The Black Guy Who Acts “White”

I wanted to share an essay i just read. Well written and inspiring(in my opinion, at least).

http://thoughtcatalog.com/2012/the-black-guy-who-acts-white/

Also, the comments section under the article is pretty good too.

@TheThe: i can say i almost went through the same thing growing up, im not white but was also expected to act ghetto , but i liked all kinds of music and comics and never really fit in the hip-hop(only) scene . this was a good read thanks for sharing!!!

nice....I was actually able to read all of that which says a lot I think since I often look at blog's and if they consist of multiple paragraphs then I skip em

I used to have this black friend in high school who I had to constantly tell to stop the "gangsta" talk when we were out in public...I mean when we were hanging out together just the two of us there were never any slang words coming out of his mouth and he spoke pretty much proper english but when he was with large groups of people he slipped into this fake gangsta mode and imo he just looked ridiculous...I remember when Nelly was popular I went over to house one day and he was speaking like Nelly and it got to the point where I asked him what the he!! he was doing and he said it was ok because he was born in Alabama...I said "but you were raised in Pennsylvania since you were one!!!!"

It's not like he projects a feeling of superiority over others he thinks are beneath him.

@TheThe:

Yeah I feel for the dude, I never went to public school but my family makes fun of me and my sister because we're "White Washed" as they put it. dó¡òb

LMFAO. I was gonna make this thread. It would have been a blog post though.

You can't act a color

@nick_hero22 said:

You can't act a color

Depends on how you look at it.

People say Eminem acts Black since hes a rapper and the Blacks invented rapping which is true, but heck Eminems good at it dont get me wrong, kinda like whites and blacks have their owned style at dressing ( the majority of em. ) so everyone sees things differently.

My favourite part:

"My message to bullied individuals of any race is this: don’t get sucked into playing a role. There’s nothing wrong with being the person you are, there’s nothing wrong with wanting to prosper. It’s all right to speak in whatever manner you prefer, listen to music that moves you, have hobbies you enjoy, and wear the clothes you’re comfortable in. Whether your choices are ignorantly considered black, white, nerdy or lame, as long as you’re content? Do it."

Wise words. The kind we should we listening to.

Great article.

@The Stegman said:

You can't act like a race, you can only act like a stereotype of a race.

This. I was just thinking to myself while reading the thread title, "What is acting white? Is there such a thing?"

Everyone has different opinions therefore others would disagree or agree on what a race would even act like. There's no definite answer to what 'acting white' even is.

I always felt out of any other racial community in America the black community has the most issues dealing with individuality among its own people. From an historical prospective I could understand the need for conformity, but times are different now we should not limit ourselves due to our fear of cultural change.   

@nick_hero22 said:

You can't act a color

That's right. It's a fallacy thanking that way.

The guy who wrote the essay, would of been correct if it was titled, "The Black guy who acts as if he were in a different culture".

Black people (all people in general) have different talking and styles in different parts of the globe anyway. American black people are not like other black people on other sides of the globe. That goes for white too. For instance American Chinese don't act like British Chinese or African Chinese. American white people don't act like muslim white people or white people in Austria.

It's a fallacy people need to get rid of

Reminds me of Childish Gambino and his whole "talking white" thing.

I went through this as a youngster. I could care less now. I mean how can anyone listen to one type of music and dress in something others have on and then be expected to be ''real" or ''hard?" to truly be hard is doing something you love dispite what others say. I got my skateboard in my hands/breakin ben is my band/ and I don't give a damn/rocking denim jeans with my vans. This is my lil rap to the haters. lol

@SoA said:

@TheThe: i can say i almost went through the same thing growing up, im not white but was also expected to act ghetto , but i liked all kinds of music and comics and never really fit in the hip-hop(only) scene . this was a good read thanks for sharing!!!

Like many here, i can rely on a lot things written in this essay, even though i wouldnt have said it with some of the words he has used.

@superstay said:

@TheThe:

Yeah I feel for the dude, I never went to public school but my family makes fun of me and my sister because we're "White Washed" as they put it. dó¡òb

For me, the interesting thing to note was the concept behind the personal experience. And i couldnt say it better than @The Stegman said:

You can't act like a race, you can only act like a stereotype of a race.

It's absolutly this, and we can change the word "race" by anything generating stereotypes : gender, sexual orientation, origins and so many more.

@The Stegman: So true d-_-b

@TheThe: I'm sorry but I didn't read the essay sorry. Reading is not my thing, never been.

d~_~b

@nick_hero22 said:

You can't act a color

Depends on how you look at it.

People say Eminem acts Black since hes a rapper and the Blacks invented rapping which is true, but heck Eminems good at it dont get me wrong, kinda like whites and blacks have their owned style at dressing ( the majority of em. ) so everyone sees things differently.

It's not like he projects a feeling of superiority over others he thinks are beneath him.

@_Punk_:

I'm sorry you feel that, though there's nothing racist about it.

@_Punk_ said:

@Xanni15: Your stereotyping and entire race, and in a negative manner. What would you refer to it as?

How do you get that from a comment directed at just the one person?

@_Punk_:

I wasn't referring to the title, I was referring to what was said in the article.

Maybe Xanni15 was talking about the attitude of the guy who wrote the essay(towards his former friends/classmates, and also when he talks about his "status"), and maybe in Xanni15's opinion, that guy is a little cocky/full of himself . At least that is what i understood.

@_Punk_ said:

@Xanni15: Ah, that comment was confusing.

That was not my intention, I guess I just assumed wrong.

@TheThe said:

Maybe Xanni15 was talking about the attitude of the guy who wrote the essay(towards his former friends/classmates, and also when he talks about his "status"), and maybe in Xanni15's opinion, that guy is a little cocky/full of himself . At least that is what i understood.

Perhaps this is what I should have written the first time.

That reminded me of this satire: "The Hood-Ass Tales of Captain Ig'nant"

@lykopis: Yes it is a great article.