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Danielle Edwards Assignment #9

There have been countless times that I have felt like an outsider in my life and a lot of those experiences are too personal to share. Growing up, my mother was very strict about the education of me and my siblings. We would always have to have a two books on hand when we were going out- in case we finished one, we’d always have another one. We’d also always have to write weekly book reports, do our homework before anything social, review all the material for school and read ahead so we’d always know what was coming next. This strict regimen that I had to follow didn’t help me in elementary school. Going to a predominantly black school I would fit in perfectly. However, I was labeled an “oreo” by the rest of my classmates.The thought process what this: I was black on the outside because of my skin tone but white on the inside because of the way I carried myself. I didn’t use slang, I liked to read, I played the violin, I prefer classical, rock, alternative, jazz, pop, and country music to hip hop and rap, I took ballroom and tap dancing, outside of school I hung out with people with different backgrounds, I preferred converse to jordan’s and my clothes were from L.L Bean rather than whatever was popular back then. I didn’t have many friends, but I did have my twin sister, with whom I’d hang out with at lunch. Some of the friends I had before brushed me off as if they didn’t know me and snickered along with all the other kids in my class. Sometimes, they even got physical, which resulted in countless trips to the nurse’s office. I felt like an outsider because the one group of people that I thought was suppose to accept me, rejected me. My classmates talked to me when they needed me to help them with their work or when they wanted some of the snacks my mom packed for me in my lunchbox. I felt like I didn’t belong and my only escape for a long time was staying with my teachers, going to the nurse, or waiting for my mom to pick me up after school.

Patricia Hill-Collins’s believes these kinds of experiences can teach us that we could learn about oppression and sociality through shared experiences. She explains that although individuals may have different perspectives on specific experience, a group of people who have experienced the same thing will have common perceptions. But, with different factors such as age, sexuality, class, or education shaping an individual’s life, there will be different views of the commonalities shares within the group. She also says that once you are aware that you are being oppressed, you can validate a proper response to being oppressed. You are able to take control and affect the outcome of your experiences.