<p>It's true that there is a double standard among minorities when it comes to how "White" they can act. Latinos like Alberto Gonzalez, Samuel Alito, and Bill Richardson can get as establishment-like as they want, and nobody accuses them of selling out. If anything, Latinos celebrate them as credits to their people, showing that Latinos can work hard and succeed. The same goes for Asians, Jews, Middle Easterners, women, gays, and any other conceivable minority. </p>
<p>But with Blacks, it's different. Any Black who makes money, goes to a good school, or obtains a powerful position has to continually reaffirm his "roots" (even if they were raised by Whites in Hawaii) in order to keep their Black status. They are unique amongst American minorities in that their path to success does not merge with the path of the first Whites: Anglo-Protestants. Every successive minority, from Germans to Jews to Asians, have had to pay their dues to prove their allegiance to the U.S., and afterwards, their goals and methods were virtually indistinguishable from the dominant White group. But even though Blacks have been on American soil for as long as the first Whites, and far longer than any minority, they stand as an opposing dichotomy to the "White way", and each new minority group that arrived on American shores earned their stripes of assimilation by choosing the "White way" over the "Black way". </p>
<p>Why does such a divisive dichotomy exist? I don't know, but maybe in such a multicultural and young nation like the U.S., identities are hard to forge unless you know what you're not. Blacks were the most convenient "other" in the world, with their slave status and dark skin which would be like a Star of David that could never be removed or hidden.</p>
<p>But it's not as if it's all Whitey's fault. If anything, the ubiquity of the stigma of "acting White" has to be blamed, first and foremost, on the people responsible for propagating it: the Blacks. Sometimes, I get the feeling that Black people have a very self-centered notion in that they think they're the only people who have to adhere to mainstream conformities. For example, regardless of economic status, I've encountered Black kids who insist on adhering to ghetto fashion, most likely as a way to rebel agains the White man's tie and the White man's collared shirt. But even White people have to to society's ideals; it's not as if every White person dresses in Polos and leather shoes. In fact, most don't! But they still do it because if that's what society expects, it's not that hard to just wear a uniform for certain occasions. Whites, Latinos, Asians, Indians, and Arabs don't seem to mind too greatly. But some Blacks have to make mountains out of molehills and insist on propagating incredibly self-harming terms like "acting White" and "selling out". </p>
<p>And I get incredibly exasperated when some Blacks actually embrace their racial stereotypes because their puerile minds like the image of the well-endowed, slam-dunking, and street-smart Black male. Of course, they fail to realize that accepting those shallow compliments also means having to accept the flip-side of smaller brains, criminal tendencies, and uncivilized behavior. But in the short run, especially when trying to pick up chicks at parties, it helps to play up all the stereotypes; the negatives won't really affect them until one of them tries doing something worthwhile, like running a company or running for president.</p>