"A friend argues that Americans battle between the “historical self” and the “self self.” By this she means you mostly interact as friends with mutual interest and, for the most part, compatible personalities; however, sometimes your historical selves, her white self and your black self, or your white self and her black self, arrive with the full force of your American positioning. Then you are standing face-to-face in seconds that wipe the affable smiles right from your mouths. What did you say? Instantaneously your attachment seems fragile, tenuous, subject to any transgression of your historical self. And though your joined personal histories are supposed to save you from misunderstandings, they usually cause you to understand all too well what is meant.”
The reason this line struck me as one of the most powerful was because of its perfect explanation of how it feels to be someone that is a minority in more ways than one. Even though someone might have friends of the opposite race, there is always a sort of shield that automatically forms between them and their peer, which does not stem from you two specifically: it stems from the past, which is something that is impossible to both change and overlook.
There are so many cultural and racial barriers that form between the two races that are unspoken of, but very apparent in nature. This quote perfectly sums up that divergence of cultures and outwardly says what we were all inwardly thinking.
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