Just Because You Are Brown It Doesn't Make You Black

**Note to self** Stop reading race related posts when trying to enjoy your Subway Sub of the Day.

I stumbled across a blog about a golfer called Vijay Singh. I think he's of Indian decent but from Fiji. I could be wrong, but that's the gist I got from scanning through the post. What caught my eye was the first comment. Something along the lines of a South Asian (think Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore) girl who lived in the UK and referred to herself as black. When she moved to the US was made aware she wasn't black and her bubble was quickly burst. I don't know what part of the UK she was living in probably a country bumpkin town, but she would have been black for 5 minutes had she lived in London. Somebody would have told her about herself. And if she did live in London then she's dumber than I thought. A black female Jamerican made a post in relation to her post then Miss South Asia retorted with:

“My best friend is a black guy, and I don’t look down at black people. I’m more comfortable around Blacks than I ever did around white people.”

To which I had to comment in the last 3 minutes before lunch was up:

**YAWN** Black people hear this all the damn time. Why it needs to be said to PROVE your point I don’t know. “My best friend is black” it’s usually the thing said by non-blacks when you rumble them for making a derogatory comment.

Being a born n raised Londoner never have I heard nor even seen it as accepted to refer to a south Asian as black. NEVER. Not even Indians who out run us here in the UK. Luckily for you, you know some black people that are OK with you referring to yourself as black. You wouldn’t feel comfortable around my friends, because they’d let you know “honey you are not black” Brown skinned maybe, black (a common term to describe people of African decent) you are not.

Our histories and present day experiences are something you have never had to go through nor will as a black person.

Like Paul Mooney says “Everybody wants to be a n**** but nobody wants to be a n****”
Wants the status but not contend with what black people have and continue to go through in society.

Now on that note, think about it. I've thought about it for the longest. How many black people do you know with white or non-black best friends? I have heard this from a ton of white people but don't know any blacks in my family or social circle, whether be a close friend or acquaintance who has a specifically white or non-black best friend. So are these MF's lying or what? Because if it were true then every black person in the UK would be buddied up with a white best friend and we only make up 2% of the bloody UK population as it goes. Maybe the term 'best friend' to a white person means a co-worker who goes to the pub with them after work.

With regard to Miss South Asia and others like her, there is no shortage of categories to pick. I believe yours sweetheart is Asian 'Learn it, Love It, Embrace It.'. Where in the Himalayan mountains did you get black from? Anyone with an ounce of sense knows the term black isn't reserved just because you have brown skin. And if it was Tisha Campbell would be looking to lump herself into a new category with a quickness.

Are we in season for Fall/Winter 08/09 or something? I for one am tired of these fools thinking it’s a damn club.

*Eating fried chicken
*Listening to Hip-Hop
*Tanning
*Dating black
*Having solely black friends
*Throwing up the ROC sign
*Knowing more about African history than the average black person

Does not make you black. You may like to think it does, but it doesn't.

See even if you are black and

*Went to an all white school
*Lived in a white neighbourhood
*Played the viola and cello
*Listened to Mozart and Beethoven
*Married white
*Ate chicken with no seasoning. [God forbid!!]

You're still black.

My point is people need to separate the being black and the black experience. There are things associated with being black as there are with being white. My point is experiencing whatever you choose doesn't take away from what you are, in the physical as person, irrespective of what's going on in your psyche, or if you're trying to disassociate yourself from your race. You can't escape what you are in the physical [well you can if you're Michael Jackson]. A black man is a black man and a black woman is a black woman [to me anyway]. You can label them a sell-out, but they're still black. Still black WITH issues maybe.

As a non-black person you can call yourself black all the live long day, try and experience the stereotypical things commonly associated with 'being down' with our people, but it's just a façade so why bother? We're not respecting you for it. In fact it's quite sad. Lacking identity within your own culture feeling the need to grasp onto somebody else's. For some being black, as much as they are proud of their race can be incredibly frustrating at times for example:

*Having someone read words out to you slowly because they think you're uneducated.
*Been given 'that look' when entering upscale stores by shop assistants. And you know what's on their minds.
*Been followed around stores.
*Having to contend with questioning from co-workers if you have an expensive item on wondering how the hell can you afford that.
*Driving a nice car, not bought with drug money and being pulled over the police time and time again.
*Being passed up for a promotion, even knowing you were the better candidate your face just didn't fit.

We know there are more, and when Paul Mooney said what he said he was not lying. You want to be black, you just don't want to BE black.

I may not be going through extreme hardships and discrimination like my ancestors have suffered, but I can definitely say that my personal experiences as a black woman greatly differs to that of a South Asian who chooses adopts the label and can drop it anytime she feels.

-With that said I love being a black woman, hardships, discrimination and all. Wouldn't change it for the world.

OFF [BUT RELATED] TOPIC
Don't even get me started on some of the Obama comments I've heard in the UK, that as his mother is white he's not black. Bet they'd be quick to call him the N word in an argument though, or little old white ladies clutch onto their purses in the elevator.