foot race. The one who made it to the end of the block won. I never felt that I was special because of my race. Nor did I feel discriminated against. Of course, I was sheltered from race and racism. I never knew any people of color because I grew up in an all-white, lower-to-middle-class blue-collar neighborhood. I never encountered someone of another race, and my parents made sure of it. I wasn’t allowed outside of our own neighborhood block, as my mother kept a strong leash on me. Not until I was much older did I wander outside the safety net of our all-white neighborhood.
When she said like me she meant a young man from the ghetto of Detroit, Michigan, my freshman year I left Detroit public shoes to go to schools in the suburbs to better my education, get away from all the violence, and to play basketball. Her comments left me flabbergasted because how dare she look at me and judge me by the color of my skin and because of where I was from. She didn’t know me, she didn’t know what I had to go through to get where I was at, she didn’t know how hard I worked and how hard I prayed every night to get out of Detroit and not be another victim of the system that society has craved for so many blacks got into. The system or never doing anything positive with your life, drugs, jail, and never amounting to anything. It wasn’t until later that I realized she tried to surpress me,kill my dignity, and my dreams because she feared the greatness that I have inside of me. They as in some of the teachers and parents wrote a 20 page paper about how they didn’t want me and my 5 other friends to attend the school, how they feared we would pollute the other student’s mind in a negative way, and how we aren’t good for anything but basketball. I stayed and face the adversity and it made me stronger mentally and more open to the racism that was still being put into place in the United
Sometimes, even my own friends would jokingly tease me or make rude comments about my ethnicity. I always laughed it off, because I did not know how to stand up for myself. It was also very ironic to me how xenophobic my peers acted towards me when I had been living in America for my whole
College is a very important thing. If you go to college you will most likely get better pay in your career. Also, with a college degree, you have more opportunities. I believe that everyone should go to college. If you don’t go to college and just go into some job and that fails then you have no backup plan. A college graduate is more likely to be offered employment than another who didn’t attend college, if you have a college degree you will make more money in your lifetime than someone who doesn’t have a degree, if you are considering having children having a college degree is very beneficial to them, you have a higher chance of having better health yourself, college is very beneficial, and if you go to college you will have a better social
Growing up, I have always had this desire in me that someday I wanted to go to college and become valuable. I want to be successful in this life that I had been given and to become the women that God has created me to be. Graduating High School was the first step that I needed to accomplish before obviously moving on to the next step in my education. I graduated high school, took a year off of schooling and then started that next chapter in my life. I dedicated myself to one year of Bible College, and while I was there learning God’s word, my Creator began to mold me in who He wanted me to be inwardly. After that year of Bible College ended, I decided with God’s leading that I was not going to return that next fall. I did not know what His reasoning for me to not return; all I
Despite my efforts, I failed in the department. I upset my parents many times, because we got into heated debates about how people of other races than us are bad. But after what my middle school teacher taught me and opened my eyes as to how things are wrong, I started to develop my own mindset and broadened my network of friends. I no longer listened to what I was taught.