The Idea of an Essay, Volume 3

6 The Idea of an Essay: Volume 3 the words that had been let out to destroy my identity. “Can you honestly tell me what it means to be black? I mean since you seem to know better than I do. Please enlighten me to what it means to be black.” The words left and so did the anger that I had been holding back with every time that she or anybody else had questioned my “blackness”. The table stared at me in shock and then looked at her to see what she would say. She just stared at me and struggled to find words. She awkwardly laughed and continued to struggle to find words. “Well I don’t know…” “Okay then maybe you should try not saying anything like that since I would probably have a better idea what it means to be black since I happen to be black.” That shut her up and she changed the subject quickly so not to raise attention to the situation anymore. I felt at that moment as though I had finally slain the dragon and won the war. No longer would I have to sit and question if I was speaking black enough or too black. Speaking black was not a real thing that I would even allow to bother me. It was a stereotype and stereotypes are not how I am going to allow people to define me.