When Did Being Black Become The Excuse?
Growing up in the South taught me multitude of things. I learned how to climb trees, skin squirrels, pick greens, and I also learned how to see race. My parents, rest their souls only knew race and chaos. My father was nearly killed by a group of young white teens when he was a teenager. Naturally, he would develop a sense of distrust regarding white people. I remember standing before my mom for the first time and telling her about my dreams of becoming an archeologist. She told me I needed to be more realistic because black children didn't do things like that.
I guess my blackness was supposed to keep me from doing certain things. I didn't study archeology, but I did find something just as abnormal for people like me. I developed a love for writing. Not just any type of writing, but dystopian fiction. My mother died before I ever finished my first book. I often wonder if she would have told me, that too, was for white people and not girls of color. I'll tell you a secret! I'm not the best writer in the world. I might even suck at it, just a little, but I do it because I can. I have never let my color stand in the way of anything that I've wanted to accomplish in life.
Today, I tell my children something totally different than the message I was given as a small child. I tell them to go out and take the world by the hand and learn from it. Reach for the stars. Being black means little to nothing in the whole scheme of things. If you are using your blackness to make excuses, you are missing out on life.
Black people don't go on hikes.
Aww, but we do!
Black people don't go in caves.
Aww,but we that too!
Black people can't climb on top of mountains.
We climb on mountain tops and so should you.
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