Christina Gibbs,
La Habra, CA.
Growing up in Orange County all of my life, I grew up around mostly White, Asian, and Mexican people. I was always the token black person in schools throughout life and in my friend groups. The only only times I was around more than a few black people was when I was around my family or when I was at church. Growing up, my experience at church wasn’t the best with the kids in children’s church or my Sunday school classes. The kids at my prominently black Baptist church in West Covina CA, (we had to go out of OC for church because there aren’t really black Baptist churches in Orange County), would constantly make fun of the way I talk and call me a white girl or tell me to “stop acting white” and would make fun of my clothing because I choose to wear beach-styled clothes rather than typical urban-street brands that the majority of blacks that I knew wore during that time. It was really hard for me and made me feel uncomfortable when I was around the kids at church which is suppose to be the place everyone should feel the most comfortable at and it is meant to be the least non-judgmental place because we are all there for one purpose. Sadly, this wasn’t the case growing up “not black enough to be black”
CBU HIS311
