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My favorite? The bridge to Nowhere =)

 

 

I’d like to share some thoughts with you all. First let me begin by saying that my English is far from perfect so I apologize for any grammatical and spelling errors you might encounter reading my post. I’m a 20 year old student at the Erasmus University Rotterdam in the Netherlands (Holland), Europe. I moved here from Curacao a little more than a month ago to finish law school and to study economics. It’s been hard. I miss the sun, my family and friends. And I miss being able to watch CNN, MSNBC and when I think I can handle it FOX news, to stay up to date on all the relevant news. I google everyday for the latest news and visit TPM regularly, still it’s not the same. The night Barack Obama formally accepted the nomination I stayed up late to watch it via the internet. I stayed up until 6 in the morning (because of the time difference), watching, transfixed, so amazed at what I was witnessing, I’m only twenty years old and I haven’t had to deal with segregation and racism as my parents and those that came before them had to. For that, I am grateful. But as a black woman I know about what others and myself go through on a daily basis. I’d like to think we live in a different world, in a world like Martin Luther King envisioned but that would be rather silly and foolish. Racism is alive and well. But to witness Barack Obama on that stage that night and to have watched Michelle Obama deliver that speech at the convention, felt amazing. Curacao, Aruba, Bonaire, St Maarten, St. Eustatius and Saba are all former Dutch colonies and present members of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. There is a majority of mixed Afro-Caribbean and European descent, and also sizeable minorities of Dutch, Latin American, South Asian, East Asian, Portuguese and Levantine people. We’re a beautiful island, a mix of different cultures. So I never felt so aware of my skin color as I do in Holland where the majority is white. I’ve always been proud of my heritage and my culture and I always will be. I will never feel ashamed of who I am. But I know what it’s like to be judged not by who you are but by what you look like. I never understood why people considered being black as something negative, something to be afraid of. I didn’t get that stereotypes and generalizations have created this image of blacks as people that aren’t good enough, dangerous somehow. I still don’t get. I find my thoughts preoccupied with that. Why is being black .. bad? I’m one of about 30 black students in a class of about 625. “Wow you’re so smart, so well-spoken.” Are things I hear daily. Why is it such a shock that a black girl is intelligent? Why do journalists on Fox, Cnn, wonder how Michelle Obama could’ve delivered such an eloquent speech? She’s not any different than me, my mom, my female cousins, my grandmother, my aunts. There are more of us out there. She’s just like me. And we .. We’re just like you. We’re all human beings. Trying our hardest to make something out or ourselves. It hurts me when people look at the Obamas as being un-american because they’re black. It pains me to watch another US Senator stand by and do nothing when they refer to another senator as a terrorist. Just because he’s black. Just because McCain’s ambition is so big he’s willing to ruin his reputation to achieve his goals. You might wonder why a girl from the Caribbean who moved to Europe cares so much about the US elections. Let me assure you, I’m not alone. The United States is the most powerful nation on earth and what it does affects our all. Friends of mine have gone to Iraq. And the economy back home is in turmoil because of the low value of the dollar. It’s hard waking up in this cold and going to school everyday. It’s hard stepping in a classroom as the only black girl and having to prove that you belong in there too. It’s tough. But not as hard as running for the highest office of the US, under scrutiny and while receiving death threats. Barack Obama is a brilliant man. If he weren’t, if I didn’t agree with his views, I wouldn’t support him. I’m not a supporter of Obama just because he’s black. But the fact that he is gives me a sense of pride. When I walk to school listening to YES WE CAN on my ipod and walk past a big photo of Senator Barack Obama put up against the wall close to my school, I smile and I feel good inside. As millions of other blacks I know. He’s improved the way many view black people. We truly can achieve everything if we’re willing to work hard for it. And nothing can stand in the way of that. What Barack Obama accomplished gives me hope. That maybe finally we see each other fully. I don’t want to say past skin color. Because my skin is me. I am my skin. But it feels good to be finally viewed in whole. Not only the color of my skin but who I am underneath. A 20 year old who cares about the world and stays up thinking about how she too can make a difference. Our time is now. Greetings from Holland, S.

I’d like to share some thoughts with you all. First let me begin by saying that my English is far from perfect so I apologize for any grammatical and spelling errors you might encounter reading my post. I’m a 20 year old student at the Erasmus University Rotterdam in the