Dare To Ask Talk And News About Our Differences 
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To you, dear, and all your angry responders – I believe you made an honest mistake, as did your friend. And you are young enough to learn. What about the good and grown, droopy bottomed, supposedly educated guys who have told me – and still believe – that black people have an extra tendon in their legs, which is why we are such good athletes? You people responding are getting a little too self-righteous. What did you believe when you were 16 and wet behind the ears? Was it any more stupid than these much-older guys writing in about various women’s crotch odor during sex? I think not.
User Detail :
Name : Luana Kenyatta, Gender : F, Sexual Orientation : Straight, Race : Black/African American, Religion : Hebraic Christian, Age : 34, City : Buffalo, State : NY, Country : United States, Occupation : performer/writer, Education level : Over 4 Years of College, Social class : Middle class,The stereotypes of being overly expressive, hyper emotionalism, supercharged religiosity, extravagant & mobile facial and hand gesturing… I have heard these used toward mainly Italians and Jews, actually! No particular references to economic status.. My nickname has been ‘Luigi’ among black friends, because they say I over-gesture like a – guess who?!
User Detail :
Name : Luana Kenyatta, Gender : F, Sexual Orientation : Straight, Race : Black/African American, Religion : Hebraic Christian, Age : 34, City : Buffalo, State : NY, Country : United States, Occupation : performer/writer, Education level : Over 4 Years of College, Social class : Middle class,There is a bizarre assumption at work (among all ethnic groups apparently) that all black people grew up in the same type of all-black neighborhood, eating the same foods, going to the same type of churches or whatever… What about those of us whose parents were not afraid to have friends of all races, cooked Chinese or vegetarian food (never chitlins/macaroni & cheese/greens), did not raise their children in a ghetto of either all whites or all blacks? Maybe this is why we shouldn’t judge. I grew up eating stir-fry and listening to NPR by the woodstove in the evenings, have not only black but Jewish, Chinese and white aunts and uncles, and yet I find myself alone among blacks that doesn’t find DARK skin and NAPPY hair unpleasant?! In point of fact, I have come to believe that, had I grown up surrounded by all blacks, I probably would have learned the horrible truth that most of us really don’t like ourselves much earlier, and I might by now have come to believe it myself! And, I must say, it is even more tiresome to be stereotyped by ‘my own’ than it is to be stereotyped by others – I always expect them to know how it feels and thus not do it!
User Detail :
Name : Luana Kenyatta, Gender : F, Sexual Orientation : Straight, Race : Black/African American, Religion : Hebraic Christian, Age : 34, City : Buffalo, State : NY, Country : United States, Occupation : performer/writer, Education level : Over 4 Years of College, Social class : Middle class,I am black, and I agree with TC… Being from New England, this may just be Yankee thriftiness, but I don’t like to waste words or pussyfoot around, pretending we all are only different insofar as our skin is a different color. Everyone has something distinguishing about them, even identical twins, if we pay attention… I find myself describing people by their particular mannerisms, or habits, or sometimes unusual birth marks… I tend to look at three different women that I only know ‘by sight’ – all of the same skin tone – and describe them thus, ‘the one with the pretty little mole by her nose’ or, ‘The one who always wears that big sweater with the fringe’, ‘the one who always eats candy during the lecture’… And I am able 9 times out of 10 to successfully point out everyone of every color I’ve come across. Like most blacks, I imagine, the gradients of skin color in our family our immense, having as we do, Native, African, and European American lineage. I find it tiresome to waste time pointing out something so VARIED as skin tone! And that is so SUBJECTIVE! For example, I met a woman from Sudan, and she would never know it was ME if someone described me as ‘dark-skinned’, because to her I am not! To others, I am considered to be REALLY PITCH BLACK… Should pointing someone out in a crowd should be so stressful!? After all, you can’t just say ‘the black guy’, if there are 5 of them standing there!! And then, what would you say about people like me, who get darker in the summer? I think that if people really thought about it, they would find that what STICKS in thier mind about most people is probably NOT the color of their skin..
User Detail :
Name : Luana Kenyatta, Gender : F, Sexual Orientation : Straight, Race : Black/African American, Religion : Hebraic Christian, Age : 34, City : Buffalo, State : NY, Country : United States, Occupation : performer/writer, Education level : Over 4 Years of College, Social class : Middle class,I am black, I adore cats, my father always believed in having cats in threes so they could form a pack and I have just fallen in love with a stinky old Pekinese that I took in when his owner moved.. AND before I bought my house, I and many other renters I know of ALL ethnicities SNUCK PETS IN!!! Maybe people just haven’t mentioned their pets because they don’t want their landlords to know, but trust me, there are LOTS of people who love animals… I was also a landlord, so I have pretty good knowledge of how determined animal lovers are… FYI, I found an old abolitionists’ book that showed that many restraints used on slaves were modelled directly after animal restraints…
User Detail :
Name : Luana Kenyatta, Gender : F, Sexual Orientation : Straight, Race : Black/African American, Religion : Hebraic Christian, Age : 34, City : Buffalo, State : NY, Country : United States, Occupation : performer/writer, Education level : Over 4 Years of College, Social class : Middle class,I am black, I adore cats, my father always believed in having cats in threes so they could form a pack and I have just fallen in love with a stinky old Pekinese that I took in when his owner moved.. AND before I bought my house, I and many other renters of all ethnicities SNUCK PETS IN!!! Maybe people just haven’t mentioned their pets because they don’t want their landlords to know, but trust me, there are LOTS of people who love animals… FYI, I found an old abolitionists’ book that showed that many restraints used on slaves were modelled directly after animal restraints…
User Detail :
Name : Luana Kenyatta, Gender : F, Sexual Orientation : Straight, Race : Black/African American, Religion : Hebraic Christian, Age : 34, City : Buffalo, State : NY, Country : United States, Occupation : performer/writer, Education level : Over 4 Years of College, Social class : Middle class,I am a history fanatic, and what I have found is that historically, African Americans have NOT rejected their European ancestry, but rather that, Euro culture has rejected our outstretched arms. Slave-economics defined anyone of a certian percentage of ‘African blood’ to be eligible for sale, eg. ‘legally black’. This was often simply a matter of how ‘black’ someone looked. I find it wonderful that, no matter how much prejudice tries to keep poeple seperate, hearts & hormones prevail! There always have been & always will be ‘mixed’ people. BUT I have found that when this obvious fact (that there are for all practical purposes no ethnically ‘pure’ people left) is presented to some whites, they look at me, see dark skin, and refuse to believe that my grandfather was a pale brunette African American!! It is too much for some people to have to change their paradigm of ‘ethnic definition by eyeballing’, and acknowledge that people really are more than meets the eye. Being a healthy member of a diverse society is WORK! And, judging a book by its cover is a good way to never learn the story!
User Detail :
Name : Luana Kenyatta, Gender : F, Sexual Orientation : Straight, Race : Black/African American, Religion : Hebraic Christian, Age : 34, City : Buffalo, State : NY, Country : United States, Occupation : performer/writer, Education level : Over 4 Years of College, Social class : Middle class,I am in the process of converting to Judaism, and the final deciding factor was the statement by a rabbi affirming that Hashem hears the prayers of the oppressed from all nations… I find this to be a far cry from members of other religions I have encountered, that will not pray for the needs of those outside thier faith, no matter desperate…
User Detail :
Name : Luana Kenyatta, Gender : F, Sexual Orientation : Straight, Race : Black/African American, Religion : Hebraic Christian, Age : 34, City : Buffalo, State : NY, Country : United States, Occupation : performer/writer, Education level : Over 4 Years of College, Social class : Middle class,
