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Tonya
"Cyniquian" Level Poster
Username: Tonya
Post Number: 5705
Registered: 07-2006
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Thursday, June 07, 2007 - 12:33 pm: | 
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Posted on Tue, Jun. 05, 2007
Black on black
If you’re your own person and you’re black, you’ll be called white.
By NAOMI PRIOLEAU
TeenStar
“I tried out for basketball, football, track — everything to feel included, but it only made things worse.”
Dominic Johnson
Dominic Johnson wears an Abercrombie & Fitch polo shirt, rather than FUBU or Rocawear.
His non-name-brand pants are belted at his waist rather than hanging perilously from his hips.
This is the daily outfit of the Leavenworth High grad and now Oklahoma University sophomore.
Because he dresses as he does, because he speaks and acts as he does, because he’s a black male, he’s stereotyped by some members of his own race. To them, he’s considered “white.”
Those who receive the label are suspected of being scared or ashamed of his or her culture or of wanting to completely separate from the stereotype that is portrayed with being black.
Eleda Adams, who is black and a junior at Leavenworth High School, said: “Everybody knows that blacks have a certain type of thing to them. It’s just something in our culture the white people don’t understand. So when a black person sees another black person acting white, it’s like ‘What are you doing?’ ”
Ever since he was in the fourth grade, Johnson said, he has been accused of acting white. He suspects that’s because he doesn’t use slang or because he’s not into the $500 name-brand clothing that seems to stereotype other young black males.
It’s not that Johnson hasn’t tried to act differently.
“I tried out for basketball, football, track — everything to feel included, but it only made things worse,” he said. “I guess I just didn’t have that ‘attitude’ that went with it all…”
The result: Some black classmates teased him about acting white.
“Acting white can be one of the most hurtful accusations that one African-American adolescent hurls against another,” wrote Kent State University psychology professor Angela Neal-Barnett, who researched the affect of the accusation on young blacks.
“When the accusation is made, what is being said is that your definition of being black does not meet my definition of being black. Indeed, your definition is wrong.”
In trying to avoid what Neal-Barnett described as the “acting white trap,” these young people try to find out what it means to be black and even try to act “more black.”
“Some adolescents realize relatively early that this behavior ‘is not who they are’ and abandon the effort,” Neal-Barnett reported. “But for others, being what they think other kids want them to be, rather then being themselves, is preferable to having the accusation.”
Johnson just wants to prove that just because someone is black, it doesn’t mean that he or she has to fall into the stereotype.
“My mom grew up in an environment where you had to be that stereotype,” Johnson said. “She’s been my motivation because she rose up from what society wanted her to be and became a teacher.”
Johnson’s mother, Gwen Johnson, said she believes that good qualities instilled in a black child shouldn’t result in him or her being called white.
“For a black person to be called white by another black person is painful,” his mother said. “All racism is wrong, but black people have to face the world and judgment from everyone else. Then having to face it from your own race is just too much.”
As Johnson grew, he learned to surround himself with people who recognized that what mattered most was who he was on the inside. Johnson’s best friend of many years, Aaron Walker, has taught him to not care about what others think of him.
“We’re so different, Aaron and I, but we get along perfectly,” Johnson said. “He may be white and I may be black, but we both have the same common goal. He’s like a brother to me, and I know he’ll be there for me no matter what.”
Singing, the goal that they both share, has gotten them into college. Johnson said he nearly made it to the Juilliard School for music and was accepted to the Manhattan School of Music in New York.
“Of course, black people and opera don’t mix!” he said jokingly.
“I chose to go to Oklahoma University because it offered more money,” Johnson said. “Singing-wise Juilliard was on the same level, but Oklahoma offered more.”
Throughout his life, Johnson never once thought he acted white.
“Being called white only makes me stronger, because I have people who want me to fail.
“I don’t think that a person can act a color. I think that proving that you are something is being black, not a statistic. It’s all about making your life worth something.”
Reach Naomi Prioleau, a graduate of Leavenworth High, at teenstar@kcstar.com.
© 2007 Kansas City Star and wire service sources. All Rights Reserved. http://www.kansascity.com
http://www.kansascity.com/236/story/138919.html |
Tonya
"Cyniquian" Level Poster
Username: Tonya
Post Number: 5706
Registered: 07-2006
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Thursday, June 07, 2007 - 12:34 pm: |
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"Ever since he was in the fourth grade, Johnson said, he has been accused of acting white. He suspects that’s because he doesn’t use slang or because he’s not into the $500 name-brand clothing that seems to stereotype other young black males."
Ain’t that a bytch?
"I tried out for basketball, football, track — everything to feel included, but it only made things worse,” he said. “I guess I just didn’t have that ‘attitude’ that went with it all…"
Their argument is that other Blacks are racist for stereotyping them, which is sometimes true. But how did these mofo’s end up on the side of right? Eleda was the only one that kept it real without being insensitive. |
Chrishayden
AALBC .com Platinum Poster
Username: Chrishayden
Post Number: 4619
Registered: 03-2004
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Thursday, June 07, 2007 - 12:38 pm: |
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Because he dresses as he does, because he speaks and acts as he does, because he’s a black male, he’s stereotyped by some members of his own race. To them, he’s considered “white.”
(You see this is the lie. These whiffonees always fret it is because of something like clothes or speech or something on the surface like that
WRONG
It is because they often do these things because they hate and despise other blacks and because this comes out when they interact with them--
Black folks got good antenna. We've had to. They can pick up the vibe.
I remember when I was at U of I. There was lots of guys from the East Coast that had accents and wore clothes we from the midwest considered white--ie lots of them wore white socks with black shoes.
But they were Black as you wannabe.
This guy and all the others whining to white people about acting white are full of it.
They shall have their reward. |
Cynique
"Cyniquian" Level Poster
Username: Cynique
Post Number: 8769
Registered: 01-2004
Rating: 
Votes: 1 (Vote!) | | Posted on Thursday, June 07, 2007 - 01:03 pm: |
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And the old cock-eyed, brain damaged, wanna-be oracle has spoken, saying absolutely nothing. yawn. |
Tonya
"Cyniquian" Level Poster
Username: Tonya
Post Number: 5709
Registered: 07-2006
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Thursday, June 07, 2007 - 01:39 pm: |
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We all know there's a noticeable difference between Black and white cultures, really, no mystery there. What's odd is these fools believe they can get away with maligning Black folks. You'd think they'd know better.
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Yukio
AALBC .com Platinum Poster
Username: Yukio
Post Number: 2398
Registered: 01-2004
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Thursday, June 07, 2007 - 09:17 pm: |
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This is the new trend in popular culture...what critics of the black arts movements and academics all anti-essentialism. I call it identity politics! |
Nels
Veteran Poster
Username: Nels
Post Number: 840
Registered: 07-2005
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Friday, June 08, 2007 - 01:30 am: |
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Just can't stand those "ignorant" negroes? |
Cynique
"Cyniquian" Level Poster
Username: Cynique
Post Number: 8786
Registered: 01-2004
Rating: 
Votes: 1 (Vote!) | | Posted on Friday, June 08, 2007 - 02:50 pm: |
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I have a problem with people who think they can arbitrate what constitute blackness, especially when what such people consider black is closely aligned with how white people perceive blackness. Obviously black people labeled with the "acting white" stigma have to make adjustments and become adaptable if they want to be considered "black". They have to learn how to shift into a black mode when the occasion calls for it. We all go through life wearing different hats to survive in a diversified world. Barack Obama is very erudite but he still projects a certain black mystique. |
Tonya
"Cyniquian" Level Poster
Username: Tonya
Post Number: 5725
Registered: 07-2006
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Friday, June 08, 2007 - 06:04 pm: |
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"I have a problem with people who think they can arbitrate what constitute blackness, especially when what such people consider black is closely aligned with how white people perceive blackness."
"Obviously black people labeled with the "acting white" stigma have to make adjustments...if they want to be considered 'black'."
"...They have to learn how to shift into a 'black mode'..." |
Cynique
"Cyniquian" Level Poster
Username: Cynique
Post Number: 8790
Registered: 01-2004
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Friday, June 08, 2007 - 08:18 pm: |
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As usual, I am baffled by your response, Tonya, but any way, here's a question": if a black baby is adopted by a white family and raised in an exclusively white environment, would this baby have to learn to act black, or would such behavior come naturally?? Is black behavior learned or acquired behavior?? LOL |
Yukio
AALBC .com Platinum Poster
Username: Yukio
Post Number: 2399
Registered: 01-2004
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Saturday, June 09, 2007 - 11:23 pm: |
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Part of the problem is, it is often unclear what exactly is "blackness." I agree with elder ChrisHayden, that is, that blacks have good antennas, and that it is not solely a question of language, dress, and deportment. Many of these kids are culturally white and often prefer to be around white kids and look down upon culturally black African Americans. I think a better description would be black working class culture, for there is a middle class and upper class black culture that is distinct from and contemptuous of white folk...and not because they want to be white either.
But, I do not think it is always the case that culturally white African Americans are hateful towards culturally African American kids.
Part of it is about class...there are African American kids who are immersed in African American culture--music, dance, history, and cuisine--and poor black folk may even call them white. Thus, it is class, ignorance, and other factors....
How do we describe those white folk on Jerry Springer? Are they acting black? Or ignorant, load, uncouth, and ostentatious... |
Tonya
"Cyniquian" Level Poster
Username: Tonya
Post Number: 5743
Registered: 07-2006
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Sunday, June 10, 2007 - 10:07 am: |
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Ignorance is DEFINITELY the culprit; but I think it's on the part of folk too far removed from ordinary Blks to know of what they speak and on those who try desperately to fit that mode.....they're worse as they got something to prove.
Btw,
I think a better description would be black working class culture...
The accurate term is "street culture", which is Blk white Asian Hispanic & poor. |
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