So, if you’re coming from my other blog Dear white people welcome! And if you’re coming because you’re nosey…welcome as well.

My name is Amber, and I grew up in Orange County California. I grew up as what some might consider an Oreo or “white washed”.

White washed, being a politically incorrect term of describing someone outside the Caucasian race as having advanced education, proper pronunciation of words, use of grammar and a well balanced composure.

Lets correct that term. There is no such thing as being “White Washed”. There was no invention of education and knowledge by one “Superior” race. Okay, so now that we have that clear lets move it along.

After watching the movie Dear White People, which hit theaters this week, I found that it was necessary to break the ice of confusion. The film created both positive and negative opinions. The positive stemming from those who actually watched the film in its entirety.  The negatives from those who you have to place a stringed carrot in front of. One thing that really urked me about the comments wasn’t the racial slurs or double standard hurt feelings, but rather the sheer tunnel vision of the black race. If you were to look at me, you’d Just see a black girl with dark skin. Very few have actually questioned my features that might be questionable.  As I read some of the ridiculous comments ranging from these intellectually handicapped people.

I really begin to question individuals upbringings and how truly sheltered people can be in this world. I lived a very cultured life growing up and continue to, till this day. I’ve been very blessed to come from the family that I did and I will never take that for granted. Ignorance is not bliss, ignorance just kills. Ignorance is in the form of just looking at the surface. Ignorance is like a drug that can kill your brain cell mass. Sure you might be able to do a little simple math, but other than that you’re mentally limited. What these morons are basically saying is that if you’re not as dark as me then you’re just not black. In this day and age you’d think, Especially for a black woman, you would have the sense enough to know that we come in many shades. Growing up, I created the color game for my more intellectually challenged peers. The easiest way for them to understand was that I would describe black people as something that was sweet. Blueberry, Fudge, Chocolate, Caramel, Butterscotch, Cookie Dough, Vanilla Waffer, and Vanilla Bean. It was a stimulating game for the younger generation that I made more interesting and fun. So to see how much of a set back people are, you come to wonder.

This is my mother; and as I stated, I biologically came out of her vagina. We share the same bloodlines and even the same features as I age. It’s an insult to those who have struggled with an identity that they thought they knew because of imbeciles like those who don’t see value in genetics and or science. Sure in our families bloodlines we do have Native American, English and Irish and quite possibly Creole and that’s on my mothers side alone. My father for all I know might be black, but he could also be of black spanish descent. So yeah genetics is not as simple as looking at a persons skin complexion.

I remember growing up in a predominately white neighborhood and having to find my identity as a continuous trial and error. I was tormented and bullied by my black peers and accepted and misunderstood by my white peers. I was kicked out of BSU Brothers and Sisters United as well as from the track team. I was one of the very few who made the cheersquad and became best friends with the most popular girl in school. I wore a different outfit everyday with matching shoes and purses, My mother never allowed my younger brother and I to leave the house without cash. I lived in a big house with nice cars. All this and my lifestyle of yearly vacations to New York, Connecticut ect targeted me with a red bullseye right on my back, because I was never black enough. Though I clearly wasn’t white either. Weird how a stigma or a stereotype could alter a persons perception. Sure I had a few black friends, but at the end of the day they never really were. They just used my lifestyle to escape their own.

There was another “Oreo”, but we actually never got along until after we had both graduated, though I wish we would have been able to share the same similarities just in different areas of our lives. My white friends were ignorant at times making stupid remarks about being able to see me in the dark and till this day even I laugh at the ridiculous jokes. I remember this brat Tatiana Patton

when I was around ten whose mother would watch after me. I regularly went to her auditons and movie premieres as she worked her way to becoming a child actor. She would taunt me for being darker than her stating that she was prettier.  Her grandmother who was no more darker than myself, or actually was, would continously antagonize me about No one’s better than my Tatti. Old hag! Yeah I had my ugly duckling days, but the last time I saw her she was just an ugly bug eyed female.

By a very young age, I knew how to boomerang remarks to size a person down in hopes that they would think before they actually spoke. The term Nigger never intimidated me. In fact, it just pained me that as a black community, groups continue to allow that word to cause them so much pain and grief. I grew up knowing its true meaning and could quickly direct it right at a person that tried to use it amongst one race.

So lets talk about it. Nigger is a Latin word describing that of being dark. So, hypothetically speaking, anything in that shade including your own clothing could be used in that sense. Politically speaking though, it is an action word, like Neggard or Neggardly, an adjective describing the lack of intelligence and or knowledge. It was taken in a more derogatory term during the slave trade which is why Columbus Day might have very few people on edge if you were to actually study the American History. It was a term to describe blacks as being stupid and inferior,  but we should all know that if I were to ever come across a bum on the street outside my race there wouldn’t be a chance in hell that they would be superior to me. So just note. Nigger has No direct color. It’s just that simple in terms of ones charater. Then again, nothing can ever truly be that simple when there’s far more to the idea of simplicity.

I remember a time when a quote “Go back to Africa” would commonly be used… and I would always wonder why people didn’t have a cut throat response to that. “What part of Africa, as it is a continent? North, East, South, or West?” “Which country?” “Which City” if you want to get technical, South Africa is predominately white and the slave trade started on the Ivory Coast (What a coincidence). Charlize Theron in fact is more African American than myself Born and bred South African. My other blonde haired blue eyed friend who had a tattoo showing the African continent saying “Made in Africa” is more African than myself. The black race was reversed from the royal and lavish lifestyles, Kings and Queens use to live within their Kingdoms that were ripped from them that our ancestors already had. Mix races started when Masa decided raping the female slaves to get his fix which then became biracial.

Aids which many confuse with coming initially from Africa, is a man made disease that was manufactured and dropped onto the African Continents.

Let’s play a game as I show you a photo from 1916.

This is an old family photo that has been passed down in my family for years dating back to 1916. So I ask which one out of these four women is my great grandmother? Here’s a hint:

This is a portrait of my great grandmother, her mother, sister and brother and at the top is her blue eyed, fair skinned father (Grandson of a slave owner). So going back to the first photo the woman at the top left is my grandmother,  the woman in the chair is her sister and their cousin is at the top right. I guarantee the majority would have guessed the more dark complexion female? Shame.

What makes this group any less black than I am based solely off the color of our skin? Should I be as dark as I am considering the fair complexion of my mothers side or my mother alone? Although my greats passed for white, any drop of black blood even at 1% identified them as solely black. No ifs ands or buts about it.

You know black movies aren’t always to make people become upset, distraught or feel excluded. It’s to bring clarity to an underlying issue that fails to be resolved. When you are ignorant you teach ignorance and that can be deadly. “Dear White People” can be a real eye opener unless you continue to live with your eyes shut. Even the blind has a better chance of getting around at this rate. No pun intended. I was able to relate to many of the characters and even the cast. We all come from different walks of life, we all have different stories to tell. My life was never defined by the color of my skin, it was for not having the tolerance in being defined.

RIP my grandmother at the age of 90