An unfortunate side-effect of living in an ethnically heterogenous society such as America, is that there are always going to be cultural divides amongst people. The one that gets the most press for obvious reasons has always been that between blacks and whites. Over time, a natural consequence of close interaction with each other is that in certain places, the edges start to blur a little. So what do you do when you're one of those people who grow up with one foot in each shoe?
"You're a Huxtable" everyone would say to me. "He's not really black." Others would say. "You're so white." yet others would suggest. But it was funny to me how quickly I became black when I was pulled over one time after I may or may not have been spent the night speaking to Mr. James Beam for a few hours. When the rubber hits the road, all bets are off.
I will always be exactly what I am. A fortunate upper-middle class raised black american male. It's not exactly commonplace I wouldn't say, but I'm not exactly a spotted unicorn either. But what has always been present in my life, is someone trying to push me from one group to another. People trying to force their own conception of my identity upon me. Some do it jokingly, some with hostility, some in outright anger at the fact that since I was raised to pronounce words properly I can never call myself black. If this isn't the most backwards shit I've ever heard. Think about it... What are they really saying? And this is just one side of the coin, the other side isn't any better. I'll get to that one later, but for now, just something to think about.
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