Jay David Blog Post

I liked the White piece the best for a couple of reasons. I thought it showed an interesting perspective of black childhood that I have never read about before. I had never considered the issues that arise when there is a divide between race and color. White's family was so pale-skinned that they easily could have passed as white, he says, but the family chose the identity of black. This made me think about what it would be like to be able to choose an identity instead of having it projected upon me. The bravery of the family also struck me, because they chose the identity of black Americans fully knowing the hardship that would come with it. It also made me think about the relationship between race and class in America, because the rioters attacked their house because they had a nice house. I think this issue carries on into today, with laws that make getting loans difficult for African Americans, housing discrimination and poor schools. I don't think that, put in their position, I would be brave enough to choose the identity of Black.
The essay also got me thinking about why we as a society can project a certain race on people from a huge range of color tones, a range that only gets larger. One thing I hope for America is that all the races will be mixed together in so many different ways that race becomes less relevant.