Rough Draft

 As someone who grew up in suburbia rather than in a low income neighborhood in the rough parts of the city, I was sometimes teased, often by people who were not from such rough neighborhoods, as "sounding black" or "acting white".     The stereotype has existed for so long that blacks are uneducated people who talk mostly in street slang and do not understand proper English.  This has been frustrating to deal with, as talking a certain way doesn't guarantee whether or not one is black.  This was always the way I grew up speaking, and to imply that the way I was taught to speak by school and family is wrong frustrates me greatly. I and many of my peers who grew up in suburbia felt like they were in the same situation.  I never felt truly bothered by this discrimination enough to get seriouly upset about it.  Society always tries to simplify different races, genders, etc.  by assuming that members of each group always act like common stereotypes.  Growing up, all of the African American women that I saw on tv were all sassy black women . who backed up their white friends with hair flips and finger snaps.  Meanwhile, all I can do when confronted by someone is clam up and find a way to quickly extract myself from the situation.  Anyone who knows me well would not say that I am usually very "sassy", and seeing me snap my fingers with a quick comeback is one of the last things one can find me doing.  THe situation is no as bad as it used to be-compared to when I was little there.  As I have grown up and my wotld expanded I began to see more and more examples of black women and other minorities who did not conform to their stereotypes that were placed upon them by society, and grew even more confused as to why society wasn't aware of these differences. 

I have mostly lived a comfrotable life.  For much of my life I went to a very good school with a great educational reputation  and lived among the upper middle class as my father was a podiatrist and earned enough money to keep us in such a household.  However, this came with many challenges.   I was very happy, but still had to suffer from stereotypes and different experiences.  I lived in a mostly white neighborhood. While I made several friends among my neighbors, I was isolated from other minoritie.  Thankfully, this was not a problem in my school environment, which was much more diverse.  However, I was still recieed bias as an African American living in the upper middle class.    It was assumed, by other  peers that I could afford everything or was spoiled when in reality this wasn't the case at all.