Do You Shift?

I am currently reading Shifting: The Double Lives of Black Women in America and I am truly inspired. As a black women in America, there is pressure to be a certain way and to dispel the many myths against us. The first page of the book is intensely deep, it states the following:
"Black women in America have learned to find humor in heartache, to see beauty in the midst of desperation and horror. They have been both caregivers and breadwinners, showing incredible strength and resilience, unflinching loyalty, boundless love and affection. They have risen above centuries of oppression so that, today, after years of dealing with society's racist and sexist misconceptions, with its brutal hostilities and unthinkable mistreatment, not only are they supporting families, they're leading corporations, major media organization, the military, our state and federal governments...."
Black women hold the world on their shoulders. They take on the extra load from their men at home, their children, their professors, their families, their bosses and essentially society. They keep on fighting for what they believe in without the hope of eventually attaining a prize. Black women often have to shift to be accepted into society. Shifting includes getting hair extensions as opposed to wearing your natural kinky hair or talking proper as opposed to talking ebonics. Shifting even includes trying to balance between being a woman and being black.
One day in class, we had a discussion about Shifting...we all agreed that as black women we all have to Shift. Sometimes we shift to fit in with white people and sometimes it's to fit in with our own people. One of the girls in my class said she feels pressure after moving to Central Pennsylvania, to fit in with her family that still lived in the inner city.
Nonetheless Shifting is something that every race and every class does, especially for situational purposes. Although I haven't finished with this book I look forward to the interesting facts it has to illustrate.