At big family dinners on Christmas or Thanksgiving, my mom frequently tells embarrassing yet funny stories of my older brother and I growing up. A commonly told story, is of me at age three or four, talking about my Barbies. I told my parents of my desire for a "vanilla" (white) Barbie, even though I already had a "chocolate" (black) Barbie. My father answered, telling me that we were a "chocolate" family, therefore a "chocolate" Barbie was appropriate. I disagreed, saying "No Daddy, you and Colin are chocolate, but me and Mommy are vanilla!"

 As ridiculous as this sounds, it is partially true. My mom is half white, half black.  She has fair skin, green eyes, and dirty blonde hair. My father has dark brown skin and dark brown eyes. My brother and I fall somewhere in the middle. I have always been lighter than him which explains me referring to myself as "vanilla", and him as "chocolate".

Even at the young age of three, I had some general knowledge of race. It took me much longer to realize the affect that it had on people. Growing up, the majority of my friends have been white. This was not something I had don't purposefully, it was something that just happened. Until middle school, I had never thought anything of it. It was just a simple fact. However, I had begun to be asked the questions; "Why don't you act black?" and "Why do you act so white?".  Until this point it had not occurred to me that it was possible to act a race. At the time, the questions just confused me. Why did it matter how I acted and who I surrounded myself with? Finding an answer to this question was always difficult. I never quite understood what type of a response these people were looking for. I act the way my parents taught me to, and that is all. The connection between the way I act and my race was always unclear.

The older I get and the more frequent these questions come, the more agitating they become. The fact that a person's race should dictate the way they act is absurd. And even so, how is a black person supposed to act compared to a white person? Also, why is it so odd that I do not act in a way that someone else has dictated that I should? This issue can go farther than personality. Race should not dictate any part of a person's life. Period.

I am perfectly content with the way my parents have raised me, contrary to remarks about me not acting my race. I only hope that one day those people learn how close-minded they are while letting race be such a huge part of a person's being.