Thank you for this piece, it had so many great points. Below are just a few of my favorite moments:
"Education is a covenant between what has been and students of today. Education is how we learn about the world, how to make sense of the world. Education is not a metaphorical shotgun." (I believe a lot of what feels unaligned in our society right now is people wanting to use education as a weapon. I see it all the time in Instagram comments and even Substack comments on controversial topics, people take statistics and books and use it to make their perspective right while the other perspective is wrong)
"I feel the whiff of manipulation as you pull at the heart strings of the reader to go along with your essay since you are quoting Mandela. That’s just me." (100% agree with this, I felt it too!)
"Radical thoughts imprison us. Because of radical thoughts about a radical utopia, too many Black Americans are hypersensitive to the slightest slight and blind to in your face opportunity." (Mic drop)
"If one peers behind the curtain of these noble slogan words, one finds a mind that perceives Black Americans as Oppression...I am not oppressed. That is my reality." (I have said this statement so many times, that in my lifetime as a mixed-race Black American, I am not oppressed. It is often immediately dismissed with comments about me being "whitewashed" or "oh it must be because you have a white mom." Mind you, these are the same people who tell me I should identify as black rather than mixed-race because when the world sees me, they only see a black woman. That math does not add up for me! A) Having a white mom is not the reason I'm not oppressed. I'm not oppressed because my mind is not imprisoned by ideologies that don't actually apply to my everyday experiences. B) Other people don't get to dictate how I identify. I'm mixed-race Italian and Black. Not one or the other, but both. People can either make space for all of me or keep it moving!)
Loving this feisty essay. Asking all the right questions!
Thank you very much for this excellent comment. It is nice to know others perceive the same things I perceive. More writers and intellectuals should have your mindset -- "Other people don't get to dictate how I identify." I look forward to reading more of your writing, particularly your ideas about fluid identity.
Thank you for this piece, it had so many great points. Below are just a few of my favorite moments:
"Education is a covenant between what has been and students of today. Education is how we learn about the world, how to make sense of the world. Education is not a metaphorical shotgun." (I believe a lot of what feels unaligned in our society right now is people wanting to use education as a weapon. I see it all the time in Instagram comments and even Substack comments on controversial topics, people take statistics and books and use it to make their perspective right while the other perspective is wrong)
"I feel the whiff of manipulation as you pull at the heart strings of the reader to go along with your essay since you are quoting Mandela. That’s just me." (100% agree with this, I felt it too!)
"Radical thoughts imprison us. Because of radical thoughts about a radical utopia, too many Black Americans are hypersensitive to the slightest slight and blind to in your face opportunity." (Mic drop)
"If one peers behind the curtain of these noble slogan words, one finds a mind that perceives Black Americans as Oppression...I am not oppressed. That is my reality." (I have said this statement so many times, that in my lifetime as a mixed-race Black American, I am not oppressed. It is often immediately dismissed with comments about me being "whitewashed" or "oh it must be because you have a white mom." Mind you, these are the same people who tell me I should identify as black rather than mixed-race because when the world sees me, they only see a black woman. That math does not add up for me! A) Having a white mom is not the reason I'm not oppressed. I'm not oppressed because my mind is not imprisoned by ideologies that don't actually apply to my everyday experiences. B) Other people don't get to dictate how I identify. I'm mixed-race Italian and Black. Not one or the other, but both. People can either make space for all of me or keep it moving!)
Loving this feisty essay. Asking all the right questions!
Thank you very much for this excellent comment. It is nice to know others perceive the same things I perceive. More writers and intellectuals should have your mindset -- "Other people don't get to dictate how I identify." I look forward to reading more of your writing, particularly your ideas about fluid identity.