I, like Kamaal Majeed, believe in being myself. It is the one thing I definitely know how to do. To most people I am black. The truth is that I am British, Hindu, Muslim, Venezuelan, West Indian, and probably many other things I can’t remember at the moment. Unlike most people, I don’t define myself as a color or as belonging to a particular. My race is human plain and simple. When I have to fill out forms where they ask my race, I get very upset. Most of the time I check the bubble for other because apparently human is not a race.
When people hear my name then meet me for the first time, it is always the same. They look at me and say, “You’re Emily? I thought that you were going to be white girl.” Personally I don’t understand how you can determine what a person looks like just by their name. I also don’t know why people feel the need to tell their stereotypes as if I wanted to be a stereotype. Like Majeed, I receive funny looks because I have at least one song for every genre of music on my iPod. Yes I like country and techno. Music is music. I should not have to look a certain way to like pop music. I am content with who I am, and I care if I don’t fit the image people first have of me. If people think that I sound like a “white girl” then I feel sorry for them because they are so ignorant of the world that they have to rely on stereotypes. It’s funny; I always thought I sounded like myself.
From: http://thisibelieve.org/essay/10490/
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