When did you become aware of "race"

[2Quik4UHoes]

It shoulda been 3 years old when I went to Canada and the kids looked at me like I was some kinda alien but I didn't understand or pay it any mind. My awareness really came between 8-9 years old, I went to Ethiopia for the first time and was basically surrounded by nothing but black people after my misinformed parents made such a conscious effort to keep me around white kids, when I came back from my trip my 3rd grade class was in the middle of learning about Ghana and then boom they started tellin me about slaves and by the summer Ghana became an independent state.

Most transformative time period of my entire life, from then on I kept mostly black friends and veered more towards a more Afrocentric state of mind. By 10 I was listening to Pac heavy, by 16 I was reading the Autobiography of Malcolm X. It's strange tho, cuz this society has had different effects on first generation Americans with defined African roots. Some go in that white direction like I was in my early childhood, some others keep it black, which has its positives and negatives when it comes to this society.

 

[daze23]

I grew up in a diverse apt complex in Western Mass. all I knew about the n-bomb, and racism in general, was that shyt wasn't cool. we all shared our granola and marijuana as we sang kumbaya around the campfire @88m3

when I was like 8 y/o, I moved to New Orleans. shyt was very different there. New Orleans has an interesting flavor of racism. it's not the kind of place that has a lot of 'sheltered' whites that don't really interact with black people. but never the less, the second I was alone with white people, the n-bombs started flying. my good friend's dad was really bad, and I remember being so confused cause he 'had black friends'. all in all it really turned me off from racism, because it just seemed like something that (drunk) bitter angry people did

 

[GoddamnyamanProf]

I was the only white kid in my group of friends/school/neighborhood until high school

 

[Serious]

To be honest, I grew up in a diverse city with a diverse group of friends, race didn't matter all that much to us. I guess as kids, we didn't see what was out there. We were certainly aware, and I was given speeches as a kid about understanding that I'd have to be undeniably better to be seen as the same but it wasn't immediate to me. No one ever had the gall to directly say something racist to me to my face, there were certain actions sure, but even my friends who were of other races told them that they were ignorant.

Story of my life up until middle school. The middle school I went to feed into a more urban area. It was an immense culture shock coming from primary school that was reasonably diverse with a bit more korean and jewish kids. Honestly, I felt conflicted between friends from my elementary school and the overwhelming population of AA's at my new school.

To make a long story short, AA's in general hung out in areas completely segregated from other races. It seemed like they were always targeted by school officials for being disruptive and many of them commented about being in "special" classes.

As far as blatant racism, I've never faced the case. But the subtle tone is definitely present. I highly doubt anybody would think about talking smack too a cat like me.

You might be down on them doing MMA but the actual stats on CTE and brain damage for the sport are much lower than boxing or football for example, you can go check it out yourself. The grappling and general ruleset negate a lot of the damage that people would expect.

The one thing i'm meh on MMA for kids about is the image of the sport. not exactly role models everywhere.

feel free to drop a link...

Growing up I sailed, played tennis, golf, hockey, soccer, water skied, mountain biked, rock climbing, hiking, and down hill skied. I really hit the slopes, still do.

As I got older I used women for sport and collected European cars, and houses.


Alpha bro, Alpha

No cricket?

 

[Julius Skrrvin]

feel free to drop a link...

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/04/02/opinion/02Zinczenko.html?_r=0

feel free to google around more, im feeling lazy :killercac:

 

[jackswstd]

Ironically it was my own people that made me aware of it. Other mexican kids didn't like that I was friendly with black kids they felt like we should stick together on some prison gang type shyt. I loved rap music and most of the mexican kids weren't into it. I caught a lot of flack for it but I hung with whoever was cool so

 

[88m3]

No cricket?

Nah, missed out on that, although it looks fun.


I've played a little lax, and rugby but not competitively.

 

[MeachTheMonster]

I knew about race very early on. Some of my earliest memories are about issues with race.

My kids are 9 and 3

My 9 year old knows about race, and slavery from a purely historical perspective. She doesn't yet understand the hate and hurt and predjudice that comes with that history.

My 3 year old son won't let you call him black he gets mad and says "NO IM BROWN"

All in all I hope they don't think about or have to deal with race and predjudice as much as I did growing up.

 

[Grifter]

I knew of it early on, but didn't really think about it till High School.

 

[Jparker]

Tennis is wide open for a black star

But is it not a good thing colour is not a big issue for them?

I realise things are different in America with regards to racism, we have our problems, but it does seem worse in the US.

I have played tennis all my life and if I could go back in time I wouldn't play. The cacs hate to see a nikka winning so I could only imagine what its like on a pro level. I play USTA tournaments at country clubs and heads turn when the negros arrive. I hate dealing with that shyt everyone rooting against you for no reason. Not wanting to talk to you. I hated going to events on my own I would just pop the ipod on and zone out. I wish I would have played basketball though its harder to become pro it just seems more fun and everyone tends to enjoy themselves.
I can hoop pretty good wish I would have played in some AAU or something
I'd prolly be bangin on cats right now

 

[omnifax]

For me I'd say I was aware of color around 5 or 6 and then racism around 7 or 8. I think the pivotal incident for me would be in geography/history in 3rd or 4th grade. I would read ahead a lot and we were coming up on Africa. One of the main exercises was to learn the name of the countries and when I saw Niger I immediately thought that was the spelling for ******. So in my mind I'm panicking wondering how the teacher is going to talk about this? When we did reach that point she told us the correct pronunciation but she also made sure to tell us that it wasn't ******. I was relieved but when we got out to recess that afternoon one of my close white friends kept jokingly saying that it was ****** and not Niger. We got into an argument/fight about it and I never looked at him the same. It must have had a big impact on me cause I can still remember it to this day.

 

[you're NOT "n!ggas"]

i grew up in a middle class neighborhood that was mixed enough so there was never any issue there, but my pops was putting me up on game at around 8-9, maybe 10 years old. i distinctly remember watching panther, rosewood, some documentary on the civil rights movement... he was raised in alabama, so when the parts came up about selma and anniston (his hometown) and he told me all that shyt was going down whenever he was MY age, i was just i was in this "black history bowl" shyt when i transferred to my mom's school so that had an influence too.


i think the bigger issue with me was racial identity though. i remember being on some church camping trip in jr high and for the first time, somebody told me i sound like a "white boy." one of my cousins in alabama kept saying that shyt when i went to visit one time too. that shyt made my blood boil so bad ... i doubt you could ever say that now, but to this day that remains probably the biggest insult you could ever say to me... that i'm talking/acting/being "white". long as i can remember i've been PROUD to be black never seen myself as anything but

 

[Nefflum nigga]

yup. 5yrs old i kind of understood the meaning of color, except the light skin shyt that came when I learned about slavery.


7 yrs old was my first experience with racism.. Learned extensively about slavery from family members, who were old and had parents who went thru it. Told me about the old courthouse downtown saint louis where they sold slaves at..told me bout the kkk..everything
Stl was super segregated so my uncles told me about what to expect being a young nikka. So they let me watch goodbye Uncle Tom...And roots

8 yrs old was the first time I got called a ****** by a white man. I called him a cracker as a response and that's when I noticied how them sayin ****** seems to burn me more than callin them racial slurs. So from that day fourth I tee'd off on any white person sayin ****** in my presence.

 

[Roaden Polynice]

What happened to marbles and yoyos?

I thought the rumors were bullshyt but apparently they are true, the coli does have a poster born in the 1930s

Tell us some stories about the war old breh

 

[Brown_Pride]

I thought the rumors were bullshyt but apparently they are true, the coli does have a poster born in the 1930s

Tell us some stories about the war old breh

at least he didn't say jacks