Being Educated and Black

Being an educated young black person is an interesting position to be put in to say the least. It can cause multiple issues that you would've never imagined before. Not only does it single you out in a sense, but it also puts you into a bubble.

I may be young but I've heard my fair share of comments such as "Wow, your test score is impressive, especially for a young, black girl" and "Wow you're smart, I bet you go to school with white kids ". It's interesting to hear the way people are surprised that a young black person can have such an interest in knowledge and have other hobbies than just fighting and twerking. But personally, it is sad to me that this is still an issue that we're having in 2016. I guess that's just the way society is set up. When people made those comments to me I personally didn't know how to respond. I could've accepted their compliment as it was said, or I could've looked at the deep rooted meaning behind what was said. I've concluded that the deep rooted meaning behind what they said, weather they realized it or not, was "Wow, you're smart. But there is no way you've been around a ton of black people because black people naturally aren't as smart on their own."

This situation speaks to me on a personal level, I get lot of hate from some of my cousins, one in particular, because I act "white". She has told me on multiple occasions that I talk white, I act white, I must only have white friends, and I must only like white boys. That raised a question, what does it mean to act "white"? Sure there are stigmas that come with being white, like there is with any race, but it was deeper than that. She meant that I didn't talk in slang and I didn't act ghetto which in her mind meant that I didn't act like a black person. Honestly, this is a hard pill to swallow. Not that I didn't act ghetto, but in her mind, and lots of other people's minds, acting and speaking like I have an education means that I'm not acting like the race that I am. It means I'm acting like someone else, or that black people can't speak proper English. I find this revelation very astounding, I didn't realize that I was acting differently than most of my African American peers, but overseeing the situation, I realized that I am.

Naturally as people we try to blend into the crowd. The current situation I'm in makes that very hard. Not only am I black, I have a decent amount of education so that makes me a black nerdy girl. That singles me out because there are not enough young black women that actually put their education first. This situation puts me and others alike in a bubble. You want to fit in with others that look like you but a good amount of them don't have the same common goals as you. So then you try to fit in with people who have the same common goals as you and a very small amount of them look like you, no matter the gender.

My diagnosis is that there just needs someone to shake up the black community and make bright, brainy, black people the new normal. What do you think? Do you agree, or am I just off by 1000 miles? Do you think that acting a certain way changes how people perceive you in terms of your race? Just leave a comment below.