Sociological Imagination Essay

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Asia Baker
Dr. Norris
Sociology 1010
5/30/13

“My Shade of Blackness” I believe that a personal trouble would be a problem that affects only me and most likely caused only by me. A societal issue is an issue that affects many different people in many different ways. The more that I think about personal troubles, I begin to question whether or not if they even exist. A problem that I feel may only affect me can certainly affect others as well. When a person is alone thinking about the different problems in their life, there is usually a very concentrated vision of these problems. We do not usually think about all of the possible people that our seemingly “personal” problem may affect. The connection between personal troubles and societal issues is very important in the way that they almost go hand-in-hand. There are not many “personal” troubles that just affect one person, and there are not many societal issues that some people do not view as their very own personal trouble. One personal trouble that I have is the fact that I am a dark skinned girl in a very judgmental society. Even though African Americans endured years and years of discrimination from many different races (and still do), it saddens me that my very own race has discrimination within itself. I remember one day, I was in the mall with some friends when some random guy stops me and says, “You’re very pretty for a dark skinned girl.” I did not know how to respond. I have never been in that situation before. Before that moment, I was pretty confident about who I was and how I looked. I never even thought of myself as being “that” dark skinned. The different spectrums of blackness never crossed my mind. I always felt that when other people saw us that they did not care if we were dark or light skinned. Those people only saw Black. Since that moment, my eyes have been opened. Society shows me this fake sense of acceptance of African American women. It shows me that “It’s okay if you’re black (only if you’re lighter than the
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