California Black ppl

Sacramento, CA.....home of the Kings....well, kind of....capital of the golden state....home of the most culturally confused black people I have ever met. So, I was blessed with a revolutionary for a mother, seriously. My mom was a military brat, and when she graduated from high school in Japan, decided to make CA her home. Before she had children, she became a part of the MOVEMENT. If you don't know what the MOVEMENT consists of, that's unfortunate. The MOVEMENT consisted of blacks who went to war in Vietnam, blacks who were in the black panther party, and blacks who were just tired of being treated like being black was a disease. In the early seventies, several more blacks of different sorts fell in the MOVEMENT, but the ones mentioned were some of the most notable. Any how, my mother was part of a non-violent group that stemmed from the MOVEMENT. This group represented Unity, not just amongst African Americans, but Africans and Black people all over. That's where I come in, a child a few generations removed from a movement that inspired blacks to be proud of being Black. In my home, I learned black history, African history, and history as a whole. I learned that Black is not a bad thing, but a glorious thing and something to be recognized!
I quickly learned that not all of my black peers grew up in the same kind of environment I did. Innocently as a child, I barely recognized skin color. I looked at another child my size, and thought of them simply as a playmate. I hilariously enough did not find out I was darker skinned complected, until I got into elementary-and was told by a girl who was darker than myself. My mother, my siblings, and myself were all about the same shade of brown, so I never thought anything of it. It's interesting how people will tell you about yourself, whether you asked for their opinion or not. As I became a teenager, I really started noticing the division of skin color and hair texture amongst black ppl....It was repulsive. Black ppl, black men especially, went out of their way to worship at the feet of those whose features were deemed "less black". Pretty hair was straighter, and less kinky. Bad hair was rougher, with tighter curls. Pretty skin was lighter, while ugly skin was darker.
I started trying to figure out where this hatred for self came from within my ppl. It seriously hurt to see them hating themselves down to the very core. So I came up with a theory. Post slavery, the Reconstruction period began. Blacks were desperately trying to flee the south to get away from whites who were angry they had to set their slaves free, and in hopes of finding work. A large number of blacks went up north, a large amount stayed down south, and a small amount trickled Midwest and to the west coast. The blacks that came to CA were so small in number, that it made a bad situation worse. Meaning, blacks were already trying to build themselves up, after being enslaved for a few hundred years in the U.S., but migrating to CA and not staying unified-furthered their difficult situation. Not to say there were not black townships in CA, but compared to the south, California's black population was limited. So this is what started to happen, blacks started to mix with other cultures, and slowly started moving away from the backbone of blacks in the south. Living in California at any given time period in history, it would be impossible not to mingle with other races. Considering that California used to be a large portion of Mexico, one might encounter those of Spanish, Native American, and other European cultures at any time. The problem with black people, is that they started to lose themselves even further-cultural identity wise.
This was not just happening in CA, of course. Blacks all across the U.S. post slavery were having cultural identity issues. They were too far removed from Africa to feel African, but because of the exploitation against blacks at this time, blacks were feeling low about being black. When I say exploitation, I mean the purposeful marketing by whites to make everything black heinous. Within the next forty years Black become the most hated color in the U.S., and in certain places around the world. Side note: to all of my black readers, do you ever wonder why certain Asian groups have a hateful predisposition towards blacks almost upon meeting them? I am not talking about the Asians who have been here for generations and have encountered blacks on a regular bases, I am talking about the ones who are fresh from their country, and are fortunate enough to be able to open some type of business. They come into the black community, open business's, and treat blacks poorly. And it is not just Asians, certain Arab and East Indian groups have this predisposition about blacks as well. I came to the conclusion, it is because of the exploitation of blacks post slavery. Blacks were marketed in so many terrible different lights. Men were knee- slapping, tap-dancing, white women chasing, horny toads, while women were fat, ugly, Ant Jamima's, who were content taking care of white children. Black children were pickanninies, whose hair was always undone, and were always unwashed and barefoot. These watermelon eating, big lipped, wide nosed, nappy hair images were sent world wide. It was enough to have enslaved blacks for hundred of years, but it seemed that whites now needed to let the world know how upset they were, that they had to free their black slaves.
So where does that leave blacks in CA today? With the most horrendous identity crisis I have ever seen amongst blacks in the U.S. A lot of blacks are mixed, and those who aren't mixed, wish they were. Now this does not, I repeat DOES NOT account for every black person in CA. Some of them are not on that ignorant b.s. But a majority born in the eighties and down, hate themselves on a whole different level. They either strive to be something they are not, or strive to fit into this hood life style that is put forth in black media. It is like they are looking for something. I understand, everyone has to find their spot in the world, but not at the expense of others. Black men seem to make it their mission to make black women feel bad about themselves. They date other races, then list all the reasons they do not date black women. What they do not understand, is that if they have to rationalize or justify their reasons for their actions, then that is a direct reflection of how they view themselves. Black men feel bad about themselves, therefore they strive to not have children that look like them. Black women do not make this situation any better, they have so much chemical(which I seriously think seeps into their brain, making them stupid) and weave in their hair, they are unwittingly playing into black men's ignorance. Black women, need to stop trying to market themselves to black men. They are out there breaking their necks, changing their body to fit into this image of what a black women should look like. Long hair, big breast, big butt, tiny waist, etc.....the video vixen. What they do not understand is that these women we see in video's go through extensive hours of prep and make-up to look the way they do in videos. Little girls see these images, and slowly start to hate their own features, because they do not look like video vixens. All of these things contribute to low self-esteem amongst blacks.
Black people simply need to love themselves. Nothing more or less. They need....excuse me-WE, need to stop physically and mentally trying to be something we are not. We will never be that white girl or boy with long blond flowing hair or big blue eyes, that society tries to market as being the "ideal" beauty. But we can be the awesome person that our Creator made.....which is beauty in itself.