I felt compelled to speak on this subject. Not that this is anything new, but we are assigning attitudes, beliefs, and values on the color of skin through this concept of “Acting White” or “Acting Black”. This refers to a black person acting as a white person or a white person acting as a black person based on standards that have apparently been derived from thin air. Where does this come from? Who decides what is white versus black? And finally, who gives the decision makers authority to differentiate?
I have been told on more than one occasion that I “sound white.” My usual response is something in the neighborhood of, “How is that?” No one has ever been able to give me a response that is worthy of continued discussion. So, I just shrug my shoulders and move on with my day not allowing others to define me by a culturally driven racial standard.
I always find the discussion of race to be interesting, yet ridiculous. The year is 2007 and given the numerous more important challenges Americans face today (e.g., war, healthcare, and unemployment, to name a few), we would assume that something such as race would be an insignificant issue. Not only is it still a hot button issue, but we are putting a spin on it by reinforcing unfounded racial group characteristics. For example, it has been said that a white male who listens to rap music and/or sags his pants is “Acting Black.” On the other side of that, a black male who reads a book and/or plays rugby, is said to be “Acting White.” Without digging deep into my vocabulary to come up with a descriptive word for this, I think it is just stupid.
This is not just peer-to-peer encouragement or discouragement among adolescents of what I’ll call “racial assignments”, but parents may also participate in this limited and unintelligent thinking. Yes, believe it or not, there are parents that encourage their children to be less white, less black, whiter, or blacker. Can you even begin to imagine what this type of socialization does to a child? It is this type of thinking that can aid in preventing children from becoming all that they can be. Rather, they often times become a product of their socialization.
Socialization just so happens to be, in my opinion, the most important process that takes place in the home from the time a child is born until he or she is able to venture off without parents.
Thompson and Hickey (2006) define socialization as the process by which we learn and internalize the attitudes, values, beliefs, and norms of our culture and develop a sense of self. In other words, socialization helps us determine who we are. It is a lifelong process, which means we are continuously learning and being shaped by the people around us and our environment.
To impart “whiteness” or “blackness” on impressionable children is not only wrong, but perpetuates a cycle that should long have been dead. Children only know what they are taught. So, it is our responsibility to ensure they are learning those things necessary to encourage an impenetrable sense of self and a tremendous amount of confidence. After our part is done, then we’ll no longer worry about our children being influenced by rap music, television, or any other potentially negative medium.
It’s past time we transcend our uninformed thinking of things being black or white. If we really sat back and thought about it, we’d better understand that people typically do things because of the way they have been socialized versus the racial assignment. Stated differently, the 10 year old black female that is more likely than not to read a book is because she has been socialized in that manner. The 11 year old white male with the saggy pants has also been socialized to wear them in just that manner. What do we do about it?
An unknown author said, “Our only limits are those we place on ourselves.” Don’t place limits on children by socializing them to think that there are certain ways that blacks or whites should act, dress, or speak. Once we tackle the problem at home, everything else falls in place. © 2007 Keydron Guinn
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Keydron, you are about to make me re think being prejudice, (“which I am”) and I am sure is an out dated term or not politically correct, since socialism is so similar. If socialism is our problem, then what does prejudice have to do with it? Which is a charter that is taught much more than the pretence of socialism. In my experience most nationalities are able to tolerate socializing with one another as long as they are in un-equal environment or have a since of superiority. Once the playing field changes or if one nationality is out numbered, then another force sets in, the force of who is better? or who is chosen as the superior people? Prejudice, according to Webster is a preconceived judgment or opinion, or an opinion of learning adverse to anything without just grounds or before sufficient knowledge, socialization basically follows the same pattern of behavior, which is the causes of a particular discipline from different cultures. We don’t act black, we act the way we were taught, we just have dark skin, and are studied like we are animals. You don’t sound like a white person when you talk, you sound like an articulated educated (black) person, without the stereotypical deep voice. Just my opinion.
Dr. Guinn, my name is Lauren and I am in the new Sociology class at North Central High School. I think you are hitting the nail on the head with this one. I went to elementary school at a private catholic school, then attended high school at a prodominately black school. I'm a pretty easy person to get along with, so I have many friends of both races. I don't understand the point of arguing about them and placing specific characteristics to either one of them. Many times away from school I am just referred to as COUNTRY, but usually in school I am referred to as a black girl trapped in a white girl's body. I never did understand it, and all my black friends just tell me that I should have been black because of the way I act and they tell one of my black friends that she acts more "white" than I do. I think it is pointless and a waste of time and energy to place criteria on whether you are "acting black" or "acting white". I am just a country girl, but I do have a lot of black friends. The way I look at it is: the people you are around rub off on you. Therefore, when I started attending a public high school with black people, I attained some of the characteristics usually seen as "black". We are all individuals with our own personalities and ideas about what's right or wrong. I don't "act black", I simply broadened my horizons and saw a different way of life that I opened up to and let parts of it in. I'm certainly not one of those people who cares what other people think, especially if it's dealing with race, so I just live my life acting like ME. So, to anyone who wants to stereotype someone as "acting black" or "acting white", they simple opened their minds and let go of all boundaries by broadening their horizons and getting influences from different ways of life.
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