Reply #29: Being content with myself

[Brewman_Jax]

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=10003803

by Kamaal Majeed, HS junior in Waltham, MA (Boston metro area)

Excerpt: Since my middle school years, I've been asked this question more than any other. It seems to me that too many people have let society program into their brains what should be expected of me, a black person, before ever interacting with me. But I believe in being who I am, not who others want me to be.

On my first day of high school, going into math class, two of my classmates pointed and laughed at me. I initially thought my fly was open, or that something was stuck in my teeth. But as I took my seat, I heard one of the students whisper, "Why is a black person taking honors?" So my fly wasn't open. An honors-level class had simply been joined by a student whose skin was an unsettling shade of brown.

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I know the feeling. I still get those looks that say "people like you aren't supposed to be here", regardless of your qualifications, and my HS days were many years ago. Those looks aren't generally from black people. (Black people are 4.4% of Waltham's total population-- www.census.gov) Unfortunately, it's not going to change anytime soon. :(