By Kwon R. Bill

It makes no sense that people will break you down socially and make fun of you because you speak proper or go to college. Growing up in Port Arthur, I heard this comment on numerous occasions, “why are you talking like a white person.”

I have also heard comments like, “why do you talk like a white girl?’ or “don’t think you are better than me because you went to school.” The reason that this irritates me so much is because it shows the ignorance of this country at times.

We condemn people for speaking proper or going to school, but we do not have a problem with people living in the hood or people dropping out of school. This is part of the reason why we have a split in this country, we don’t know how to support each other and when we do support each other it is for the wrong reasons.

It makes no sense that we make fun of people for being successful. I cannot speak for the white race but I can speak on my own race. I know some Africans Americans who have been called “Uncle Toms” or a “sellouts” for being successful and it is just not right.

Instead of downing or making fun of that person, you should want to try and see how he or she got to that point in their life. We will never improve as the human race if we continue to show ignorance such as this.

We already have too many barriers that are separating us and I am embarrassed to say that I live in a country that does things like this. Martin Luther King Jr., said, “We must learn to live together as brothers or perish together as fools” and this holds true even today.

Success is defined by your own measures and nobody else’s. Continue to grow and prosper but never put someone else down for wanting to improve their lives or education. That is the purest form of ignorance and if we want to become better as a human race we need to stop doing things like this.

Kwon R. Bill

Political Science Major

Prairie View A&M University