I'm Black.

Wow, today was eventful. I'm chilling with a photographer when we get into the well known argument of
" Africans go back to your country". I'm telling the photographer[African] that he needs to go back to his country because he's taking up resources that might have been used to fulfill a "legit" American's needs. *insert my smiley face here* . Of course we are not enemies so fortunately we didn't get to the point of shooting each other or sending fists to faces. We are talking when I invite a fellow [A black american] to join (supposedly I intended for a light bit of entertainment *evil face*) so the Gentleman tells this black fellow about what my African brother had just said. What transpired I consider one of those things you consider Life Bookmarks(yes, you heard that term 1st on The Gentleman - so go on now and use it in your "deep" myspace and facebook statuses). On a serious note, homeboy SHATTERED my "beliefs" and stereotypes. Brotha got me thinking on how we as individuals sum up people just by what they do, appearance etc..earlier in the day my boss was telling me how my "pickyness" about cute girls was gonna be my downfall.. :( oops... and she explained how it is a phase of my life now but I should look for someone I can Reason with, Share my beliefs and values with and communicate with - All good points GRANTED she doesn't have to be a faux-Barbie. This fellow who works in my school went on with Socio-Politico talks, Racism agendas, Quotations from books, Spilling titulars from the times of MLK, Malcolm X to the basis of religion, justifying the laziness of the Black man by the ideology that the government has a hand in letting black people wallow in laxity. I was speechless for most of his "speech" and the conversation was mostly between him and the photographer. It let me see how shallow my thinking can be allowed to go if kept not in check. You would think (society playing the key part) that this fellow working his job and coming from the neighborhood he does would know naught of academia, society, politics and the economic situations/playings of the society. He spoke on EVERY subject the sun granted - religion, Obama, Politics, Racism, Life in the hood (in an objective logical and reasonable manner).

As much as I was astonished and intrigued, I felt a sense of pride. I could also tell he was proud of himself, his intelligence ans significant amount of knowledge. His voice grew in strength as he hopped from one topic to another, I had to stop both of them discussing and ask them WHAT, with all of their knowledge and profound , have they done to effect the plight of the Black Man in society and the fellow spoke of helping his street kids. I was glad for one more black brotha. I felt i could point my fingers and lift my voice and say YES, Black Men are not just what you see, your dope boy could also be THE scholar. I felt enlightened, I felt as though I was guilty - judging a fellow brotha unfairly JUST like everyone had. It showed me how easy it is to write off people because they look a certain way or have a certain history.