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Allison spends her time in two very different Brooklyn neighborhoods: Brooklyn Heights where she works and goes to school, and Bedford-Stuyvesant (Bed-Stuy) where she lives with her family and gets teased for "talking white." Allison's friends at school accept her and her academic goals, but Allison feels the black people in her neighborhood conform to negative stereotypes and expect her to do the same. Before leaving both neighborhoods to go to Haverford College, Allison explores what it means to be black like her.
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Piece Description
Allison spends her time in two very different Brooklyn neighborhoods: Brooklyn Heights where she works and goes to school, and Bedford-Stuyvesant (Bed-Stuy) where she lives with her family and gets teased for "talking white." Allison's friends at school accept her and her academic goals, but Allison feels the black people in her neighborhood conform to negative stereotypes and expect her to do the same. Before leaving both neighborhoods to go to Haverford College, Allison explores what it means to be black like her.
6 Comments
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Review of Being BlackBeing Black I like this piece because Allison makes me feel comfortable in my skin. People tell me a lot that I act too white and that I need to associate and learn more ways of black people, to become ?Ghetto?. But really there are many different ways of being African American. She puts a situation out there that I can relate to. She explains to listeners that African Americans can be intelligent people who do not act ghetto and use slang. Then she goes into saying that people think she acts Caucasian because she does not use slang, or act ghetto. Allison?s mother feels that her daughter should hang around black people. But Allison does not see it that way. She sees it for the more important things, that people should not have friends just for their race, but for their personality. The only thing that the piece is missing is energy; the piece needs music and another tone of voice. But the piece still remains good. -Adomako |
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Review of Being BlackAllison Jones story is so powerful beacuse it is not the words of experts in the halls of universities, but the voice of a person who grew up in the other America. It will take stories like these, personal, real and sincere to help awaken Americans to the crisis we face as we try to provide the standard of living that all people deserve. |
Broadcast History
This piece aired on WNYC in 2003
Timing and Cues
IMPORTANT NOTE: Please use the suggested host intro and outro. If you would like to re-write the intro, please email radiorookies@wnyc.org.
HOST INTRO: Allison Jones has spent her teen years struggling with how she?s perceived in her predominantly black Brooklyn neighborhood. She?s attended private schools and was accepted by all ten colleges she applied to, but while Allison is acclaimed for her intelligence by academics, she?s also slammed for her intellect and ambitions by some of her peers. Just before she left her Brooklyn roots to attend Haverford College in Pennsylvania, Allison recorded this radio rumination on what it means to be "black like her."
HOST OUTRO:
This story was produced by Czerina Patel and Jamie York of WNYC's Radio Rookies. To learn more, go to WNYC.ORG.
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Ashley yelhsa
Posted on June 27, 2007 at 07:00 AM | Permalink
Review of Being Black
i can kind of relate to her. i have never grown up in a "ghetto" neighborhood, but i live in a mixed neighborhood near the city and black people were constantly telling me that i "act white". white people have also said this to me. ive attended private schools my entire life and thats something that im very grateful for because i was exposed to different people and cultures. im glad that i wont be another contribution to a racist, played out stereotype.