I must share this little experience with you. A few days ago, my roommate and I walked up to 145th to get some fish and chips. (One more thing I love about Harlem - THE FOOD. There are fried things and sweet tea. It's like being back in the South.)
Anyway. We got our fried deliciousness and took it to a nearby park. We were sitting on a bench next to this black guy and a couple of black ladies. (It's important that they're black. Just wait.)
So I'm talking with the roomie, catching up on our day and such, when the guy next to us looks at us, then our food, then back to us, and says this:
"I didn't know white people ate fried food."
>insert immense internal laughter here<
"Well, yes sir, we do. Especially us white folks from the south."
Then (and this is the best part) the lady he was chatting with, completely appalled, says, "You can't talk to her like that. You're supposed to say 'Caucasian.' Leave the nice lady alone."
>insert even more laughter here<
"It's really ok," I assured her. "I know I'm white."
girl, you are going to have millions posts like this one. Just start a new category. ;-) I've been black in a white world for more than 30 years and still have new experiences with being black....just like a place I visit frequently, ahem church, where there is one black couple and me. A man said "where is your husband/"
ReplyDeleteahem, I don't have one. The other lady is darker, larger, older, shorter, has shorter hair, looks nothing at all like me.
We're just black...le sigh. Bless his heart. Enjoi this season;-)
Hehehe!!! What a cute storie! It is the year 2010 and still the most simple of things can still baffle us! LOL!
ReplyDeleteWhen I was 23 years old, I discovered that black people could get sun burns just like white people...it was my first sun burn...i just assumed because I am half black that somehow i was immune to sunburn! Now i look back and realize that skin is skin, it just happens to come in different shades ( :
Thanks for sharing your experiences with us and for being honest and open.
*laugh* See - this is the kinda thing I wish everyone could hear. No one cares if they're called black/white/african-american/caucasian/etc. as long as you are respecting ppl, we KNOW what color our skin is. and we don't care! we're all just ppl! now, culture, that is different. (as you pointed out, you're from the south, that is a culture and it is a culture with many skin tones!)
ReplyDeletethanks for the story! : )
Joi, I am so glad I know you! Haha...can't wait to share more of these stories with you.
ReplyDeleteAnd Tamara, that is hilarious - I actually just learned that about black people too! One of my roommates is black and I asked her if she wanted to go tanning with me one day. then I was like, "Wait, do you even like laying out? Can you even tan?!?" She was like, "Yes Jessi, black people can tan."
carmar76 - Agreed. And thanks for the encouragement!
I want to be white in Harlem.
ReplyDeleteOkay, I realize you wrote this post like, a week ago, but I didn't get around to reading it until now. That is HYSTERICAL. And such a good story... I guess we all have our weird little preconceived notions about other races. :)
ReplyDeletehehe, this just made my day. Thanks for sharing :]
ReplyDeletehi, i love ur blog.two thumbs up.
ReplyDeleteIv'e heard that all people with blue eyes come from the Biblical Gomer and who migrated to the North. and if you've noticed Northern people are lighter and southern people are darker because they get more sun. But I don't think the dark skin will burn as easy as the light. Twenty minutes in the summer sun can burn a very light person.
ReplyDeleteI'm sure that you and I can exchange a million stories about being white in Harlem! It's quite an experience, and I love your positive outlook.
ReplyDeleteHow is it that we live in the same city, the same NEIGHBORHOOD, and the only time we've seen each other is when we passed on the street in Hell's Kitchen?? Love you, miss you.
I agree. We should all be proud of who we are and we each define ourselves by a different priority list. I am the gender that I am, I am the race that I am, I am the career that I have chosen and I am the lifestyle I choose to live, I am the kindness that I exude or the meanness that comes out, but I am what I am. If someone defined me by my skin color that is okay because I am that too! Be proud - not sensitive. Of course, that is not as easy for some as it is for others due to personal experiences. This is the hard part. We do not each know what each of you have experienced and what you may be sensitive to. MMmmmmmmm......
ReplyDelete