What is the Worst Racial Experience You Have Had as a Black Man?

That's Tennessee for you

 

It's a back handed racist "compliment" or usually a down right racist insult.
Especially with someone as dark as me "it makes no sense":smt012

 

I get that all the time, too. Just because I'm polite and speak proper doesn't mean I'm acting "white." It's ridiculous.

 

Corey Booker, now Senator, was asked by Oprah Winfrey when he was Mayor of Newark, New Jersey, why he spoke so well. He replied,"It is the speech that my mother taught me." I went to a doctor who was practicing in the town I had lived in during my high school years. He was from New York State. After the examination, he asked if I went to college. I told him I did and graduated. He said I spoke eloquently. I told him that I believe that good speech makes for better communication and better communication makes for a better world. He agreed and was glad to have had this conversation, though it was brief. I guessed he felt out of place there. But he was a doctor and he went where his duty took him.

 

That's terrible...not just that it happened, but that you didn't have support in stopping it. Would've loved to be in class with you baby boy...Raider would've shaken things up :freehug:

I can certainly understand not wanting to be run out of your own home, but y'all deserve SO much better. I can only imagine the stress it causes to come home to a neighborhood like that. Good luck with your move.

 

Thanks. Just the other day I was checking the mail and a white guy drove by and flipped me off. Normally things I like that don't bother me but when you endure things like this every day it wears on you.

We have neighbors who have a rebel flag up with a picture of Hank Williams Jr and a quote that says, "If the south had won, we would've have had it made." Sad.

 

Dang. I can honestly say I've never witnessed anything like that here. But guys I've dated or been friends with have all experienced some kind of hate. Not so much the women I know, but every last guy has shared something. *smh* I'm sorry you have to deal with that at all, much less on an ongoing basis, BMD.

 

Incredibly sad. I'm so sorry you have to deal with ignorance and hate like that. Hopefully you find a new, welcoming neighborhood!

 

if you dont mind me asking, how tall are you?

this shit right there... especially by my home... lets just say someone would be limping back to their house and it wouldn't be me.

 

I'm 5'10. The situation is a real pain. The police and our realtors know our situation. But nobody's doing anything. So my wife and I decided it's best to move.

After the Trayvon Martin case I'm scared. I'm not gonna lie. I could be walking my dog one day and one of my neighbors could shoot me and claim "self defense" and get away with it. I'm the only black dude in the neighborhood. I'm like a raisin in a rice bowl. They let me know every day that I'm not wanted here.

Every day we check our house and cars for any signs of vandalism. It hasn't happened yet thankfully. But we're in the process of moving. I can't wait to get outta here.

 

Then you would be facing charges

Stop playin

 

i will pray for your situation sir!

ha! that's what good lawyers are for, plus self defense is always a good alibi.

out here in the wild wild west we don't put it with that nonsense

 

Thanks. Wow. I really needed this place. You guys are a great support system.

Cheers

 

I remember reading a black woman say that "we" (meaning black women) have been told we're ugly all our lives. But when pressed for specific incidents, she only could cite one thing some kid said to her when she too was a little kid.

I've been black all my life, and I find it hard to believe that you get people telling your "all the time" that you're "acting white". Frankly speaking, I think this is something that people imagine other blacks say about them (while patting themselves on the back for speaking proper). They imagine it to a point where it becomes real to them, like the black woman saying that black women are told they're ugly all their lives.

Not to attack you, but the idea that black people deride things like speaking proper and academic achievement as "acting white" smells to me like an internet myth that has taken on a life of its own.

As I said, I'm black, and I'm a student of black culture, and I believe I'm pretty objective regarding black culture and understand that it is far from above criticism and it could use whooole lot of work. But that one really sounds fake to me

If you "get that all the time," what are the circumstances? What kind of people could you be around that you would get that all the time?

I just cannot imagine that you're simply speaking english and putting your best foot forward and blacks are coming out of their mouths telling you you're "acting white", unless (maybe) you're an elementary school kid plopped down in the middle of ghetto classmates

I also speak proper english for the most part. (whatever's most precise, expressive and appropriate is my policy) and I have NEVER been told that I'm "acting white".

Of course that doesn't mean no one has, but it saddens me that black kids have to face (baseless?) stereotypes that sully their intellect like that, especially the one that says they accuse studious kids of "acting white"

Will anyone else weigh in on this? Have you ever heard anyone else accuse another black person of "acting white"? I never have. Doesn't mean it never happened but I sense that idea is waaay overblown and gets too much play.

 

Negro stop acting white

 

why -- how dare you, sir!

golly

 

it's really too bad the neighborhood isn't just a little more diverse because you would at least have someone watching out for you...my neighbor across the street from me is a bw and she likes calling the guy next door to her a half breed because he is biracial...so one day i was outside and saw that she was looking for a fight...she doesn't like his dogs...even though he stays as far away from her as possible she still loves to stir the pot...so one day while she was screaming calling him names i called the cops...she hates the police...she ran back in her house so fast you would have thought a lion was chasing her...guess he wasn't black enough...i don't want eye candy moving out of the neighborhood

 

@ Medullaslashin

I've been hearing that for a long time, from both white and black people. Some people I meet are surprised that I have a college degree and a good job. Since I don't sag my pants, call people "nigga" and perpetuate other stereotypes, they say I'm acting "white." People are just ignorant. Good for you that no one has ever said that about you.

 

Enter magic man

 

Well okay. I'm not going to try to deny your experiences. I know how frustrating that can be when it comes to racial stuff, which everyone wants to deny ever happens.

However, implicit in your answer is a little of the "pat myself on the back for not being like those other black people" stuff that I alluded to in my post.

Maybe I'm being dense, but I can't imagine someone making it clear to you that because you "have a college degree and a good job, don't sag my pants, call people 'nigga' and perpetuate other stereotypes" they say to you, a grown man, that you're "acting white". That would be quite the bizarre conversation.

Still, I'm not where you're from, so you get the benefit of a doubt from me.