Chitchat Calling all fellow African-American Anime/Roleplay fans! What was it like growing up?

[chaepeumeon]

Hey guys! My name is Chae. For those who don't know, I am african-american. Admittedly, I'm quite different from the stereotypical sister/brother. I find it very hard to be accepted in many places, including school, church, and even my own family. Ever since I was young, I've always been casted as the black sheep. No pun intended. Now that I'm a bit older, it's even worst. Commonly, I come off as "Geeky", "Weird", a "Weeb/Weeaboo" and many more. I can't help taking interest in this sort of things, and I'm tired of being judged by it. Nobody else I know can relate to my "Struggle". Tell me how it was for you all!

 

[timshel]

i'm multi-racial and black passing - i self-identify as black. race was not something i thought critically about until my early teen years because i was raised in a blue state by parents in an interracial marriage.
i went to private middle and high schools, played sports, and was always very interested in the sciences. praised for speaking so eloquently - "you don't talk black," whatever that means. i had interests that were somehow 'white.' my early adolescence was clearly defined by sort of straddling this imaginary line - not being black enough to feel black, but not being white enough to find some familiarity in a different community.
i felt this tremendous kind of pressure to live out the expectations that others had put in place for me, so it was expected when i excelled in athletics and surprising when i excelled in the classroom. my 'friends' told me such to my face, which was a first hard lesson learned: willfully ignorant, racist people can be friendly and get close.
but i eventually became quite comfortable in my skin: admittedly i have a lot to be proud of. i came to the freeing realization that a black person isn't a defined set of actions and practices (joe biden's recent gaff that insinuated that we are was absolutely disgusting). there aren't any inherent contradictions in being black and being ambitious or having alternative interests and motivations, yet i felt at odds with myself, my community, or my friends for being so unconventional.

 

[chaepeumeon]

i'm multi-racial and black passing - i self-identify as black. race was not something i thought critically about until my early teen years because i was raised in a blue state by parents in an interracial marriage.
i went to private middle and high schools, played sports, and was always very interested in the sciences. praised for speaking so eloquently - "you don't talk black," whatever that means. i had interests that were somehow 'white.' my early adolescence was clearly defined by sort of straddling this imaginary line - not being black enough to feel black, but not being white enough to find some familiarity in a different community.
i felt this tremendous kind of pressure to live out the expectations that others had put in place for me, so it was expected when i excelled in athletics and surprising when i excelled in the classroom. my 'friends' told me such to my face, which was a first hard lesson learned: willfully ignorant, racist people can be friendly and get close.
but i eventually became quite comfortable in my skin: admittedly i have a lot to be proud of. i came to the freeing realization that a black person isn't a defined set of actions and practices (joe biden's recent gaff that insinuated that we are was absolutely disgusting). there aren't any inherent contradictions in being black and being ambitious or having alternative interests and motivations, yet i felt at odds with myself, my community, or my friends for being so unconventional.

Yes! The "You don't talk black"
It's honestly disgusting how people are held to this way of speaking. Even my own family tease me for having a "proper voice and vocabulary" I can't even tell you how many times my great aunt has made fun of me by mocking me with a British accent! It's so sad that to be accepted by my own family, I've got to dumb down, use broken grammar, and sound as African-american, or "ghetto" (hate using that term) like them. It sucks to know that even my family is unsupported of me. Maybe it's because I'm more successful than they were as children? Maybe it's because I go to a nice school, and not the heights like my cousins? Maybe it's because I have a better chance at making it big, unlike them, who've screwed it up for themselves. Whatever it is, I'm about sick of it.

 

[narancia]

I FEEL THIS SO HARD WTF
I'm Nigerian-American and I like both anime and rping. From what I remember I wasn't called out for liking those things and being black, it was more so in general the way I acted and stuff compared to my cousins. They grew up learning Yoruba and they live in an area and go to school in a more diverse community than me. A lot of times I find myself and my cousins referring to my sisters and I as whitewashed or talking white or acting white. I still have to actively remind myself not to talk like this and perpetuate this idea of acting white because I'm not what someone expects a black person to talk or sound like.

Even recently I remember my sister wanted this sorbet icecream and my mom thought it was stupid because it was small and in halves of different fruits like bowls. And she said something like, "You always wanna try all this stupid crap" and my dumbass said something like "Yea, she always does a lot of white people stuff" (The memory is fuzzy but something to that effect). And I remember constantly projecting onto her because she was "more whitewashed" than me. It's fucking ridiculous to relay this to someone else now that I think about it. I feel like my insecurity turned into a joke to me and it's not okay in the slightest.