GUEST POST: Young, Gifted, and Black
by: Sophia Rousseau I have always been the “right kind of black.” Sweet. Eager to please. Quick to learn. Soft-spoken. Polite. Not aggressive. Non-threatening. I learned early on not to force my opinions on people, not to push too hard for what I wanted. Don’t complain. Be self-deprecating, because telling jokes about yourself puts people at ease. Agree when they tell you you’re “not like those blacks.” Smile sweetly and take the offensive compliments—they’re gifts. You’re lucky you’re not seen as “one of them.” You have manners. You’re well-spoken. You can succeed. Growing up black in Alabama having mastered all of these traits, I was plucked out of black obscurity and moved into white acceptance. This meant I got to sit there while my white friends casually used slurs against people who looked like me (the n-word being only the tip of the iceberg). I was a safe friend. Code switching became a way of life for me. I grew up in a largely affluent town, and my blackness wasn’t the only
