There’s, like, a civil war going on with black people, and there’s two sides.

"There’s, like, a civil war going on with black people, and there’s two sides. There’s black people, and there’s n-----s. And n-----s have to go." - Chris Rock

I have been told on several occasions that you are only the sum of your experiences. My experiences growing up had me getting on a bus at damn near the crack of dawn in southwest Atlanta and getting some education up in Buckhead at Morris Brandon Elementary, Sutton Middle, and North Fulton High (later known at North Atlanta High).

During those years, I can't begin to count the number of fights that I had to avoid with the kids that I would play with near my house simply because of the way I talked. Kids turning their nose up at me and asking "Why you talk so proper?" was one of those most ridiculous questions you could ever ask me. It's like asking a fish "Why are you in the water?" - it's natural to me. Why does it matter that I choose to annunciate when I talk? Why didn't these kids ever ask my parents why THEY talk so proper? To add to the insanity, I got ridiculed on the other side of town at school for what was in essence the same thing. I recall my fourth grade teacher accusing me of plagiarism because I used the word "acknowledged" in a report... so now I'm stuck between a rock and a hard place because apparently I need to act dumb so I don't get beat up at home, and do the same thing at school so that Mrs. H doesn't know that I know what a thesaurus is at such a young age.

Too much of anything will kill you. It's a proven fact. There was a lady that tried to "wash" the cancer out of her system by drinking nothing but water and died from kidney failure. Going to fast food joints will run your cholesterol levels sky high (I know this from personal experience). There is no difference when it comes to being "too black" or "too white" or too-whatever your racial background may be. My father is fond of saying "Fear is the mind killer" all of the time - there is probably no truer statement out there. Being afraid to go beyond your own boundaries and make something of yourself will kill you. Your mind is a muscle - use it or lose it. Living your life with ignorance and hate in your heart will only serve to hurt you in the end. Those people like me and the teenager mentioned in this AJC article are going to be just fine. Perhaps those people that chastise us for not living up to the stereotypes laid before us by the media are actually there for a reason - to give us something to aspire NOT to be.