The Black Bubble

  When I was little my mom and I were walking through the market when a man I didn't know smiled at her, said Hi then smiled and waived at me in passing. I didn't know what was going on, but over the years I've experienced that behavior repeatedly. The only explanation I've ever received from my mother is, "It's a black thing". Wait, what?....are there so few black people in Los Angeles that when you see one you must smile, wave and say hello? I don't understand, I don't understand this for two good reason...1) that whole don't talk to strangers thing (it's great for kids, but sometimes I use it as a female in a big city where people aren't always as nice as they seem). 2) the fact that I don't trust men (any man...not just a specific ethnic group). To me it always seems that this exchange happens between men and women. You never see a black woman saying Hi to another black woman they don't know. And if this is a "black thing" then do other races do something similar?
  This is what I like to call the black bubble. It's the bubble of blackness that some black people feel all black folks should be in, but not all black folks are the same.
  I've encountered black people who only surround themselves with other black people. They only watch black movies and TV shows. They only read black novels and magazines. And they'd never be caught dead dating outside their race (they also tend to hate any "other" person who dates black). These people have usually tried very hard to get me into their bubble, while slowly but surely revealing the various levels of hate/racism they have for others races.
  I don't live in that bubble, I've never lived in that bubble. My family (both sides) are completely integrated. My parents friends...completely integrated, my church, my friends, my life is completely integrated. For me to be in this bubble I'd have to take a step back from what I've been taught all my life...acceptance. Why because I'm not going to hate my uncles, cousins and brother for dating, marrying or having babies with non black women. I'm not going to look down on say...the Kardashians (I couldn't think of anyone else) for dating black men. And I'm not going to reject all my non-black friends just because they aren't black. You know why, because I don't care. Love is love and if you're lucky enough to find it no matter what the color, then go grab it. But black people in the bubble don't see it that way. 
  Don't get me wrong, I'm happy the first family is black...I'm proud to see people in the black community doing well...I'm not anti-black, I don't see anything wrong with having black pride, but when you hate, then you're just a disappointment and a set back...and I see alot of hate in that bubble. Living exclusively in this bubble isn't the best. I've seen the folks we (the black community) put on pedestals...I've watched the movies and TV shows that we celebrate, but ultimately they just make us look like fools. Please don't get me started on anything on or having to do with BET. That bubble, those people aren't trying to better anything. They're only laughing at themselves.
  When I think about how far we've come and how much farther we have to go I realize that we are slowly but surely cancelling out the progress our great leaders made, the pain our grandparents lived through and the sacrifices our parents made only to replace them with hate, grills, booties and ignorance.
   Shame on the bubble and Shame on anyone who won't step out of it long enough to learn something different.