Next Episode of Being Black

I'm surprised that you all don't have any real inquiring questions. Here are the ones that I expected to be asked...

1) Why do black women wear a lot of extensions? How long do the braids last? Does it hurt?

2) Why do some Black families name their children off the wall names that either rhyme or are hard to pronounce?

3) Do Black people agree with White families adopting Black children?

4) What are chitlins?

5) What are my feelings on rap music?

Those were a few that I expected. If you do want to know the answers to those questions, please let me know. In the meantime, here are a few more answers.

***How do we, as a nation, continue to move forward and eradicate prejudice? I mean it, honestly, after all these years why can we not treat each other with kindness?
Racial prejudice is easily defined for me as purely ignorance. There will always be people who will judge someone by the color of their skin before seeing what's deep inside of them. I see that same stereotype among the elderly here. There are people that discount or discredit what they have to offer because they are "old" but you know what? I love talking to old people because they have so much wisdom. I don't think racial prejudice will ever change completely but I hope and pray that we can come together and understand one another better.

***I just want to know how common is "reverse racism" where you live? And reading about your "articulation" makes me think, does it drive you nutty to hear the younger generation talk in their lingo? I worked at the hospital with a lot of young black girls and the older black women were ALWAYS on their case about "talking ebonic". They hated it.
Reverse discrimination in my town doesn't exist in terms of racism. I live in a town where there are more elderly, White and wealthy people than there are minorities. If anything, the reverse discrimination is towards those people that are fat or overweight instead of anorexic looking. When I first moved here, I was shocked that there weren't very many overweight people here so when I saw someone with a few pounds, I'd whisper, "Thank you!"

As for the slang....I dislike it BUT being honest with you all, I tend to fall into a comfortable pattern when I'm among friends and family (not just my Black friends) where I will use a little slang here and there. For the most part, I don't believe that it belongs in a typical conversation. If you were to take two people applying for a job and during their interviews, one had no experience yet spoke enthusiastically and intellectually whereas the other mixed every sentence with ebonics, the one that would more than likely get the attention first would be the one who has no experience. Why? Because that is a person that knows when to turn it on and turn it off. Not only that, it shows that that person can pick up on things quickly and may be a huge asset to a company. When I was a kid, we went to an all black church but lived in a white neighborhood and all white school. The black kids teased us for talking proper and the white kids parents would say, "You talk so polite". It wasn't that we were polite, we were taught to use proper English.

***I'm yellow! My racist Chinese friends call me a 'banana person' 'cos I can't read or write Chinese. White on the inside, yellow on the outside, get it? I kinda hate this whole 'colour' thing.
LOL. Baby Boo's mom is Hispanic and of course my Boo is Black so she is getting a good cultural sense from both families. I hope that she will learn to read and speak Spanish but totally engross herself into Black culture and history as well. It's never too late to learn, Veronica.

***Babygirl1 is married to a black man. Before the wedding, my favorite big brother who is married to my least favorite sister in law asked me "How do you feel about *that*".

I responded "about what? if you are referring to the color of his skin and how I feel about it, I think he is lucky that he doesn't have to bake his ass off every summer for a tan."
Wait! Did your brother expect you to stop the wedding or to say, "I'm totally against this!?!?" That's what gets me. If our skin was on the inside and our goods was on the outside, color wouldn't be an issue at all, right? I have to say that I love my skin color. I love that I don't have to tan. I do turn a darker shade of brown when I'm out in the sun but no matter what, I love the color that I am.

The children's book that my sister and I have written is geared for African American children but written for ALL nationalities. It's got a flavor of what it's like growing up in a Black family...(basically because it was taken from our childhood). I hope that Black girls will read it and find a sense of pride in being Black instead of wishing that they weren't. My daughter, when she was 4, went through a stage where she wished she was white. She would say, "I like her hair better than mine. I like her skin better than mine." It took years of me saying to her, "You are gorgeous and beautiful, JUST the way God made you and He doesn't make mistakes.

If there's anything else you'd like to know, please ask. I'm dead serious about that. Somehow, I feel like I'm doing my part in opening up dialogue and communication about being Black.