Tuesday, November 26, 2013

"Acting Black"

While listening to conversations in my 4th period class, (not eavesdropping, just being attentive) I overheard someone talking about the pop culture sensation that is Miley Cyrus.

"She acts so black," one of my classmates said.

Being an African-American girl, this both offended and confused me. What does Miley do that makes her behavior black? Smoke? Twerk? Curse? Listen to rap music? Is that all it takes to be a part of the black community? Is that what it means to be black?

I think the comment bothered me mainly because I know black women, and they are so much more than twerking, smoking, and cussing. Miley Cyrus can be described as reckless, outrageous, raunchy, and maybe even "fun" (if that's your definition of fun) but she is definitely not black. And she is aware of this.


Miley apparently knows, as well as I do, that your skin color does not determine your personality or habits. Your environment, your experiences, your hobbies, interests, passions shape who you are. Your race does not.

It always bothers me when people associate certain behaviors with certain races. Asians get good grades. White people speak properly. Arabs are terrorists. But the truth is: I have Asian friends that rip out the pages of books. White friends that only use slang. Arab friends who are the peacekeepers. But because of how they look, society immediately sticks them in this box that is extremely hard to break out of. The majority of these racial stereotypes are completely inaccurate. (I defy a few myself: I have no rhythm. I'll pass on the fried chicken. I'm not very loud at all. I've never had a weave.)

Stereotypes hold us back. They place a glass ceiling over our heads and set standards and limits for us they we don't even realize are there. I say this knowing that stereotypes won't go anywhere soon, but also hoping that we begin to give people a chance to show us who they are before we categorize them.

Friday, November 22, 2013

Why I'm Blogging

Since this is the first post on my blog, I thought I'd share why I wanted to do this.

I often find myself needing a creative outlet, a space where I can be completely myself and put my thoughts out there. Writing has always been how I've done this. I have a ridiculous amount of notebooks completely filled with poems, journal entries, short stories, etc. I also have a love for journalism and news and I write for my school's newspaper.

Although I love being a part of the newspaper staff, I often find myself uninterested in the stories we publish. And if the writer is uninterested, chances are the student body will be too. Our staff puts way too much work into the paper for it to just be thrown away without anyone reading. A lot of our reporters can't seem to understand why no one wants to read. I, however, know why: It's boring.

We write stories about the same things for every. single. issue. We tiptoe around controversial topics, we don't report any hard news stories, and we worry far too much about the readers' reactions.

What matters to me is that there actually is a reaction. (And there are definitely no reactions to stories that go unread.) I want to write stories that move people, inspire people, make people feel something, start conversations.

Since I can't write about whatever I want for our newspaper, I thought I'd publish my unheard thoughts here (which explains: Creative Liberation). I plan on using this platform to express myself, share my thoughts, and talk about what inspires me. Hopefully you'll enjoy reading.

Jaylin x