lack of blackness

a couple of days ago, my facebook status said that i "just realized i dont like kool-aid."

the reason i put that status up was because my uncle had made about a gallon of red kool-aid and he and my sister were talking about how good it was and blah blah blah. when i stated that kool-aid wasnt the best to me, i got crazy looks from the both of them.

then the next day, i decided to drink some of it instead of choosing orange juice like i usually do. yuuhh.. it was horrible. wayy to sweet for me. but not a like yummy sweet, just a straight up cherry-flavored sugar flavor, and a lil watery too. and no, my uncle didnt make it bad because it brought back memories to all the other kool-aids ive drank in the past, all the same.

its just not my kind of drink. i guess i prefer the taste of juices better. and i think ive always been like that because when i was younger, id always choose a juice or soda over some kool-aid.

so when i posted that status, the first comment i received was "wtf...are you black lol" and it made me think, "why do i supposedly lose my "blackness" because i dont like kool-aid?"

if you look up kool-aid at urbandictionary.com, the results you'll get are:

--the universal drink of the hood

--the water of the ghettos

--comes in many flavors such as grape, cherry, blueberry etc, but known to the ghetto natives as red, purple etc

just because i'm black, i'm supposed to like kool-aid now?

those definitions were of course stereotypical [since i got it from that site anyways] but it made me wonder why is kool-aid so closely associated and stereotyped with black people anyways?

because kool-aid became popular to low-income african-americans because they could buy a 25 cents pack of kool-aid that would make maybe about half a gallon of something to drink. instead of having water, just add some sugar and the mix and there you go..something sweet to drink for cheap.

so yuhh.. that makes sense right? but that doesnt mean that as african-americans we have to stereotype ourselves. some people make it seem for themselves that JUST because they're black, they like kool-aid. making it seem like "all black people" love it. i'm sure there are some people in the lower income families that in the beginning didnt like kool-aid but that was all that was available.

i dont want a product that wasn't even invented and produced specifically for my race to define if i am black or not. all of you that claim you're not black if you dont like kool-aid have no idea where kool-aid is even from. Kool-aid was invented by a white man [of course] named Edwin Perkins in Hastings, Nebraska. now how many black people do you think live in Hastings? as of today, the racial demographic of Hastings is .79% african-american.

now was Edwin really thinking about marketing or selling his invention with the intentions of targeting african-americans? i think not.

therefore, i'm not going to let a product of any kind define if i'm black or not.