FATshion Journal Blog by Lilly

Look up East Side Heroes and Find How You Can Give Back This past weekend there was a news feed going around on FB and it was about a brawl that went down in East Side San Jose along Story Rd. Reading about these news reports, in more recent day has become the norm... Almost as consistent as the news reports we were so use to hearing from Oakland. And I'm not gonna lie to y'all, those Oakland news reports scared the shit outta me... And still do...  But I have developed an immense amount of "a-ha" feelings because when I saw news reports about the East Side I always thought to myself, that it's not as bad as they depict it in the news. At least I use to- In more recent weeks the police blogger alerts go off way more often than they use to and with this news report circling FB... I dunno why but it just got more real... But here is my gripe with the story... Some ignorant self-righteous prick got on there and left a comment that "EastS...

When I say don't call me Coco... What I simply mean is, don't call me a Coconut... And no, that's not a reference to being nuts and/or crazy... It's a reference to what someone nicknamed me while I was on a trip in D.C. On this trip to D.C. I was the only brown kid out of 175 HS students from all over the US who were granted a week to explore politics and journalism- at that time I thought I was going to be a journalist... Well, on this trip my roommates were three white girls from Florida, Connecticut and New Hampshire. And one of them coined me Coco, short for Coconut because according to her, I was brown on the outside but "white" in the inside. For a long time I wore that nickname/badge with honor...Like yay! I have assimilated well enough to be considered like them. (Now let's clarify, Like them, but never one of them) BUT now... I'm not too sure how to interpret that nickname- I struggle with what it means to be...