Day 52

I'm not a fan of Black History Month because it seems to bring more resentment than learning. Of course, there's only so much learning about slavery, Jim Crow, and Civil Rights Movement even I can take before I want to start tuning things out. I like to keep things positive and most of Black History isn't positive at all. In fact, I refer to Black History Month as my 28 days of depression and 29 days on a leap year.

I'm sure people are aware there's a Hispanic American Heritage Month, and Asian/Pacific American Heritage Month, American Indian Heritage Month, and Women's History Month, all of these months used to observe the contributions AMERICANS (of non-European heritage/culture) have made to U.S. society. But I don't seem to hear complains during those months.

I remember taking an Asian Studies class in college. My discussion class consisted of myself (the only full black female), 2 half black/half Asian females, 1 half white/half Asian female, 6 asian females, 1 white male, 2 white females, and 0 Asian males/black males.

We got into a discussion over how we (the "ethnic" members) always have to navigate between two worlds: ours and the more paler facet. I have been, on more occasions I can even count, the only black female and sometimes the only black person in a store, or at school, or at work, etc. My Asian and mixed classmates shared the same experience (Duh).

Well, the white male got a taste of what I've and the other members of the class had to deal with all our lives and he literally broke down crying. I couldn't believe it. We actually had to comfort him and tell him that although we never really get used to it, we just learn to mask our discomfort (by not breaking down crying in front of everybody). Makes me wonder how this guy will react in 40 years when Hispanics are the majority in this country.