Asia Smith,
Kansas City, MO
This has been said to me many times throughout my life. I am a black girl who goes to a majority white school. I love my own culture but growing up in Missouri around a lot of non-black people like Hispanics, Filipinos, Japanese, Indian and Middle Eastern has helped me learn a lot about other cultures. I have tried many different foods and listened to different types of music. I have learned to love broadway music which a lot of people seem shocked when I tell them that. I also watch shows or movies in different languages which is another thing a lot of people wouldn’t assume about me. Being black in a nearly all white city has taught me that I can hold onto my culture while learning or experiencing aspects of others. There are always people from more diverse parts of Kansas City who tell me I’m “too white” or that I act or talk “white” which is really offensive because I have no intention of being/acting white but they don’t understand that it is just how I grew up.
