I identify as a questioning African womxn, who is considered an American child, but with Ghanaian blood running through my veins. With that sentence alone I’ve already told you that I face discrimination and prejudice in work environments. That I am less likely to speak up in these environments as a result. That I have to fight harder to achieve the things that I want. That means oftentimes, I cannot find more than a few people who look like me at my PWI on my zoom screen. It means that in my generation, I often deal with “performative” attraction or comments from men, solely because I’m a black womxn.
That means that I did not come from generational wealth, and that my single black mom has done more than her fair share to get me to this point. That means that I too will have to fight hard- too hard, for my little black girl to be great someday. That means that my parents came here and were expected to speak “proper English” and when their accent prevented them from doing so because they knew their mother tongue first- a mother tongue in which “proper English speakers” would not know if placed in another environment today- they were humiliated and shamed.
That means I come from a culture of dance as expression and food as love. That means I can insult you in my mother language – my mother tongue which is hated so much. It means that I could never discuss with my parents what it means to be questioning – or really anything beyond the idea of “straight”. It means that I feel pressured to be great and create generational wealth because my parents contributed their bringing me here to our generational wealth train. It means that sentence can tell you about me, without really telling you about me.