Re-Post

My girl Tanya, a wonderful mama/sister/activist/conscious woman has a wonderful blog: http://www.blkgrl.com/blog/ that I decided to check on... I came across a comment that I posted on her post titled The Black and Brown Divide. I wanted to share my comment and get fresh perspective on this topic bc my audience here is...sparse to say the least but we don't really get into the nitty gritty and while weightloss is a MAJOR headliner in my list of issues, it isn't the only thing I deal with when it comes to my image.
Anyway please read and share your thoughts friends...



(originally posted Aug 2009)

Being of Jamaican and Cuban heritage, I am ALWAYS discouraged by the great ethnic divide. Fortunately I grew up in a family where skin tone was irrelevant and character was valued (except for traffic issues cuz if you cut my grampa off you became a “insert ethnicity here" piece of sh*t). What hurts is that if you go back to Cuba or Puerto Rico or any island/country that’s rich in Latin and Afro-Latin culture, you don’t experience this bigotry because you can be as white as a the fallen snow and have a cousin the beautiful shade of Georgia clay and love and respect transcends the simple difference of skin color. Not to say that it’s a rainbow of love and people of all colors ride unicorns into the sunset, but I honestly think that the historical degradation of Blacks in this country has caused all who come here (of any ethnicity) to feel it’s okay to have separatist, hateful attitudes toward us.

As a parent this KILLS me. I want my daughter to grow up LOVING diversity and the opportunity to learn about other cultures while appreciating her own beautiful blackness, but at 7 years old, she’s already been ostracized as Taylor, the smart Black girl.

Unfortunately we live in a melting pot where most people don’t generally melt and mingle. They kinda cling to the sides and get all yucky… It’s time to get all up in the middle of this pot where shit is hot so we can finally get to the flavor of the issues we need to deal with. (Too much analogizing?) Yeah… So I guess all I can say is I LOVE the fact that I’m a Black woman in this world and when my best friends and I are together we look like a “We Are the World” poster and when we’re old and drinking whiskey - I mean mimosas - we have more countries to vacation to! Yay!