Dr. Rosalyn | The Joys of Being Misquoted

So my previous community engagement post was on something that went well this share will be different.  After being asked by one of my students to attend I popped over to the first public discussion hosted by our newly formed Black Student Union, Cougar Advocates for Diversity and the philosophy club I believe.  Regardless, it's a rich conversation, clearly something that was needed on campus and a reporter was invited to attend.  She's randomly taking notes and I assumed taking them correctly but when I saw the write up after someone shared it with me I realized again the problem with not being able to control your own narrative.  There were lots of notable things she could have taken from my discussion but she focused on how I saw to address myself in terms of racial designations.  Okay no harm no foul if done correctly.  Still a no there.  What I said, which is what I normally say when asked, is when pushed I identify as Black but African American feels disjointed because I don't know that I'm from Africa (could be Haitian or Dominican or what have you) and because people like Charlize Theron are technically African American here even though no one would see them as such because they look at skin tone first.  That's a different aside as my family runs the gamut from she sure looks Caucasian to were deep smooth rich creamy chocolate.  However, if left to my own devices I say I'm a little brown woman from the south with gray hair.  That's a more accurate description as I am brown I'm under 5'4'' and I grew up in the south for the most part. 



What was reported was that I'm American--no ma'am that's not what I said.  And everyone that saw it later said you don't talk like that.  I didn't force the issue on a retraction or correction because it really isn't worth it in the long run.  The fact that I've said what I have said enough prior to that publication running means people understand how I self identify.  Little brown lady if given my druthers, Black if I have to identify on something official and I literally circle Black and check the Black/African American box, and in large circles I don't bristle at African American but it's not my first choice.

Hopefully the next post is less people trying to finesse my words and more accurate.