I been black all my life, I heard my father say this for years before he passed and others as well. I can recall saying it a few times myself in my life. Thinking that this was all I was. {Black} And the issues of being black were just a part of life in a racist system.
So you have been instructed all your life that you have to be three times better in everything just to make it in the system that’s been created to destroy you from the beginning. Growing up I believed this and worked as hard as I could to make something of myself and make my parents proud, as I’m sure most of us did.
I am also sure that this so-called motivational speech was given to every black and brown child for decades to combat the racist system that they were sure to face in the future. I believe that speech motivated young black men and women to become successful in whatever career choice they chose and it worked for a while.
But as things got a little better for blacks something happen, that drive motivating us to be the best we could be kind of fizzled out so to speak. Although we became more educated more employed and a little bit more financially stable we are still far behind in this game called life in a racist country.
Being black has been a great motivator for the African people in this country because of the struggles we had to endure and overcame for generations. Because of all the negative associations with being black in this country, it has strengthened the African people. Diamonds come from coal under extreme amount of time, heat and pressure. Hence the African-American. But we are more than black or just African-Americans we are human beings first.
I am human R U.
Smoke that over.