You know, I am generally worlds most unoffendable person but yesterday, the envelope was pushed into offending territory twice.
And here I thought my offense envelope was super glued to the table never to be moved.
First, let me explain. I grew up in Ocean Township, New Jersey. If you've ever been there, then you know how hard it is to be black there and keep your identity. Very few blacks make it out of there remembering that they are black and not just very dark version of all the white faces that surround them. I was one of them.
It's very hard to describe the way I grew up in Ocean. I drowned, I resurfaced, I drowned and repeat the whole process a few more times. But the end was that I came out of there thinking that I was a very dark shade of white.
I don't blame anyone but myself. My friends never pressured me to be anything that I didn't want to be. They never said I had to change. It was all me. I saw the faces that got what they wanted and I decided that I needed to be like them. In my mind that meant I had to forget that that I was black.
It's whatever, its over. It took going to a black college and living with my husband and other things to remind me that I wasn't a dark tanned version of white and that I was indeed black.
But I am getting off topic.
It started yesterday with a picture. I saw it on one of my high school acquaintances profile and I commented on it. I even shared it on my page. In both places I outright said that it was offending. It was this picture...
You know I'm not going to pretend that there are people out there that aren't going to get why that is so offending. I also know that there are some people out there that are going to get it. So for those that don't get it, let me explain.
IT's one of those urban legends or myths or stereotypes that black people drink more kool-aid than anything else. We drink it on days that end with a y, in the summer we freeze it into pops, we drink it warm, we drink it with sugar caked at the bottom, we dye our hair with it, hell when all else fails we even mix our liquor with it. There's a million tings that "black people" do with it but you know what? It's not a black thing really. It's a friggen drink and it's damn cheaper than soda and actually since you determine the sugar content it's actually safer than soda to give kids but no one sees that. They just see black people drinking it all the time.
The fact that this store and to be honest it looks like Shop-rite, would put this up for sale and associate it with black history is downright offensive. They may not have meant it personally. but dammit, it's a cut to anyone that knows what the link is. People who don't know would just think it was included in the black history sale.
I can't even begin to say anymore about it. Just suffice to say I was highly offended.
Second. A friend of mine very casually said something that really cut me to the quick. The person who said it has since apologized so there's no reason to repeat what was said or say who said it. It's over.
The point in all of this is that people, all people, even me, need to watch what they say or even post sometimes. Everywhere there are people that are going to be offended somehow some way... So think before posting. Like I said myself included.
And here I thought my offense envelope was super glued to the table never to be moved.
First, let me explain. I grew up in Ocean Township, New Jersey. If you've ever been there, then you know how hard it is to be black there and keep your identity. Very few blacks make it out of there remembering that they are black and not just very dark version of all the white faces that surround them. I was one of them.
It's very hard to describe the way I grew up in Ocean. I drowned, I resurfaced, I drowned and repeat the whole process a few more times. But the end was that I came out of there thinking that I was a very dark shade of white.
I don't blame anyone but myself. My friends never pressured me to be anything that I didn't want to be. They never said I had to change. It was all me. I saw the faces that got what they wanted and I decided that I needed to be like them. In my mind that meant I had to forget that that I was black.
It's whatever, its over. It took going to a black college and living with my husband and other things to remind me that I wasn't a dark tanned version of white and that I was indeed black.
But I am getting off topic.
It started yesterday with a picture. I saw it on one of my high school acquaintances profile and I commented on it. I even shared it on my page. In both places I outright said that it was offending. It was this picture...
You know I'm not going to pretend that there are people out there that aren't going to get why that is so offending. I also know that there are some people out there that are going to get it. So for those that don't get it, let me explain.
IT's one of those urban legends or myths or stereotypes that black people drink more kool-aid than anything else. We drink it on days that end with a y, in the summer we freeze it into pops, we drink it warm, we drink it with sugar caked at the bottom, we dye our hair with it, hell when all else fails we even mix our liquor with it. There's a million tings that "black people" do with it but you know what? It's not a black thing really. It's a friggen drink and it's damn cheaper than soda and actually since you determine the sugar content it's actually safer than soda to give kids but no one sees that. They just see black people drinking it all the time.
The fact that this store and to be honest it looks like Shop-rite, would put this up for sale and associate it with black history is downright offensive. They may not have meant it personally. but dammit, it's a cut to anyone that knows what the link is. People who don't know would just think it was included in the black history sale.
I can't even begin to say anymore about it. Just suffice to say I was highly offended.
Second. A friend of mine very casually said something that really cut me to the quick. The person who said it has since apologized so there's no reason to repeat what was said or say who said it. It's over.
The point in all of this is that people, all people, even me, need to watch what they say or even post sometimes. Everywhere there are people that are going to be offended somehow some way... So think before posting. Like I said myself included.
