Hey ladies!
First, I want to thank everyone who is showing my blog some love! As you can see, I have slipped and am back on here late. I have had a very busy day filled with cleaning, shopping and spending time at the park.
I have been thinking about a few things today. The most recent thought I have involves history. How many of us really know our history as a race (whatever race that might be)? How does our cultural history impact our lives today?
Well, I consider myself to be black. I don't care anything about being referred to as "African American" because it simply does not matter to me. If I am doing work in school or even on my facebook page, I identify myself as a woman of color. That just sounds classy and I am all about class! But just in my mind, I am black.
Being black means a variety of things to me and has evolved throughout my life. I grew up knowing basically nothing about black history as it wasn't taught in the schools when I was coming up. I first learned about different black history issues when I went to college. Now of course, I did know about MLK, Rosa Parks and that slavery existed. But I did not know about any issue or person in-depth. When I began learning about black history in-depth, I became very angry. Angry at the "man" for all that mess black people went/go through. I was angry at my parents for not teaching me about black history-angry at my school for not teaching and just plain old mad period. I connected with some like-mined people and this mode of behavior continued through my entire twenties.
As I started to work, educate myself and grow personally, I realized I had to let the anger go and just be glad that I learned what took place in history and how that impacts me today. I figured the old saying of our grandparents, "Get that little piece of paper because that is something they can't take away from you." was very true. I decided to really work hard to educate myself so I would have a chance of making it in this world. I worked and eventually obtained a little bit of education that actually is respected in this world system.
Do I still experience racism? Of course, I do. I believe I experience it at work and at school. But has my thinking shifted from the way it was in my twenties? Of course, it has.
I wanted to say something about being tired and eating healthy but I will have to save that for another day. This blog post is long enough!
Let us hear your voice!
Until next time,
Live, laugh, love,
Lamya Amatullah
I feel you sis. I thought my mother was a nut to move to KLIN-diana. Knowing full well we "blacks" would be outnumbered and called everything from porch monkey to nigger. I hated the school systems because they only felt people like MLK and Rosa Parks needed recognition. As a African descendant we have people who contributed in making this country what it is today. Without us this country would be like Europe without the Moors still sitting in the "Dark Ages" I do believe thank God that religion in this country plays alot on HATE and violence because they still believe we "as blacks" are Cursed to be this color. Children of Ham of Noah's grandsons. However thank God it has been proven by EUROPEAN scientists that the color of people here on Earth the longest is of African decent. It's sad what people of color have gone through with "the Man" and continue to go through (holla back Palestine, Rwanda, Nigeria, Sudan, Egypt,etc) We as Americans don't have enough sense to go to school and DEMAND we be taught about our histories. We need to know not every Black is a criminal, not every Hispanic is illegal nor does every Asian own a nail or hair store. Insha'Allaah one day we will get there. I hope our European counterparts will also open their eyes and see fully see what their grandfathers have done and STOP the vicious cycle of hate. God knows best and I do hope we will one day see all the great things we have offered, we have conquered and we have done for all of humanity.
ReplyDeleteYeah, I know what you mean. We make a lot of assumptions based on stereo types that the media provides us with. The sad thing about that is most people do not really want to take the time to learn the truth. They are perfectly happy with what they initially learned about other races. But if people did do as you suggest and learn the truth, then those who have always thought they were superior would have to rethink things and that is not comfortable. We do need to do something about it because we are all more alike than different. It is a shame that many do not want to recognize that.
ReplyDelete