Posted by
flagwaver on Sunday, May 06, 2007 9:44:44 PM
For as long as I can remember race has been the true third rail in American society. We have attempted to understand it, we have tried to discuss it, and all we ever seem to do is argue about it. And we have the same arguments, with the same points raised, all of the time. As much time as has been put towards the discussions, the commissions, and the dialouge efforts we seem to always find ourselves back at the same place. And the question is why. Why can't we seem to come to grips with this issue? Why can't we come to some mutual understanding? And to borrow a phrase from Rodney King: Why can't we all just get along?
I don't claim to have all the answers to these questions, but I am more than willing to share my observations on the issue with you.
One of the reasons we continue to have these issues is that some people don't want to recognize that we are different. While I don't believe that blacks are a different "race", we are a different ethnicity with some unique cultural features...just like those of Japanese ancestry or Polish, or German ancestries. But to say that to some whites, it is like you just slapped their mothers or something! They immediately respond with comments about blacks trying to set themselves apart, trying to make themselves a protected class, or being a Balkanizing force. If you read my post from a while back "It's a Black Thing" and the responses, you will see exactly what I am talking about.
What we black folks don't get is why that is so upsetting to so many whites. What is it about the idea of blacks as having a distinct ethnic identity that gets the blood boiling so? Why is it that many whites treat that type of attitude in blacks as some sort of threat to the American Way? Why can't you just be content to let us have Kwanzaa, especialy since it is not hurting anyone else? Now I personally don't celebrate Kwanzaa, as I think it is a somewhat silly idea; but I do not attack the celebration or those that observe it as some type of subversives either! I live and let live, which seems to be something that many whites seem to be unable to do when it comes to issues of "race".
Where we both, black and white, miss the boat is in treating the other group as a monolithic entity. Some of us black folks are always seeing things that happen in society as products of the white man...while we carry on the same way! And some white folks look at blacks and assume that all blacks are the same; same politics, same lifestyles, same attitudes. All this type of attitude does is further alienate us from one another; it locks us into looking at people as stereotypes, or members of a group instead of individuals. And that is no way for us to go about reaching an understanding of one another. As long as we fall back on our stereotypical views of the other ethnic group, we are going to stay stuck in the same old rut; spinning our wheels and getting nowhere.
If we ever plan to get past the point we are now, we all need to start looking at ourselves and what we need to change. And the changes have to come from within ouselves; we have to make a personal effort to get ourselves straight before we look at others. We all have to stop setting up our racial strawmen that we can attack, start looking at things as they are, and trying to really make an effort to move forward if we want perceptions to change.
That at least would be a good start at changing things for the better. And that's the truth in black and white.