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In reply to the discussion: Krugman on Who is Obama trying to Impress? [View all]datasuspect
(26,591 posts)coming from a mixed racial background, you often find overcompensation on trying to get approval from others, especially from the dominant race in your culture.
for instance, my mother is white, my father wasn't.
i was ashamed of the "dark Other" part of myself for quite a long time. it was not acceptable to the dominant white culture all around me. as a child, i was teased for the "dark Other" part of myself.
i did everything possible to excel academically, to speak properly, and to disregard anything related to the culture that my father's ancestry entailed.
so you end up becoming a people pleaser, the exception to the rule, the "good" black or brown person that your white friends know.
sometimes good enough to eat with your friends at their family's house, but not good enough to date a white sister or a white daughter.
i've since come to understand and embrace the other half of my background and I've realized that many of my actions were informed by the process of being acculturated in a racist culture.
an old man once told me: "you can hang out in a garage all you want, it ain't gonna make you a buick."