The hobby of writing about race issues

Getting nasty comments is part of being a blogger. In truth I've gotten very few of them and I've been blogging for years. You would think since I blog about my thoughts and experiences on race and how certain things should change, I'd get tons of nasty comments? I guess maybe Im not controversial enough? or maybe I haven't touched the right nerve...yet.

But I think Im starting to touch some peoples nerves. I recently received a comment on my interview with Watermelon Sushi World that blasted me on all ends of my life. I'm sure the comment was meant to hurt/embarrass/enrage me towards going into hiding. But I've been in the fight for racial awareness and tolerance too long to be easily unsettled.

Usually I just address the comment and keep moving but this particular comment stayed with me all night. I kept thinking on it and thinking and thinking. One thing that was said bothers me. Not not my son being a bastard...we all know who his dad is...or me being crazy about race. No it was about getting another "hobby"

It bothers me that "AMY" thinks all that I do, write about and share is a hobby! What the hell. How can someone look at my life and think I do this just for fun, just as a side project, as a distraction until I can find something else worthwhile?

This is MY LIFE. I write about MY experiences, I share MY stories. I am living race issues everyday...Im not making things up as I go along here.

People act like I look for ways to make race an issue. Hell, folks if I can go about my day without random people stopping to ask me "Is that your baby?" and then not believing me at the supermarket dont you think I'd prefer it?!

If I could be just another mother picking up her son from daycare without someone whispering "he doesn't look like her" dont you think I'd prefer it?!

If people would stop looking for my son's "mother" when Im clearly standing there dont you think I'd prefer it?!

Trust me, I'd prefer those things and much more. But life isn't like that for me. No matter how idealized people like to think the world is or I should just enjoy my son without playing the race card...they need to recognize it is not possible for me.

So I continue to fight for awareness for black mothers with biracial children, I continue to fight for awareness for the Asian and Black community, I continue to fight where I need to for the sake of my son. The world says he's "rare" which to me is an underhanded way of saying he's a freak, an anomaly, something outside the norm of what society says should be.

I refuse the "rare" label for my son, myself and my community! I will use this space, my voice and my energy to show we are a normal and viable community doing wonderful and positive things. My "hobby" is a movement meant to make a difference in this world. Can others say the same about theirs?