am i imagining things?

Here's the scenario: I'm out, about town, maybe at Walmart or a restaurant with a couple of my black friends. A fellow patron or a cashier, always older and white, will ask "so you guys go to school here?" We respond "yes". Then they ask "at illinois state?". We say "no, we go to illinois wesleyan".
When I go out, I usually wear a iwu hat and my friend CJ always wears iwu gear. So why is it assumed that we attend isu? I hate to sound like a conspiracy theorist but is it cuz I'm black? And why is it automatically assumed that I'm an athlete? It could very well be because of my physical stature. But in the back of mind I feel like people think that I owe my collegiate career to athletics rather than academics.
This harkens back to my comment in class tuesday. Am I extra sensitive to race? Do I racialize events/people that are innocent? Is it as bad as I think it is?
This is where I need feedback, especially from my nonBlack colleagues. Are you all mistaken for isu students? Are media portrayals of nonWhites majority positive or negative?

Jungle Fever

I've never understood why some people have an issue with interracial dating. As a heterosexual male, I find women attractive. I reserve the right to romantically pursue whoever I choose. There are some people who feel that I should only desire a black woman because I am black. I don't care about those people's preferances but for them to force those beliefs on me is offensive. I don't see what a black woman can offer me that a white or hispanic woman couldn't other than her darker complexion. And if I get hung up on physical characteristics, doesn't that make me superficial? I've heard a number of black women say "white women take our good black men". This is not slavery, where blacks were kidnapped. If a black men dates a white woman, it's most likely by choice. Also if a man isn't interested in you personally, why do you care who he dates? When I am asked my feelings on interracial dating, here is the answer I give: if I like a woman but she has a boyfriend, I am displeased no matter what race he is. If I don't want a girl, I couldn't care less about who she dates.

In the end it's about being happy. And finding a companian is precious. To let race stand in the way of love does everyone an injustice. What are your thoughts? Please share.

what makes me black?

When I fill out applications or other forms that need personal information, where I'm asked for my race/ethnicity, I fill in the bubble that says "Africa American/non Hispanic". Furthermore, my skin is brown and my hair is kinky. So it is understood by myself and others that I am black based on my physical characteristics. But is there more to it? Is my "blackness" based on my culture?
I am from Chicago; not a suburb, the actual city. The area I call home is one of the worst areas in city based on statistics of crime, poverty, murder, and drug usage. I am saying that I am from the "hood". I went to a public school. I enjoy hip hop. I sometimes watch bet. I am fluent in slang/ebonics. I read magazines like King, XXL, and The Source. Are these the things that make me black?
People who are not racially black are sometimes accepted and embraced by blacks if they adhere to black culture. If they dress a certain way, have a certain taste in music, and can speak our language, we may give them and honorary "hood pass". Conversely, a nonblack who follow the culture may be labeled a whigger or poser. How is this distinction made? Where is the line drawn?
Growing up, in my neighborhood I was sometimes made fun of because I used proper english and was often seen reading books like Harry Potter or Holes. Other kids would say I wasn't black. Today I find myself passing the same judgement on some of my peers. Because a black male has chosen to join a white fraternity, wears thong sandals, and only has white friends, I don't identify with him even though his skin is as dark as mine and he fills in the same bubble on applications as I do. What's more is that some white people adhere to the same way of thinking. In the iwu community there some black students that other black students don't see as "black" and when discussing these students' "blackness" with white students, I have witnessed multiple white students say "I am blacker than he/she is". When did black stop being a color and become a status one can achieve? And is that a bad thing? I would love to hear your thoughts.

my first memory of race

I was six years old and in first grade. I attended an elementary school made up of mostly hispanics and whites (each class had exactly two black male students as if there was a quota). I was friends with a classmate Bartoz who had been born in Poland and immigrated to the U.S. We were standing together in the lunch line one day and and Bartoz turned to me and said "You're a nigger". He didn't say it with any hatred or hostility; it was as if he had been told that black and nigger were interchangable. I responded "You're a polock" in the same nonchalant tone. I had learned the term from my older brothers. There was a teacher's assistant standing next to us the whole time. Her name was Mrs. Zajek and she was also polish. She escorted me to the principal's office but didn't bring Bartoz. I was lectured on the negativeness of racial slurs and racism, but Bartoz was spared. When I said that he had called me a nigger, Mrs. Zajek said she hadn't heard that, which is very unlikely. She wanted me punished because what I said had personal meaning to her. That was my first experience with race.