"Bright Kidz" and "Baby Daddys".

I am not African-American.
This is obvious.

Whilst working, I usually take the fact that I'm "different" with humorous gravity.
By "different", I mean Caucasian.

While other races have had the opportunity to call themselves the fateful minority...I have been dwelling in the sanctum of oblivion. I can only imagine that my ignorance has stemmed from years of convincing myself that there is no such thing as "color".

For years I have been telling myself there is no such thing as a "white" culture, and there is no such thing as a "black" culture--we're all just a bunch of aimless wax crayons looking for a cozy box--apparently, most of the people I work with would disagree.

The way it all came about, was when I heard some of my coworkers discussing another fellow coworker (who, of course, wasn't present at the time) named Ty.

Ty apparently has a child with one woman, and a child on the way with another.

He was being aptly referred to as a "baby daddy".

A girl named Britney had become especially excited about the revelation of Ty's escapades, and insisted that he was trying to "start something" with her, because he "kept texting me all day callin me his bae"...to which she replied "nigga, i ain't yo bae".

About a half an hour later, I was helping Britney with an order, and she appeared to still be charred about the revelations of earlier.

"I don't want a man to come into my life and then the second I get pregnant with his child, he'll up and leave." She stated frankly, shoving the bag of burgers out the drive-thru window.

"It's about finding the right kind of guy." I replied, trying to soothe her.

"That's just what most black men do."

"Huh?"

"That's just not how it is."

I didn't understand.

I was pondering this all day, wondering if most black women think the same way. I like to have an open mind about things. I'd like to think that if the circumstances led me to fall in love with a black man, he wouldn't fall into the same frame of mind as the men Britney was speaking of.

Another thing occurred when I was hanging out with Britney, Ty, and one of my co-managers, Danielle. The three of them are black, differing in color, and were making jokes about "bright" and "dark".

When I inquired about "bright" and "dark", I was looked at as if I was retarded, and an attempt at an in-depth explanation ensued. Still not fully understanding, I compared everyone's skin, and concluded innocently that Ty was the "darkest".

I tried to make a joke, saying I was "the brightest of them all".

This was met with nervous laughter, and Britney's loud chortle of "DIS WHITE GUH CRAZY!"