The Reservation

I think like Junior/Arnold everyone has something in their life that prohibits them from doing what they really want. For Junior it was his reservation and being an Indian that made him an outsider where he was. Once he was able to leave he was able to become something of himself. With myself I'd like to think in broader terms than just my neighborhood. For me I feel like just being a female Black-American prohibits me from so much.
 Being a female automatically makes me a second class citizen. My opinion is not valued nearly as much as a man's, I am assumed to be weak and fragile, and I'm viewed as unable to manage being in charge. Being born into an immediate family of five females and a single male for the first decade or so of my life was a blessing. I learned independence at a young age and I know I am capable as any man or woman to do any one person job. I'm not saying that I'm "a strong independent black woman who don't need no man" I'm saying a young woman who knows her work and capabilities and if I need help I know when to ask.
Being Black means that I'm hostile and aggressive when I'm annoyed or even slightly irritated. Or so some people think. I'd never experienced until just last week something so idiotic. In a small spirited debate with a white authoritive figure I was deemed as disrespectful and I guess I can see where he comes from saying that, but he then deemed me hostile and aggressive because of my body language. For him to say me slouching and having my face in a stoic expression is hostile is ludicrous. When my friend sitting two seats away was defending me and had the same look accompanied with the same posture as me is deemed just rude, but she was white so she wasn't a threat to him.
I'm singled out for being Black and ignored for being a female. In many'so eyes I'm worthless and ignorant. However, I know as do others that I'm much much more than that and wiser than most people I encounter, so I guess you could say the world is my reservation