The spice of culture
What gives people that edge?
Faith Thomas
Posted in: Opinion on 5/19/09 at 1:26 PM PST
Now there are the stereotypes of the Spanish; all Spanish people are beautifully, culturally diverse, intriguing people; but the most common misconception is that all people who speak Spanish are Mexican and therefore are the most likely to be called " wetbacks" which is a derogatory terms which insinuates that they swam over the border to get to America. If you look at the geographical content of where Spaniards occupy; most live in the continent of South America, but some even live in the continent of Europe; which brings the question " How can Spanish-Speaking People live in Europe when they should be living in South America", well there is the country of Spain which is geographically located north of France and Andorra and located west of the Atlantic Ocean and Portugal
Finally, there are the cultural misconceptions of the Caribbean culture; the people of the Caribbean culture are very beautiful but they fall under many misconceptions, I can tell you that from experience [being a mixed race child being both African-American on my mother's side and Creole on my father's side] that these are the hardest preconceptions of all. The most likely of all stereotypes is that all Caribbean people have the same accent [Jamaican], I can tell you that "no man this ain't true"; it may be true in Jamaica but it isn't true all over the Caribbean. In fact, for every race of Caribbean culture, there is a dance style; Brazilians have Copoiera, Jamaicans have Reggae, Puerto Ricans have salsa, which is entirely different from Reggae.
This is the part that puts everything in the article in perspective, all mixed race children [of which I happen to be; my mom is African-American and my father is Creole] are supposed to be defined by the more predominate family member; this rule is referred to the "one-drop" rule. In detail this states that if a child has more than 1% of the more predominate family member than they're considered the culture of that family member. This rule should've been dissolved a long time ago because even though I am mixed race I look nothing like my mom; I look more like my dad physically yet I am considered African-American so it means that that I'm supposed to act like African-American females which is totally false. For one, I hate shopping at the mall, which I only do for necessity. Secondly, unlike most African-American females I hate talking on the phone unless deemed entirely necessary [I only talk on the phone for 10 minutes at a time because my parents need to call in to check in on me for security reasons] and thirdly I don't listen to rap music; this is my guilty shame, I actually listen to country music and rock music, that's right on the outside I may be R&B but on the inside a little bit of country and little bit of Rock & Roll.
In closing, to say that our culture is what truly defines us is not entirely true because if it were we'd all be created in the same color. It's the different races and a culture of our country that make us look like an abstract painting on a canvas and that is what makes us uniquely beautiful
Finally, there are the cultural misconceptions of the Caribbean culture; the people of the Caribbean culture are very beautiful but they fall under many misconceptions, I can tell you that from experience [being a mixed race child being both African-American on my mother's side and Creole on my father's side] that these are the hardest preconceptions of all. The most likely of all stereotypes is that all Caribbean people have the same accent [Jamaican], I can tell you that "no man this ain't true"; it may be true in Jamaica but it isn't true all over the Caribbean. In fact, for every race of Caribbean culture, there is a dance style; Brazilians have Copoiera, Jamaicans have Reggae, Puerto Ricans have salsa, which is entirely different from Reggae.
This is the part that puts everything in the article in perspective, all mixed race children [of which I happen to be; my mom is African-American and my father is Creole] are supposed to be defined by the more predominate family member; this rule is referred to the "one-drop" rule. In detail this states that if a child has more than 1% of the more predominate family member than they're considered the culture of that family member. This rule should've been dissolved a long time ago because even though I am mixed race I look nothing like my mom; I look more like my dad physically yet I am considered African-American so it means that that I'm supposed to act like African-American females which is totally false. For one, I hate shopping at the mall, which I only do for necessity. Secondly, unlike most African-American females I hate talking on the phone unless deemed entirely necessary [I only talk on the phone for 10 minutes at a time because my parents need to call in to check in on me for security reasons] and thirdly I don't listen to rap music; this is my guilty shame, I actually listen to country music and rock music, that's right on the outside I may be R&B but on the inside a little bit of country and little bit of Rock & Roll.
In closing, to say that our culture is what truly defines us is not entirely true because if it were we'd all be created in the same color. It's the different races and a culture of our country that make us look like an abstract painting on a canvas and that is what makes us uniquely beautiful
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