Blog Assignment #5: Planning an Interview for a Personal Profile

For this assignment, I'm planning on interview a close friend on their interest in music. They're name is Adam Diaz. They want to be a performer. Adam sings and plays guitar as well as writing their own songs I've heard some of their work and I was quite impressed, though they're a bit modest about it. My main question would be something like "what made you want to get into the music industry. My next questions would depend on their answer, having the interview flow like a conversation. The paper would be more like a story, and myself, the interviewer, would be a character. I would be sure to describe their physical appearance, ask about their background, and talk about other interests and hobbies.

Blog Assignment #4 What's Inside, You Brother?

          Reading "What's Inside You, Brother?" was a very interesting experience.  Touré writes in first person at first, but then switches to third person. Touré constantly battles himself and his peers in a search for his identity. Because he went to a predominantly white school, hung out with his white friends, and had white girlfriends all of his life, his peers are now trying to erase his blackness. Many people in today's society think a black person has to 'act black' in order to actually be black. They tell these black children who don't 'act black' that they are a white person in a black body.
          This is extremely harmful to someone's self esteem. This way of thinking that a black person has to act a certain way in order to be deemed black is a form of racism. There isn't some sort of 'black code' that we follow in order to be called black.
           As a Dominican, I know many fellow Dominicans who deny their black roots. I grew up thinking of myself as 'just latino'.  It wasn't until my middle school social studies class where I learned about the Transatlantic Slave Trade and how the seeds of our family trees were planted by criminals guilty of the rape and massacre of slaves and indigenous people.
            Acting a certain way causes different reactions depending on the person. To fellow people of color, I act "too white". But to white people, I am profiled and stereotyped because of the way I look. It's difficult not being able to fit in with the society around you. So I can somewhat relate to Touré's struggle with cultural identity.