Tuesday, March 19, 2024

Racial History, Never live a lie.

February 29, 2012 by  
Filed under News, Opinion, Weekly Columns

Like
Like Love Haha Wow Sad Angry

(ThyBlackMan.com) Sometimes there are days when I wonder what life would have been like had I not committed myself to the never-ending, thankless task of advocating for the Black community.  Don’t get me wrong, I love what I do and I love the people for whom I do it.  It’s difficult to live in a world, though, where White folks label you before they know you,  and many Black folks think you’re only speaking for economic gain.  Even worse, is that similar to the days on the plantation, some of us are so addicted to the system that oppresses us that we end up fighting those who speak against racial oppression.

One area that has served to maintain my “angry Black man” status is the field of Black history.   Whenever we demand a conversation about the racial history of the United States, punishment is typically forthcoming.  Those who speak on the issue can be drowned out by the “Kumbaya crowd,” some of whom seem to think that all of America’s racial inequality will disappear if we  simply hold hands and sing, “We shall overcome.”  They believe that the past is as irrelevant as a cheeseburger in a room full of vegetarians and that not talking about our past is a great way to make it all go away.

We’ve been falsely led to believe that eliminating discrimination serves as an adequate remedy for the effects of historical discrimination.  We think that the tremendous racial imbalance in America today will fix itself magically because Black people are suddenly allowed to taste a small piece of their humanity.   That’s like arguing that if I spit in your face 50 times in a row, your face will clean itself simply because I’ve decided to stop spitting.

It’s easy to believe that America is a land of equal opportunity.  In many ways, our country can be the most outstanding nation in the world, but what we often forget is that one’s ability to take advantage of many of the educational and economic opportunities of this country is largely dependent upon the resources at one’s disposal.  Also, the vast psychological damage caused by hundreds of years of slavery and the stripping of an entire culture leads to dysfunctional outcomes and family structures that mitigate a community’s ability to fulfill its potential.

Examples of this challenge include the fact that it takes money to make money, or that you are more likely to be promoted on your job if you have powerful mentors who look like you.  You are more likely to gain acceptance into an Ivy League university if your parents or grandparents graduated from the same school.  The problem is that my forefathers were not allowed to own land, get promoted in major corporations, or attend Ivy League schools.  Most of us are starting from scratch with nothing.

As I explained to the ever-so interesting Linda Chavez in our NPR debate on Affirmative Action, it is because of America’s persistent and undeniable commitment to creating an imbalanced society that many of our nation’s best opportunities are not readily available to our children.  It’s difficult for a child to get to the Ivy Leagues if they are attending a horrible inner city school with gunfire on every corner.  African Americans who are hired as professors at major universities are often fired shortly thereafter because they have no Black mentors to protect them in the “good old boy” system of non-merit based cronyism.  Many major corporations have middle- and- upper-level management that is 100 percent White male.  The list goes on and on.

So to talk about history as if it has no impact on the present is like saying that a man’s existence has nothing to do with his parents’ decision to have sex.  The past creates the present in the same way that our decisions as young adults impact our lives during middle age.   To beat, rob, and ruin a community over several hundred years and then try to move forward without correction is like an apologetic bank robber expecting the judge to let him keep all the money.  Modifying your behavior in the future is a necessary, though not sufficient condition for making things right; you also have to fix the damage that has been done.

To this day, because of the legacy of Jim Crow, White folks own nearly everything.  They control media outlets, major corporations, vast amounts of real estate, and have legacies of power in important governmental and academic institutions.  White kids have better schools, higher family incomes, and a lower likelihood of conviction even when they commit the same crimes.  There is no way anyone can argue, with any degree of intelligence, that America is a society that has achieved racial equality.  Rather than doing the hard work necessary to make things right, some would rather just live in denial.

Staff Writer; Dr. Boyce Watkins
 
Dr. Boyce Watkins is the founder of the Your Black World Coalition. For more information, please visit http://BoyceWatkins.com.
 
 

Comments

One Response to “Racial History, Never live a lie.”
  1. Innocent says:

    It started with Owens an African American man wiinnng 4 gold medal in the Olympics against an aryan white who was supposed to be better in every way. Because of these wins, tests and examinations of many black athletes happened to figure out if there was a common characteristic between them which would allow them have an advantage over other athletes. But these tests and examinations showed nothing of the sort to prove why Owns won the 4 gold medals other an skill and talent. The only thing that was the same was their skin color which made them a target for peoples dislike and misunderstanding. After this the video went to a class which was looking at their DNA. They were asked who they thought their DNA would be the most similar to and when they answered it was by who was closest to their race . This also happened in our class when one or two of the students were asked who they thought would be closest to them in DNA. We keep saying that the classification of race and gender is disappearing but we did in our own class which suggests that its not, and it still is a part of every day life even though we might not like to admit it. This really made me think about how difficult is has been for any nonwhite person during the last few decades and still today even though it might not be as easy to see. If we can’t admit that classifications of race and gender are still in everyday life how are we going to be able to get rid of these classifications and see everyone in the same way no matter what their gender or race is?

Speak Your Mind

Tell us what you're thinking...
and oh, if you want a pic to show with your comment, go get a gravatar!