askchapo

i'm mixed race, but it's been a couple of generations, so i pass as white, and i grew up around black people, and i was taught to speak in "white" coded ways in order to "sound educated," get a job more easily, avoid discrimination, etc. etc. so in a way i'm the yang to the yin of people like this. even when I'm around black people i don't code switch back to AAVE because it doesn't feel natural to me even though i've been exposed to it my whole life. to do so would make me feel like the one lightskinned mix person trying to play up how black they are, and it comes off as cringe. I mostly try to listen more than I speak, in person, even though in text i ramble.