The only thing tragic here is that she speaks an uncomfortable truth.
Growing up in the black community in the U.S. requires one to give up interests that are not generally associated with "blackness". You MUST be a fan of basketball; heaven forbid you even know what rugby is. You play cards when you prefer Scrabble, because even in adulthood, most adults around you have the vocabulary of a 7 year old, and they play spades.
You absolutely cannot have hobbies, interests not directly connected with making money. Being an art photographer is not allowed in the black community; you have to take pictures at the club for cash, hustle birthday party gigs and weddings, otherwise you are wasting your time with a camera. I was once confronted and cursed out because I was photographing birds in Detroit. I was told in no uncertain terms that I "ain't supposed to be takin' pichers of no birds", and threatened for doing so.
There is a very specific set of things that should hold one's attention as a black person in the U.S., pussy, money and the ability to harm anyone that might get out of line. Interest in cosmology, stamp collecting, or rare books is "white people shit", that actually angers those who do not understand such pursuits.
Venturing into the hood (basically visiting what's left of the neighborhood) means altering one's speech (did dat nigga say "isn't"? How come he don't say ain't? Damn wannabee!) and walking like a drunk chicken, and making sure everyone understands you are potentially very dangerous. Conjugating the verb "to be" correctly can make the difference between getting robbed and getting safely to one's car.
You see indications of what she is saying here on bgol all the time. People denigrate "passport bros" simply because they have an interest the slobbering masses do not. They MUST be going to other countries for pussy! They cannot possibly be interested in cultural exchange, learning a foreign language, or experiencing the differences various cultures have to offer. These are things black people in the U.S. are not "supposed" to be interested in.
Essentially, being black has, for many generations, been associated with being ignorant and barely civilized. Money, sex, and the power to inflict pain and suffering upon one's enemies, real or imagined, are the only things to which black people are expected to aspire. Any hint of purely intellectual interests must be applied directly and immediately to making money, or extinguished.
The solution? Don't let others dictate what, who nor how you should be as a person, based on physical characteristics. Call me an oreo if you will. But I found an old, manual focus camera lens for $250 on ebay, that I sold days later for $1100, not because I am a businessman, but because I actually know things other than the cost and color assortment of the latest $300 sneaker.
Call me what you will. I stopped giving a fuck long ago, as should she.
