“Milk’s Favorite Cookie.” Oreos are one of my favorite desserts to eat after a hearty meal. The sweet, white cream sandwiched between two chocolate cookie pieces is my Achilles’ heel when it comes to dessert. It simply satisfies my sweet tooth. However, I have a problem with Oreos. Don’t get me wrong, I love the cookie, but I have an issue with the word. Not the intentional meaning of creator Nabisco, but society’s meaning. An Oreo, in some people’s opinion, is a black individual who acts white or who wants to be white.

This term has annoyed me since I developed a true understanding of it. The belief that I act white or want to be white is an incorrect classification. The reason students call black people like myself Oreos is because they don’t know what to think of us. In their eyes, we are different. We break the stereotype and go against their perception of a black person. I don’t have any tricks up my sleeve and I’m not trying to create an illusion. Is it the way I act? Is it the way I speak that drives you to tell me that I am white? Is it my intelligence? The way I think? Is it my unusual personality? Please tell me. I want to know.

Ever since middle school, students of both races called me “Oreo.” Back then it used to hurt when friends or classmates told me who I was when they were completely wrong. Other black students shared their hatred for the word as well. When both races categorize me as an Oreo, it feels as if no one accepts me for who I am. I feel I’m a minority within a minority.

Now, if I’m an Oreo, then I guess other intelligent, well-spoken and goal-oriented African-Americans can be classified as Oreos as well. President Barack Obama, billionaire and television mogul Oprah Winfrey, former Secretaries of State Colin Powell and Condoleezza Rice, literary leaders Maya Angelou and Toni Morrison, and television and movie giants Sidney Pioiter and Bill Cosby. The list goes on and on, and I don’t consider these individuals Oreos.

I am what you see. I am a black individ- ual. I am the same as you. There should be no confusion on what to classify me. It’s the way I am. Skin tone should not matter, only someone’s personality and character.

So let’s think about using the term Oreo for its real purpose, a delicious cookie that satisfies the sweet tooth of many people around the world, not the meaning society has bestowed on it.