Kitt Smith,
USA.
I have white skin, green eyes and brown hair. I appear every bit a homogeneous American white.
I am not. I am a first generation American born to a Mexican illegal and a Irish immigrant. My family has no history here and no part in the oppression of black people. Both sides of my family have been oppressed by the very people you assume I am descended from. The British have a long and violent history in my fathers country and the violence still continues. The majority of America is stolen. Stolen from the native people of the Americas and from Mexico it’s self. My family in Mexico suffer directly from American exploitation everyday. My own mother risked everything to come here looking for a better life only to be overworked, underpaid, and assaulted, all because she took lady liberty at her word. (Give me your tired….)
I find it to be very annoying to be counted as any race by any one. Not because I am not proud of who I am. But because I am ashamed for you. Ashamed that people who put so much stock in race can’t tell the difference between race and skin color. Ashamed that blacks who know nothing about me assume that I came from some smug middle class neighborhood. Ashamed that whites do too. That just because my skin isn’t brown that I am expected to laugh at wetback jokes. That when I say my dad is Irish everyone assumes he was a drunkard. I am becoming increasingly angry with people who are too lazy to educate them selves about the history and culture of the rest of the world (Or even their own country) having so much to say about race.
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