Black Women Become Grandmothers Too Young
Anzita,
New Orleans, LA
At the time I was born my grandmother was 40 and already had a grandchild. I have two sons with a huge age gap. My oldest is 21 and my youngest is 8. I decided to pursue a degree in Nursing as a career change since I felt like having another child was starting over. I am in my junior year in the nursing program and I have made so many plans for my new future. My 21 year old is discovering a new beginning of his own as he prepares to become a father. My initial reaction to becoming a grandmother was that I was too young. I see so many women accomplishing goals and discovering things about themselves at my age, thought made me feel like my life would be condensed to being a grandmother. The energy and creativity it takes to entertain my eight year old keeps me feeling young and rejuvenated. Even the thought of an eight year old becoming an uncle is overwhelming. I am realizing that allowing my son to become a man does not stop my life, it just increases the amount of love to give and receive.
Young Bearded White Male…ehh
Jedediah Stegman
Polk City, IA
No cause, no advocate, just white and male. So little to be inspired by, all our models or “heroes” are flawed and not what we were originally led to believe they were. We stay silent, and with our wives we live the middle road life. 2 kids, 2 cats, 2 dogs, 2 cars, 2 full time jobs, 2 normal to care about. Women, Latino, Blacks, LGBTA, handicapped, I support all causes, but dare not support the white bearded male with out coming off as raciest. I don’t know how to be proud of my race, as someone who cares for the struggle of others, at what point do I take a step back and wonder…what will happen to the bearded white male of the future? Soon, if I am to understand correctly we will be the minority. What does a centrist do in a sea of far left, far right, non special interest do? If you are into compromise there is no room at the table.
The young are not naturally prejudiced.
Adam Jones,
Chaska, MN.
I am a para in a special education class, and the high school in which I work is very diverse. The longer I work in this field, the more I have come to see that kids are kids. People are people. I am frustrated, elated, encouraged, concerned, and inspired by all of them, irrespective of their race. But what I appreciate most is that THEY taught me to see them this way, because so many of them see the world this way themselves. There is hope, and it lies in time and the future generations to come.
Not Mexican Looking “You know Spanish!?”
Daisy Reyes,
Rialto, CA.
Even as a little girl in Mexico I was the “Chinita” (little Chinese). When I came to the U.S., I was either confused with Filipino or just Asian when people couldn’t figure out which race. My now husband, has been confused with a Hindu. We are both Mexican-born. But the thing I always get when I talk in Spanish to him or my son is “You know Spanish!?” follow by “I thought you were Filipino or Asian” Even Filipinos have confused me as Filipino. Funny thing my husband calls me “My Chinita” and friends of him asked him if I was really Chinese. Now with my son, I wonder if he would encounter any racial questions once he grows up. It has never bothered me that I get confused, I am proud to be Mexican-American and we are going to pass down our heritage to our son. Shout out CBU HIS311!
To be young, gifted, and black.
Maynard Hearns,
Santa Cruz, CA.
The black story in america is very simple: we were slaves, and then we weren’t. We were never given freedom, or equality. When we begged for it, we were lied to. When we Marched on Washington and pleaded our case, we were shot in the back of the head. When we sang for it, we were passed over it for those who could sing it whiter. When we wrote about it, we were left out of the american canon. When we exhibited moral character and “married up” we were called rapists. When we created shows that displayed to our intelligence without compromising our reality, we were sneered out in editorials.
When we cultivate our own beauty, we are ignored, or worse: “exoticized.”
When we dare to like ourselves and not be subservient out of reflex, we are shot in the walmarts, in the streets, and our killers are rewarded with a paid vacation.
Success for blacks in america comes with punishment. Nothing is more dangerous than to be unapologetically self-loving, yet able to go toe-to-toe with your white peers. They have magazines telling them they’re beautiful, stories saying they’re courageous, and smart, and funny, and thoughtful. They have a culture that tells them that they are, in a word, perfectible. To be black in america is to be faced with the notion that you are naturally imperfect.
And to succeed while black in america is to succeed in spite of your society, in spite of your nation–not because of it.
Are you having white girl problems?
Charley Birdsall,
Kailua, HI
One night, my friends were having dinner across the street from where my family and I were having dinner. So, I decided to go surprise them. They were all in the bathroom and when I went in there I startled them and they screamed. Then a very white employee that was a girl stormed into the bathroom and said without even thinking or looking at us “Are you guys having white girl problems”. A white girl problem is a way to refer to something as dramatic or ungrateful. To someone who doesn’t understand the situation a white girl problem could come across very pointless and stupid. This experience made me very offended since the employee didn’t know our situation and she atomically referred to us as spoiled brats. A synonym for white girl problems is a spoiled brat. She had no right to say this since she was also very white and young.
Young Hispanic male, possible gang member
Jonathan Pineda,
San Francisco, CA.
I’ve been living in the Mission District all of my life, due to the gentrification going on and many natives being pushed out and tech workers moving in, police presence has increased dramatically. Also due to the gang injunction which has done nothing except give police officers an excuse to stop hispanic youth and be able to search them just for the reasonable suspicion of being a gang member. I myself have been a victim of this racial profiling three times, the most recent one was the worst. I was walking home after getting out of work and an undercover officer pulled up next to me and started asking me questions about what I was doing in the neighborhood, where was i going, and if I had any warrants. I was then proceeded to be searched to see if i had weapons and while they ran up my name to make sure I didn’t have warrants. In the end they let me go after 15 of me being stopped just for walking home.
Young Bearded White Male…ehh
Jedediah Stegman
Polk City, IA
No cause, no advocate, just white and male. So little to be inspired by, all our models or “heroes” are flawed and not what we were originally led to believe they were. We stay silent, and with our wives we live the middle road life. 2 kids, 2 cats, 2 dogs, 2 cars, 2 full time jobs, 2 normal to care about. Women, Latino, Blacks, LGBTA, handicapped, I support all causes, but dare not support the white bearded male with out coming off as raciest. I don’t know how to be proud of my race, as someone who cares for the struggle of others, at what point do I take a step back and wonder…what will happen to the bearded white male of the future? Soon, if I am to understand correctly we will be the minority. What does a centrist do in a sea of far left, far right, non special interest do? If you are into compromise there is no room at the table.
Black good samaritans, or would-be robbers?
Samuel C. Johnson,
Keezletown, VA.
I am a white man now 67 years of age. In May, 1968 (a month after the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.) I had just completed basic training in the Army in North Carolina, and was on my way to my home area near Philadelphia. I got off the train in Philadelphia at 30th Street Station around midnight, and walked to the entrance ramp of the Schuylkill Expressway to hitch a ride home. I was in my dress khaki uniform and soon a car stopped to give me a ride. They were 4 or 5 young black men who gave me a friendly invitation to get in, which I did. After I got in, I was very conscious of the situation I was in — late at night, one white guy and 4 or 5 black guys — but I did not feel threatened. I told them my destination — King of Prussia, a white suburb of Philadelphia — and they immediately offered to take me where I was going. I was struck by their generosity and we had friendly conversation on the ride to my destination.
My destination was a friend’s house, where I knew I was as welcome as one of the family. While traveling, I had decided to spend the night at my white friends’ home, but I had not contacted them in advance about my plans and so they were not expecting me. When we pulled up at my friends’ house, the driver of the car told me he needed to get some water at the house for the leaky radiator of his car. Responding to my knock, a teenage daughter opened the door. Explaining the situation, I invited my black companions into the house to get some water. As they came in and passed through the living room, all the commotion woke up my friend’s parents. When the father saw several black men, strangers, in his living room he started yelling and went to get his gun. I was filling their jug with water and and when I heard that, I got them out of the house as fast as I could, bringing my time with them to a rude and unceremonious end. My friend’s parents, the father especially, chastised me for being so gullible and stupid for risking my own safety and theirs with these “niggers”. They believed that because these young men were black, they had criminal intent to rob the house.
I was young and inexperienced and thought that maybe my white friends were right. I didn’t know what to think. In the decades since I have often thought about that experience and how dangerous it was for these black good samaritans who gave me a ride and almost got shot by my white friend. And I have become aware of how common it is for white people to assume that black men are dangerous or criminal, and to respond inappropriately with “pre-emptive” violence. I often wish that I could somehow connect today with those young black men who gave me a ride then and nearly got shot. I wish that we could talk together about that experience and their perspective on it. If they have not been shot and are still alive.
No, where are you REALLY from?
Gerard Achilles Obnial,
McAllen, TX.
When I first worked in the hospital, it had always been routine that my patients would ask not for my name or how my day went as was customary (even though I knew that people don’t really want to know) — they would always ask for my age and where I was from.
I could bet a trillion dollars that one of my patients or their relatives would say “You look so young!”
Then they would follow up with “where are you from?”
I knew what that question meant.
Just to tease my patients, I’d always tell them I’m from McAllen, Texas to which they would say, “No, where are you really from?”
My patients are just curious as to what my nationality is. They’d usually say I look Chinese, Japanese, or Korean. Sometimes, they’d say I look Mexican. I always laugh it off because in a year, only 3 patients correctly guessed that I am Filipino.
I don’t really mind. The Philippines is basically a hodgepodge of cultures from the east and west anyway. Whether or not people would find out where I’m from is not my concern, nor would I offended if they ask me. If anything, I think people just ask because they’re curious.. and race is just a man-made concept.
Remove barriers by educating the young.
Ruth Volz,
Mt. Pleasant, MI.
Black bodies swinging on poplar trees
Kyetheus Monteiro,
California, PA.
To be young, gifted and Black!
Dreamer for Young Black Teens Everywhere
Messiah Williams,
Camp Hill, AL.
I’m a young black man from Alabama trying to inspire other blacks to be more productive in society.
I smile at young black men.
Nena Clark
Rochester, MN
I am an old, white woman. I work in the govt center and I see all kinds of folks there who probably aren’t having their best day. I try to be pleasant to everyone, but I make a point of being friendly toward young black men. I know that in my not-very-diverse community, they have to feel judged, feared and scrutinized by a lot of people who look just like me. They are invariably friendly and pleasant in return. Bless their hearts – I think I’d be more skeptical of me if I were them, but they’re willing to take me at face value.
No, really honey. What are you?
Anthony Young
Beltsville, MD
My first business trip as a young professional turned out to be an immersion in issues of race and ethnic identity. And of all places, in America’s cradle of Liberty…….
Young White Male No Race Guilt
Ian McElroy
Wiggins, MS
I am not responsible for the prejudice of those who came before me. I owe no one for the suffering of those who came before them. If we are going to overcome divisions of race, we must leave it behind. We cannot continue forward while looking back.
