What makes you?

I thought that I'd add a more political and social blog post this go around, since it is Black History Month. This post was insired by a moment, when a friend of mind asked me playfully, "why do you think, and act the way you act." I began to think about this question throughout the day, and here's my take:

The forces that form my political attitudes and views are those that deal with race and class more than anything. I feel that my African American heritage and the African American Community, play a huge part in defining how I think and approach certain political situations. It’s odd because sometimes I’ll try to work even harder in order to avoid being the average African American statistic that drops out of school, has an illegitimate child, or sells drugs. I think that there is a huge problem in America that puts many African Americans behind from the get go. When I look at many of my peers within my community, I start to become discomforted because I really see how many of our priorities aren’t in order. When we should be focused on education and economic growth, we spend most of our attention in materialistic areas.

My religious affiliation also plays a large role in affecting how I view America and politics, and what I feel is right and wrong. Since I was raised in the Christian church, many of my political roots were established at an early age. For instance I am not pro choice because abortion goes against what’s in the bible. There is a conflict in views between my school and my religion, because what I have been taught at school  isn’t necessarily what I’ve been taught at church. At school I’m taught to be liberal in thinking, open minded but at church I’m trained to be conservative. Before I came to school I was totally against gay marriage, but as I’ve continued to become into a man, I have definitely gained more tolerance towards gay rights. This conflict in views is interesting because it has thus started a reconciliation process, because I try to combine and mix all of my forces into what I believe.