Feeling way too white - A white person decides to visit a black neighborhood
Moreover, and more to the point, there are black folks where I live, and I can’t say that I know them any better than I do those in Austin. At parties or school functions, we chat and trade news; occasionally, we reference comedian Chris Rock or presidential candidate Barack Obama.
And at that very moment, that Chris Rock/Barack Obama moment, I become painfully, agonizingly, white. Beset by white liberal discomfort and mortified that I might appear to be trying too hard, I quickly change the subject, to something not identifiably black – teachers or taxes.
Foreigners vie to adopt black babies
Ethan was born to black parents in Chicago, but will spend most of his life growing up with Darke and her second husband, Earl Stroud, a white couple living in the Canadian capital.
[...]
Margaret Fleming, who runs Adoption Link, a service in Chicago specializing in placing African-American babies, said the group in recent years has placed Ethan and more than 700 children — many of them with overseas families in Germany, Switzerland, England and Canada.
Filed under: Children's Issues, Race
Sounds like he just read, “Black Like Me.”
Seems like a bit of a psychosis. I always find it troubling when people feel awkward about being themselves. I faced much of that early on in all white-prep schools and then later in predominantly Arab Islamic circles. I have even felt a fair bit of discomfort in the company of Fulani or Sokoto people - although they usual sense that and help me feel more comfortable - and they are my own people. But since I was born in the US somehow amongst my own people I would felt awkward. This was early on in life, this goes away when one becomes a bit more rooted in life - not this dunya - but life itself, in my opinion. Such as having a spouse, children and responsibility in the your community.