Ain't it the truth...

(Thanks to Mr. Renaissance and Rory for this)

Every now and then we are reminded of our glaring differences. Of no matter how hard we try it may never be good enough. I personally have always had an affliction for writing, some would even say a natural talent (you tell me, do you like it?? lol) but I definitely recall several times throughout my academic career being told things like, "You couldn't have possibly written this" or "Who helped you with this" when actually most nights I had pumped it out at the crack of dawn. It was always an expectation of failure and when I would supercede those expectations, I had to have cheated because me, a woman of color, couldn't possibly have produced it. I was automatically stupid I guess.


I thought about this the other night as I was speaking to a young man about voting. "What's the point?" he said, "In the long run it doesn't matter. Even if he wins, they're handing him something that will never be fixed in his term." Now while he may have a point, I tried to express to him that we as a people can't keep living up to the expectations of others to A. fail or B. be apathetic. We will soon be a majority and regardless of the odds, the top 5% of the nation or whatever the powers that may be expect us to be, now is the most crucial time to put our best foot forward. People's eyes are more open than they ever have been before to recognize the idiosyncrasies and inequalities. But truly it's up to us, just as it was in the 60's, to make the change.


Here's someone who put it better than I ever could, Pastor Bryant: