“Because I’m nice, and I’m smart, and I’m a ‘good person’ so to speak…I’m more ‘white’ than ‘black’?”
"There was this one time, senior year, right after I found out that I got into Duke. I was in class, and my friend was congratulating me, and then this other kid overheard, but he misinterpreted the situation, and he thought it was my friend that got into Duke. She’s half Asian, but she looks white. But, he knows that she’s half Asian and half Hispanic or something, and so he was like, ‘Oh, you got into Duke?! That Affirmative Action!’ or something like about how basically she would’ve only gotten in because she’s a minority. She was like 'One, it wasn’t me, it was Morghan. And two, even if it was me, that’s very offensive…’ I didn’t really know what to say in that situation. I knew it wasn’t directed at me, but still. I was just like, 'Okay…’
[Another time], I was talking with a group of friends, and they said something like 'You’re the whitest black person I know,' and I called them out. I was like, 'What exactly does that mean? Beause if you’re saying that I’m an ‘oreo’ or something like that, that means that you’re associating characteristics like oh, because I’m nice, and I’m smart, and I’m a ‘good person’ so to speak, that I’m more ‘white’ than ‘black’?’ The association of personality characteristics with race is not the way it should be.”