Surroundings affect us more than we are aware of, and when you put race into play to it makes the impact even more influential.

Being black in America comes with struggle. But when you look at being black in Madison as compared to a big place like Atlanta, your experiences are probably very different.

My whole life I have lived in Madison, and grew up with predominantly white people surrounding me. White culture and standards are what I tried to live up to on a daily basis, which had an impact on me growing up.

When you add in the impact of media portrayals, being black was almost something I was ashamed of.

Recently a close friend, Valendice Payne, moved to Atlanta to go to college at Georgia State University. There she has met people of color with very different experiences growing up in a place that is predominantly black.

I recently visited Atlanta and Georgia State University for the first time on my own, and got to the see the culture in a new way.

Growing up being surrounded by white culture made me feel like most of the time I was not ever going to be good enough, smart enough, or pretty enough.

While in Atlanta, Payne has discussed with peers how they didn’t have very much whiteness to compare themselves to, so that was not a struggle they faced as head on.

A huge difference in black culture there is the appreciation for fellow black brothers and sisters. When I say brothers and sisters I don’t mean literally blood siblings, I mean our cultural family. Walking down the streets black men will approach black women and tell them they are beautiful, or goddesses. Black women openly complement each other and give each other positive energy.

Black love is the core of this community that I saw when visiting my friend in downtown Atlanta. So my question is, why are we not bringing more black love and culture to Madison?

Yes, Madison is a predominantly white place, but our black community here can do more to support each other.

I notice black men writing off black women because of her strength. I notice black women competing with each other to be best because they will never be white. Why are our black men not supporting our black women? Why are black women so mean to each other when we are all each other have.

The purpose of this was not to bash black culture here, but to bring attention to how our community needs to change.

We need to support each other the way I saw support in a big city. We need to show appreciation for each other because who else will?

Black is beautiful everywhere, so let’s start acting like it.