Martin Luther King, Jr., "Believe in yourself"

Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

Here's the thing.  When I was younger it used to irritate me when my elders would whisper about "White people," as though they were afraid.  As I grew up and learned more about our history here, I realized that it wasn't the type of fear I knew to be fear, but it was a deeply rooted thing.

Something beyond my comprehension caused that fear to occur.  Oh you may not know what that is like.  Being a young child and asking why we had to whisper about white folks, who were no greater or lesser than we, made no sense to me.

I like to do what I call "people analysis".  I want to understand people.  We all have different experiences in life.  Well as a little Black girl, growing up in a small town in North Carolina, my experience was not the same as other folks who didn't live that existence.  I understood that.  Which made me view people on an individual level regardless of what biases and prejudices I feel I, and everyone else, harbor.

My experience was an odd one...I guess.  I was "economically disadvantaged" aka poor...lol...with a high IQ and drive to learn.  So I was placed in positions where sometimes I was "the only one"... meaning only Black person.  When you are constantly reminded that you are an "anomaly", that you don't really belong where you are, you can go one of two ways...You can resent the skin you're in, or go the way I did...and LOVE IT.

I don't know how to express fully what it is like to look around in classrooms, or in life, and only see a few people who share the characteristics that you do.  Who embrace the same culture you do.  Then to continuously see society reinforce the negatives of people who bare your skin, your hair, and your heritage.  How do you expect someone to respond?

Over time, some (not all...and not even most) people have tried to force me out of embracing who I am.  It irritates me. Just yesterday I heard a relative say something about a particular subject and compare it to "like white people".  I'm like WTH?! What world are we living in that "whiter" is still viewed as synonymous with greater? It irks me.

Don't get it twisted...I do not hate White people.  Not at all. I view people on an individual level.  I love people by far in general.  I hate that we are still deemed bad, negative, and less than, while lofting others on a superior pedestal.

I will not go off on a tangent... But I will say this. Embrace who God made you.  You do not have to embrace negative views of yourself to be accepted by others.  And if someone does not like who you are...remember WHOSE you are...and let them know that God chose you for your intended purpose and you do not have to bend, flex, morph or anything else to be acceptable.

This is my favorite MLK sermon: