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My Own Beautiful


 

 

 

What does it mean to “act white”?

What does it mean to “act black”?

What does it mean to “act” any race?

Because from what I understand,a race does NOT define you,

You, and who you are is what defines you.

All I’ve heard was how I “act white”

Or how I’m the “whitest black girl they know.”

But as I get older I start to ask,

Why?

Their response.

“Oh, you just don’t act black.”

I just don’t “act black”.

So, what I’m hearing is I don’t “act” like a stereotype.

They think this, because I’m not that stereotypical “Mad Black Woman” that’s plastered all over your T.V. screens.

No.

Instead I’m all smiles.

And that, in the eye’s of society is not how a black person “should” act.

They say that a black girl can’t be perky, that they can’t be bubbly, because that’s not “acting black”.

Instead, in society’s eye’s it’s “acting white”.

And you know what, maybe I am in the eyes of other people.

But in my eyes, I’m My Own black girl.

And My Black Is Beautiful.

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Kemcquerry
<p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt;text-align: center;"><span id="docs-internal-guid-77d726f8-9230-35e5-aca1-d05efb9ab6e7"><span style="font-size: 24pt; font-family: Arial; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">My Own Beautiful</span></span></p><p>&nbsp;</p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt;"><span id="docs-internal-guid-77d726f8-9230-35e5-aca1-d05efb9ab6e7"><span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: Arial; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">What does it mean to &ldquo;act white&rdquo;?</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt;"><span id="docs-internal-guid-77d726f8-9230-35e5-aca1-d05efb9ab6e7"><span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: Arial; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">What does it mean to &ldquo;act black&rdquo;?</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt;"><span id="docs-internal-guid-77d726f8-9230-35e5-aca1-d05efb9ab6e7"><span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: Arial; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">What does it mean to &ldquo;act&rdquo; any race?</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt;"><span id="docs-internal-guid-77d726f8-9230-35e5-aca1-d05efb9ab6e7"><span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: Arial; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Because from what I understand,a race does </span><span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: Arial; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">NOT </span><span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: Arial; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">define you,</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt;"><span id="docs-internal-guid-77d726f8-9230-35e5-aca1-d05efb9ab6e7"><span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: Arial; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">You, and who you are is what defines you.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt;"><span id="docs-internal-guid-77d726f8-9230-35e5-aca1-d05efb9ab6e7"><span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: Arial; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">All I&rsquo;ve heard was how I &ldquo;act white&rdquo;</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt;"><span id="docs-internal-guid-77d726f8-9230-35e5-aca1-d05efb9ab6e7"><span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: Arial; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Or how I&rsquo;m the &ldquo;whitest black girl they know.&rdquo;</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt;"><span id="docs-internal-guid-77d726f8-9230-35e5-aca1-d05efb9ab6e7"><span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: Arial; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">But as I get older I start to ask,</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt;"><span id="docs-internal-guid-77d726f8-9230-35e5-aca1-d05efb9ab6e7"><span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: Arial; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Why?</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt;"><span id="docs-internal-guid-77d726f8-9230-35e5-aca1-d05efb9ab6e7"><span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: Arial; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Their response.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt;"><span id="docs-internal-guid-77d726f8-9230-35e5-aca1-d05efb9ab6e7"><span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: Arial; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">&ldquo;Oh, you just don&rsquo;t act black.&rdquo;</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt;"><span id="docs-internal-guid-77d726f8-9230-35e5-aca1-d05efb9ab6e7"><span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: Arial; font-weight: 700; font-style: italic; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I just don&rsquo;t &ldquo;act black&rdquo;.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt;"><span id="docs-internal-guid-77d726f8-9230-35e5-aca1-d05efb9ab6e7"><span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: Arial; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">So, what I&rsquo;m hearing is I don&rsquo;t &ldquo;act&rdquo; like a </span><span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: Arial; font-weight: 700; font-style: italic; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">stereotype</span><span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: Arial; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt;"><span id="docs-internal-guid-77d726f8-9230-35e5-aca1-d05efb9ab6e7"><span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: Arial; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">They think this, because I&rsquo;m </span><span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: Arial; font-weight: 700; font-style: italic; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">not</span><span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: Arial; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> that stereotypical &ldquo;</span><span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: Arial; font-weight: 700; font-style: italic; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Mad Black Woman</span><span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: Arial; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">&rdquo; that&rsquo;s plastered all over your T.V. screens.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt;"><span id="docs-internal-guid-77d726f8-9230-35e5-aca1-d05efb9ab6e7"><span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: Arial; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">No.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt;"><span id="docs-internal-guid-77d726f8-9230-35e5-aca1-d05efb9ab6e7"><span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: Arial; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Instead I&rsquo;m </span><span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: Arial; font-style: italic; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">all smiles. </span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt;"><span id="docs-internal-guid-77d726f8-9230-35e5-aca1-d05efb9ab6e7"><span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: Arial; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">And that, in the eye&rsquo;s of society is not how a black person &ldquo;should&rdquo; act.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt;"><span id="docs-internal-guid-77d726f8-9230-35e5-aca1-d05efb9ab6e7"><span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: Arial; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">They say that a black girl </span><span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: Arial; font-weight: 700; font-style: italic; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">can&rsquo;t </span><span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: Arial; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">be perky, that they </span><span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: Arial; font-weight: 700; font-style: italic; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">can&rsquo;t </span><span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: Arial; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">be bubbly, because that&rsquo;s not </span><span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: Arial; font-weight: 700; font-style: italic; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">&ldquo;acting black&rdquo;.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt;"><span id="docs-internal-guid-77d726f8-9230-35e5-aca1-d05efb9ab6e7"><span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: Arial; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Instead, in society&rsquo;s eye&rsquo;s it&rsquo;s </span><span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: Arial; font-weight: 700; font-style: italic; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">&ldquo;acting white&rdquo;</span><span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: Arial; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt;"><span id="docs-internal-guid-77d726f8-9230-35e5-aca1-d05efb9ab6e7"><span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: Arial; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">And you know what, maybe I am in the eyes of other people.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt;"><span id="docs-internal-guid-77d726f8-9230-35e5-aca1-d05efb9ab6e7"><span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: Arial; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">But in </span><span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: Arial; font-weight: 700; font-style: italic; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">my eyes, </span><span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: Arial; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I&rsquo;m </span><span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: Arial; font-weight: 700; font-style: italic; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">My Own</span><span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: Arial; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> black girl.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt;"><span id="docs-internal-guid-77d726f8-9230-35e5-aca1-d05efb9ab6e7"><span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: Arial; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">And My Black Is Beautiful.</span></span></p>

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