- Hey YouTube world, it's me, Evelyn.
Lately, I've been reading Gabrielle Union's memoir
We're Going to Need More Wine.
And I'm not finished with it, I'm almost to the end,
got like two chapters left, but a theme that's been
running through the entire book
is how your identity is shaped by where you live,
and who you're surrounded by.
And how when you're a squishy, impressionable child
or adolescent, you learn about yourself, your world
and how you fit into it, sometimes in traumatic ways,
it can be a little messed up.
Especially when it comes to (whispering),
race, I'm saying race.
And her book made me think a lot about how I grew up.
(whimsical music)
So I grew up in Lafayette, Louisiana.
And I was one of very few Black kids in my classes
during elementary school, and to be fair,
that's probably because I went to private Christian school
for first through fifth grade.
Louisiana is just different though, you know.
Most of the white people are Cajun,
so it's like a spicy white.
(zyedeco music plays) Okay, it's like a more sea- a better seasoned white.
It's like a Tony Chachare's, crawfish boil,
dirty rice type of white.
Anyway, I remember going to a birthday party,
and the theme was tea time.
Super girly, super cute.
I'm down.
We're eating sandwiches with weird things in them
like cucumbers, and they're like cut into triangles,
we're sipping tea, we're playing dress up,
and my friend's mom had lavishly arranged
for our nails to get done, and for our makeup
to be done.
(whimsical music)
Now you know old lady did not have Iman cosmetics
in her kit and caboodle!
Okay?
Covergirl Queen Collection did not exist in 1997.
So I remember this feeling of them doing their best,
doing their very best but like these frosted lips,
It's not a look!
It's not a look. And I felt like the only person
(laughs) who looked kind of silly.
You know, sure we're all like
eight year olds with makeup on,
so we all look kind of- kind of ridiculous
but I felt especially
silly. You know, sugar plum fairy cheeks
because she went ham on the blush.
cause it wasn't showing up.
It was just a reminder however innocent, that
I was different. No hard feelings though
okay, the photo was still cute.
I'm still cute, then and now.
and that headpiece, iconic.
(whimsical music)
(suspenseful music)
So the summer I turned 10, my mommy was in school again.
So my little brother and I, shout out to baby blow,
went to a
daycare
summertime
program situation.
And this program was actually pretty good at encouraging
um, summer reading,
And yo girl was an avid writer and reader.
I have the regalia and documentation to back it up.
So I remember one day going to the closest adult,
finding the nearest grown up, to tell them
that someone had stolen one of my books.
I know I didn't leave it where it wasn't supposed to be,
I know I didn't lose a book.
(gasps) lose a book.
I just knew
one of them bad children
had taken it and I needed someone to fix it.
Yo.
I will never forget
the look
that she gave me.
And it's weird to think about because
at the time
I didn't
have
like the knowledge
or a concept of what that look was,
I just knew that look was off.
It wasn't the look an adult gives a child when they're
on a mission to find Babysitters Club number 732.
And after having a conversation with this ol' busted lady
it was very clear that she didn't believe me.
And it wasn't that she didn't believe someone stole my book.
(music stops) She was trying to wrap her head around,
she didn't believe I could read.
So she thought I was lying about the existence of a book.
(Suspenseful music) Ol' girl thinks I'm lying because
she don't think I can read.
The way she was questioning me
about my problem, you know what I'm saying?
I came to you with a problem,
the way she was questioning me
She was saying it without saying it,
(mumbles) you know what I'm sayin'?
Internally I was very offended, I am ten whole years old.
Maybe if I was like five, okay.
But I'm ten,
I am a big kid.
You see me out here with my Encyclopedia Brown,
utilizing the dewy decimal system, don't come for me.
And I feel like part of being black
is like trying to rationalize it away
like I'm fittin to do right now.
Like maybe it wasn't cause I was black
maybe it was because 10 year olds in the
Louisiana public school system didn't know how to read.
I don't know. Maybe my age mates
were not hooked on phonics but I was.
Ch-!
Th-!
- Ck! (laughter)
I don't even remember what happened after that
or like, how I actually responded.
I just remember feeling like, wow.
Wow.
So wherever she is, I know she don't care about me.
But still I hope she knows that I am well read,
well studied and that I was smarter than her then,
I'm smarter than her now and okay you a goon
but what's a goon to a goblin.
Speaking of New Orleans, my third and final story.
So in the summer of 2002 my family moved from
Louisiana to the suburbs of north Texas.
Okay, the Dallas Forth Worth Metroplex.
The hip-hop classic "My Dougie" would
not be released for another 5 years.
And as we all know in 2005 Hurricane Katrina
devastated New Orleans and other cities
along the Gulf Coast of the United States.
And a lot of those families that were displaced
ended up moving to the Dallas Fort Worth Area.
(Hip-hop classic "My Dougie" plays)
Not yet, it's not time yet.
So I was a sophomore in high school when a lot of
those kids who were displaced showed up
and started coming to our schools.
I was in theater class, obviously, and we had a new student!
Everybody meet Diamond.
"Hey Diamond."
"Good Morning Diamond."
Ahhhh.
Diamond had a huge stud in his ear, just heavy.
Just dangling. Shwing, shwing.
I don't know if his name was Diamond on the roll call
or if that's just what he said to call him.
He weighed about 111 pounds
and wore-
you know it was 2005 so he wore clothes
that could fit two of him. You feel what I'm saying?
Like him in each pant leg.
He was so charismatic and friendly,
and like he jumped right in,
into the mix, you know what I'm saying?
He was hilarious, it's theater class, he was hilarious.
The thing about Diamond though is that he had
a thick
New Orleans accent, like thick.
Tell me why.
Tell
me why.
One time I was asked to translate. (laughs)
The teacher
asked me,
I, a whole me,
a black student was asked
to translate the english another black student was speaking.
Now,
legit the teacher had no clue.
And I remember laughing it off,
like we all kind of laughed it off.
It's theater so everything's delivered like a
improv or you know, like a joke.
but I also remember thinking like, ha this is really weird.
This is really weird, uh.
I don't have the vocabulary (laughs)
to articulate why this is weird.
It feels a tinge, a tinge inappropriate.
I mean yes, I did know what he was saying.
So yes I translated,
I was a liaison.
As a 15 year old, you know I had no idea if there was
a more tactful, culturally sensitive way
for this education professional.
Okay. Adult, grown up
to communicate
that they
did not understand what one
of their students was saying.
I don't know if that exists but I-
(music stops) I bet it do. Like, I bet.
You know, I never saw him after 10th grade
I don't what happened to Diamond or if he ever
made it back to Louisiana, but I hear you, okay?
I see you,
I feel you,
okay?
And most importantly, apparently, I understand you.
(upbeat music)
Shout out to Audible for sponsoring this video.
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And now that summertime is upon us audiobooks are great to
bring with you on that road trip, that leisurely hike
or basking in the glow of the sun on the beach, Okay.
As you're trying to get these melanin molecules activated.
To start your free 30-day trial membership
visit audible.com/evelyn
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and you can press play on my recommendation,
Gabrielle Union's "We're Going To Need More Wine",
or pick whatever book you want sis, pick it.
And that book is yours to keep
even if you don't continue your membership.
So visit Audible.com/evelyn.
Or text EVELYN to 500-500.
Thanks so much for watching!
In the comments below, I want to hear your stories.
Any culture, any upbringing, tell me a funny story
of a time where you were like,
"Huh,
what you mean by that?"
And I will see you on the internet somewhere.
Bye!
(upbeat music)