** Phone Rings**

Hey mom.

Yeah, I’m really excited about that trip! We haven’t seen you for like two summers. And we usually go every summer. I can’t wait to come to Jamaica once summer breaks comes around!

Wait, what?

But I thought you already did. Because you told that like two weeks ago.

I know but I still thought everything was all together  for next year. It’s gonna end up being a another boring summer for me.

What do mean we might come for Christmas? We don’t even have our passports together so how?

No, it’s nothing never comes out in my favor. I ask for so little and now it’s not happening. I doubt that Jamaica in Christmas will happen too. **sighs**

It doesn’t matter anymore…..

(hangs up)

Daughter(thinking): I figured that  was gonna’ go again. It’s like she doesn’t even care. Knowing that my passport expired two years. She should’ve contacted the people then. And she always  waits to the last minute. And then she gets mad at me for looking miserable all the time. ITS HER! It's like I can't even tell her about her actions because I’m a child. According to her I would be getting smart or would be having an attitude. But that is never the case. And that's the thing with me, I’m always biting my tongue. But what if I did speak? I shouldn’t hesitate…...right? She should want to know my thoughts. She should take my statement under consideration right? But I’m just a child and I need to stay in a child’s place. But when talking to her I feel a bit imitated so that’s I keep my mouth shut. And there I go again biting my tongue.

Since slavery being biracial has always been an issue or in cases beneficial. In slavery if you were biracial they would use the term “mulatto”. For most people is hard from coming from two different world and trying to fit in. It's always one or the other. People think you really can’t enjoy both. Along with being the female sex. Its has been consistently a struggle from years prior to slavery. Women have had plenty to fight for within American history. With that this is where I come in.

Most of my peers are well aware that I am biracial or mixed. But from my appearance plenty of people have thought that I was Puerto Rican. When they do come up to me and ask “What are you mixed with?”. They are in awe when I explain that I am half Jamaican with my other half being African American and Irish. I never go too in depth with everything that I am mixed with just the main portions. What I’ve noticed over  my fifteen years that all biracial people appear to look different. It's always a similarity with this because if you are mixed with the European descent and African American they usually have light eyes with sandy blonde hair. Or if if you are mixed with a Hispanic descent and African American they are usually a couple shades darker and have curly black hair. As for me I’m just a simple brown eyed light skin girl with dark  brown hair.

As someone who surrounds theirself around the African American I’m sometimes perplexed. It’s always I’m too lightskin to be around them. At times you feel isolated from everyone because you just want to be accepted by society. Once you meet someone new its as if they are only seeing you for your hair and skin complexion. Along with being a GIRL. For the women society it has been hard for many years. As a young black girl I have a lot to go through in this day and age. With having to be very mindful of my surroundings. I can’t be worried or stress over any negativity that is brought to me and my follow black girls. From being slaves to being judged but their body figure, black women have consistently had it tough for them. Today in 2017 black women are just loved for their bodies. Not the fact that they are educated and successful in life but their bodies. Social media has showed young girls that having that type of body it is good. Now many young black girls are insecure about that. Luckily for me, I love myself as it is. In relation to the way I dress and  how I keep my hair, I stay true to my culture. Even from walking down the street being a girl is hard because having random men eyeing you down is very uncomfortable.

At this age I am becoming a young woman there are certain expectations for me. Women are suppose to be strong, most are independent like myself. Additionally, I do my best with empowering women. Since I am a feminist. Therefore I feel strongly about the triumph of women. This starts from most of my family being female. As a child child I was influenced by this beautiful and successful women. Admiring that all my life to come figure lots of shame has been past on black women. Though my life I have had plenty shaming because I’m a girl. Like when I try to involve myself with a man-originated sport. Boys would continuously say “You throw like girl”. I get confused because that what I am. However in society that phrase is always taken into offense. As well as women getting paid a smaller salary. It never be like that for females of any age.

Within a few years from now I hope people and their mindsets have changed on people of a mixed race and females as a whole. We shouldn’t be judged by our appearance. Additionally for the women who have influenced me in positive way, I will follow after them. For the people of a mixed race like me, shall continue to be themselves and not pay attention to what anyone thinks.

Welcome back to another one of my blogs. If you haven't already read my first blog you should because you would have better understanding. For my English 1 You and The World benchmark I am continuing on African Culture Appreciation. I have switched over to my Original Research, for that I made a survey. From this survey I hope to get plenty of students to join me in the Odunde Festival. Most of the student were excited about this kind of survey.

The data that shown to you above explains the class that the student are in and if they have been to the Odunde Festival. Most of the student were freshman(80%). Then it cuts down to the sophomores(8.9%) and seniors(11.1%). Unfortunately I wasn't able to get any juniors to answer this survey. For those that have been to the Odunde Festival, 66.7% answered “No” , 28.9% answered “Yes” and 4.4% answers “Maybe”. Although when students answered this question mostly the seniors were delirious because they have gone every year.

Now switching over to the people that took this survey. They were asked to identify with their ethnicity. There were 40% of student that identified with African American/Black. With 8.8% Hispanic. Then it was 4.4% of Cambodian and 2.2% as White.

There was another question asking how much did they know about African Culture. Unfortunately this graph wasn't shown. However it was in a scale and the choices between 1-5. For those who chose 1 it was 6.7%. Those that chose 2 it was 8.9%. Those that chose 3 it was 42.2%. Those that chose 4 it was 28.9%. Lastly for the people that chose 5 it was 13.3%. The student that chose 3 and 4 mainly had the some of the African Culture within them and but not ALL of it. Finally to the last results. Student were asked if they had after attended the West Indian Carnival in New York.The largest answer from students was “No” which had 95.6%. I think this because most of the lost were born and raised in Philadelphia. So they may have not had the opportunity to attend this event. Then it asked how do you feel about the youth participating more in African Culture. This question was an open response question. From reviewing everyone's answers most people said that they feel strongly about the youth participating more. Or that they thought it was good.

The results that received from the African Culture survey gave me hope in my Agent of Change.

Hello I am Daeja Richardson. I’m currently a student at Science Leadership Academy(SLA). The slide has a lot to do with my ME Magazine, so I tried to make it it similar. At first I made this slide with just the knowledge I know from Google Slides. But later as I watched to tutorials and read the links give to us, I had a change in thought. For my slide from being based on my ME Magazine I incorporated texture,different shapes,contrast and more.

My ME Magazine didn’t have no pictures on it but mainly because I didn’t have enough to copy them and I didn’t want to use originals. So I just gave my visual concept. The ME Magazine had a various amount of pinks. I incorporated the pink within my background and my name.I made this Jamaican flag because in my ME Magazine I mention my heritage in the magazine to identify myself.