Everyone Gets Teased

In a recent conversation with another blogger, a common teaching came up.
Apparently he had grown up in the hood but his mother would always remind him that "We don't belong here.".
We don't belong here - as in, we can do/be better than our current condition?

But this can be a problem for many.
Under these conditions, one often develops a protean personality.
One often has to be able to fit into one group while simultaneously trying to escape from the same group.
For many Blacks in the hood, this requires that one be "Black+".
One has to; play all the right sports, fight many of the tough kids, know the current colloquialisms, date/do the most desired girls, ...  - all the while not appearing to be too smart.

To this day, I still receive comments from people telling me that they can tell that I am not from around here.
Most people in this area (both Black and white) still equate poverty, ignorance and a victim mentality as the foundations of what it is to be Black.
The use of polysyllabic words is often a quick giveaway that one is either a Yankee or from out West.
Not walking around in a depressed manner or trying to look like a gangsta' seems to denote one who is accustomed to having some sort of power.
Speaking freely and to anyone seems to denote past experiences of being equal or superior.
 But these traits are often thought of as "Acting White" by many aspirational and acquisitive Blacks.

The bottom line is this;
You're going to get teased or singled out anytime you don't look/act/think like everyone else.
Effum! Just do what you do.