A lot of people I know here in Philadelphia have a side hussle. I could classify this town as a place full of hardworkers with big dreams. While many of us do not currently have positions in our desired areas, we all have desired areas. In whatever ways we can, we work towards them. My passion for social justice keeps me volunteering, creating websites and flyers for organizations I support, and is visible in the books I read, the conversations I have, and the way I interact with folks. To pay the bills, though, I work in a hotel.
An old coworker of mine, Tiffany, has a side hussle similar to a lot of folks I know: music. She is vocal artistry. She’s not just determined, she’s doing and she’s documenting her adventures online. I appreciate Tiffany because she doesn’t take a “can do” approach, she takes a “will do” approach. We’re all capable of a lot of things, but does that mean we are doing them?
There are lots of challenges and obstacles that keep us from acheiving our ultimate goals. Often times it’s finances, other times it’s a myriad of other concerns: knowledge, time, resources, ability, etc. We are all both the recipients and the victims of systematic oppressions and privileges and sometimes, we are born with so many odds stacked against us, it seems we are designated for failure before we even start.
I grew up in an interracial, LMI (low to moderate income) household. My mother is a brown skinned Filippino woman and my dad is your average white guy–a handyman who drives a big van and does home repair. I have an older sister who looks white and an older brother who looks white, too. And I, I look ambigious.
My year round tan has served as both a disadvantage and an advantage. On the one hand, never worrying about the sun is a luxurious summer time commodity while said darker complexion often allows others to make a number of assumptions about me before we even meet. Does she speak Spanish? English? Spanglish? People love playing the guess-my-race-game and almost no one gets it right.
Additionally, I come from what used to be an impoverished neighborhood (but is now a hipter neighborhood, thanks to gentrification) and went to a low-income Catholic school six blocks away in my hood. It was your typical inner-city school mixed with kids in every color and insufficient supplies and resources. A usual walk there in the morning would include drug addicts still up from the night before and sex workers on street corners, trying to earn a day’s keep.
My genetics make me prone to diabetes, arthritis, addiction, and obesity. I am a female-bodied woman who lives in a city with rough edges, rape, and violence. Only one member of my family is a college graduate, my mother never finished high school, and my father can remodel your kitchen but struggles with the Sunday paper. I grew up in the public healthcare system, familiar with public assistance, and in love with store brand cereals. I could go on and on about how my life was, in a lot of ways, designated for failure before it even started.
The reality is, though, that hasn’t kept me from starting my life.
I know that I have a lot of disadvantages. I will have to work extra hard to get things that are given to white people or folks from “higher” classes. I don’t get very many things handed to me and probably never will. But that’s not gonna stop me from trying. It’s not going to keep me from dreaming, working, achieving. I recognize that as a queer woman of color from a classic LMI experience, it’s not going to be as easy for me as some heterosexual white bitch from Connecticut. That might delay me, but it’s not going to keep me.
I am a product of my circumstances, not a victim of them. I will keep moving forward. I will have a ”will do” attitude, not just a “can do”. And hopefully, you will, too.
Tell me your thoughts!