In today's society, everyone is too quick to judge. However, judging is not the problem, its the products of that judgement that inspired this poem. All too often, I was told "You are the whitest black guy I have ever met", "You act white", "You talk white", "You date white women don't you?", and so on. These statements are the products of a shallow brain. By growing up in North Florida, I was often critisized and stereotyped because of my attitude, grammar, and ambition. In most circles, these attributes would result in positive constructive critisism. However, they were used to make me question my own identity. Because of the stereotypes portrayed of black men, a black man conducting himself in a positive and productive manner is often critisized to be acting white! That enraged me for many reasons. But mainly, these types of statements show disrespect to my mother. You see, when you say that "I act white", you are saying all of the values and morals my mother instilled in me are not of my own. You are saying that I am acting out of my character. Which this is very much so not the case! I can go on and on, but I think the poem states it best. You can also check me out performing it on youtube.. http://youtu.be/MR7X8ACDTZQ
