Black History Month

Fitting in at Newtown Public Schools has never been easy for me. Having been raised by African American parents, I developed a different approach to life than many of my peers, many of which were white. Early on, it was hard to make friends, however, I believe this was due to my personality, and not my color. I have never liked to be categorized by my race because I feel it leads to stereotypes and causes people to ignore my individuality. For these reasons, I feel Black History Month destroys any chance for white people in this country to see how not all black people are the same.

I have spent virtually my whole life in Newtown; I was born in New York and moved here when I was two.

In kindergarten, despite being one of only two black students in my grade, I did not pay much attention to race. It was only when I was thirteen that I started to become more aware of it. Up until that point, I saw my color as a merely physical characteristic. Even so, my mother began to say I had to ‘represent’ our family. Many kids living in Newtown did not grow up in ethnically diverse settings, so if they saw one black person acting one way, they might start to think that all black people were like that. I immediately felt burdened to be the perfect person at school so the white kids at my school could develop a positive image of black people. For these reasons, I started to think none of the white students at school understood what I was going through.

At fourteen, I constantly felt like I needed to prove to the other kids at school that I was normal so they would not treat me differently. However, at the same time, I felt like this mindset prohibited me from achieving my goals. This mindset caused me to overemphasize the importance race in my life and I struggled with finding an identity.

Fortunately, after several long conversations with my older sister, I realized I had to stop complaining. She said everyone has their own burdens, no matter how perfect their life looks from the outside. It is how you deal with those burdens that defines you as a person. Your race is not what defines you. If I wanted to come to peace with who I was, but still show the other kids at my school that not all black people are like how they are stereotyped, I had to change my approach to my racial identity. That is why I decided to be myself, rather than try to act a certain way.

Being black in a ninety-five percent white community is not what makes me unique. Being black is not my defining characteristic. People are more than just white or black. They have personalities, dreams and hobbies. Being black is just one part of my identity. Black History Month puts all black people under one category, ignoring the other aspects of their lives. This is why I believe it will not help white people in this country recognize our individuality.

Image Courtesy of wctv.tv