March 9, 2013

• Lazy Gray

  When did we start calling people colors instead of Nationalities? I am “Proud to be an American,” and I know many people have worked long and hard to be called that, but isn’t it just lazy? What about where you came from before (except Native Americans)?

  Call me German, not white. And if you must call me a color, get a paint swatch to figure out what color I am because I’ve seen white paper, white shirts, white shoes…and I am not white.

  We have forgotten how to be creative. Or maybe, we have forgotten to figure out who we are. I don’t relate to being German: beer, chocolate, snow, WW1 and WW2–no thank you please. I don’t know much more about Germany than that. And that is a shame. I haven’t tried.

  I was watching “Lincoln” with my black boyfriend, thinking, “Man, this is so applicable to us.” But he isn’t black–he is Jamaican. He was born in Jamaica. For him, it was a conscious choice: he came to America when he was 6 and the children laughed at his accent. So he lost it, and embraced all that was called being American. He cried when his sisters told him he was still Jamaican. He turned to me in the movie and said, “This is our history.”

  He identifies with American culture–he chose it–whereas I have always looked for a way out. I never have culture shock leaving the country: but always have counter-culture shock when returning. So the American-trying-not-to-be and the non-American-trying-to-be find a middle ground and begin to create their own culture. And don’t call it gray.

  

   

  • 7:40 pm
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