Have you been accused of Acting too white or Not asian enough, etc?

In Junior High and High School I used to get that I am not black enough. And that I act white. I am African American, my grandmother who used to be an English Teacher raised me. My Grandfather was a doctor. I come from a family that speak well and had a different way of carrying themselves. When I moved to an urban neighborhood, kids didn't like the fact that I wasn't "ghetto". I always used to ask myself, what does that mean? I moved from there to a neighborhood which is predominantly hispanic and a few black families there too and went to a high school that was 85% hispanic and still I wasn't black enough. I was too white because I spoke well, dressed differently, and listened to all kinds of music. It was ridiculous. In college, this black guy was talking to me and I enjoyed the conversation, and I overheard him tell one of his friends that i wasnt black enough. Luckily I had friends who liked me for who I am. And I started acting differently to fit in, they will think something was wrong. Be who you are and dont let some people tell you any different. The way I am today is because I was raised differenly.

hi, that's not so good for you. i've never experienced that. but i do notice when people go to another city, the locals sometimes repell new comer or strangers. that's true in every city in my country.

Well, I'm white, but my kids are half-Mexican American. My ex is of Mexican descent, but his family has ALWAYS been in what are the current boundaries of the US since before it was the US. Yet, even within his family and with him, the us/them push was heavy. And, I'll admit - I just don't completely understand it. Oh, don't get me wrong...I do understand the reason for much of the feeling behind it (oppression, discrimination, victimization, etc) and I witnessed fair shares of ignorance and prejudice against my son when he began acting out and drawing attention to himself as well as the strange questions of others about him (I don't understand why he has such dark hair and skin - your his mother and you have red hair and freckles! Apparently, in some minds, I should be capable of asexual reproduction.) But, I watched as my then-husband repeatedly told our son how he would never succeed in this world because of his ethnicity while our daughter would because her physical characteristics were more white. Yet, when my son had his baseball cap on backwards during a little league game once, he hollered at him for trying to "look like a stinkin' Mexican"! This from the same man!! The poor kid didn't know who to identify with!! It's no wonder our son has so many problems with his self-esteem and employment. After we divorced, my son moved back with his dad and Dad never made him go to school, so my son only has an 8th grade education. He's not stupid, but neither is he educated by society's standards - yet, somehow, his failures are due to the oppressive nature of the dominant society, not his father's failures to encourage learning or to even encourage success. So, while I admit a definite lack of complete understanding because of my not having grown up as a minority, I do have a bit of experience in seeing some of it first hand. However, I still can't understand why, if people want their children to be on a level playing field, they don't teach their children inclusive behaviors instead of insisting they either act or talk different or that they should assume their differences guarantee failure (and then blame others when that teaching takes fruition). And, I mean white parents as much as I mean parents of color. It takes all members of a society to achieve equality. I commend your parents in giving you a strong sense of self, in teaching you about your ancestral background and giving you good reason to feel pride in it. I also commend you in knowing that genetic background should not determine personal behavior. I think we should all just be people....who just happen to have different genealogies we can EACH be proud of.