|
Since racism is definitely a topic some of us are addressing more and more, which I am enjoying. I decided to share more on my experience on the matter. This is not a sob story, but I wanted some people on here to see the different ways we as Black people identify racism---or different people take it. In a lot of the cases I will mention here there is some Black/Hispanic tension that is normally ignored. I don't know many people who even know about it. Barely ever discussed, or when it is---turns into a straight out hate fest that anything productive. Or in the case of DU, these sort of discussions are left in the AA section and never really brought to the forefront.
I am from a multicultural background (as is the case with like the MAJORITY of Blacks from the Western Hemisphere--we all know why)---it's a bit weird to be racist against White people when your granddad is White and eating from your icey. But this is of course in Haiti. So race relations is UTTERLY different and completely opposite to America. Our issues is entirely economic, versus racial. However, there is no denying that colourism IS an issue. For those who do not know...colourism is a byproduct of racism. You have it in America and it's the whole House slave versus Field slave concept. It's alive and well in the Caribbean---and I'm sure all Caribbean people are aware. Shit, I believe in America it's also known as Jack and Jill politics (I believe, if I'm not mistaken--Jack and Jill was a group of light skinned Blacks who liked to remain light skinned so they married others of "their kind") I think it was popular in the south. I'm not 100% on top of that. But colourism is strong is the Black community---Light skin versus Dark skin. (Byproducts of racism---colourism---based on the coloring of the skin (light skin versus dark skin), hair typing--at times good hair versus bad hair, language--blacccent versus acting or speaking White. These are all caused by initial racism of Black versus White--which is not only perpetuated by Whites against Blacks but also within the race itself--then outwards ie many Whites are accused of having a Blaccent).
That's a just a bit of my background to give you a bit of my historical outlook on what I was seeing. I will start off with the race talk in my family. The first race talk my family had was when my sister was around 8 or 9. Keep in mind for some here it might be seriously shocking. For others, nothing new. My mother was running after my sister to take a bath...and my sister said---"Why? It won't wash the Black off." <---I never forgot that statement. At the time, I was shocked---I was 14, but it didn't strike me as much as it did later in life. Apparently my sister was getting a lot of derogatory statements from her classmates because of her dark skin. I happen to be far lighter than her and I, I never saw any distinction made between our colourings in the family, but it was clearly expressed to her outside of the family unit. She had this from both White and Hispanic students, mainly Hispanic though. Like when a White student would tan---and I had friends say this---"I'm almost as Black as..." You get the picture. To them it was no big deal, they laughed it off---not realizing how much it hurt us. After my sister's statement my parent's had the "race" talk with us and to be proud of who we are. This was hard for me, because I didn't know why I was hated.
My first aspect of racism was when I worked a St. Patrick's day event that I had done the previous year without a problem. We were servers. The original organizer did tell us not to go since he wouldn't be there. But we went anyway---it was a group of us. Three of us were Black, but the darker skinned males were sent home. I didn't realize the connection. It wasn't until 3 hours into the event that I was told to go home as well. I was the only one taken aside and asked to leave. I didn't notice anything racist---but my fellow coworkers didn't like the vibe and they also worked out. It wasn't until later my friend stated---that the organizer had said..."The Black girl probably stole some money and we wanted to prosecute." I told my dad and my dad was going to take him to court for defamation of character. He was held back by a mutual friend of both parties. That's when I was like...Holy Shit...That was racist.
That was when I went through my phase. I don't know if all Black people go through this, all Black adolescents, but I think we do have it at one point or another. I'm sure my fellow AA posters can let me know their thoughts on it. I hated being Black. I really hated myself and the color of my skin. I didn't hate being a woman as much as I hated being the race that I was part of. This is why on some level I feel White women can never relate to me. How many White people hated being White? You sit there and you're like...what did I do to be watched like a criminal. What did I do to be mocked, to be so overtly sexualized---because Black and Hispanic women are more often HYPERsexualized. I managed it for sure. I was never one of those people who denied my coloring or did something destructive, but I had issues with my race. I had to work through it. I managed it alone. It's not like many Black kids get help dealing with racism in school. Most of us internalize it or rail against it. Most of the people I knew internalized---ie ignored it and went about their day. However I still prep myself every morning when I leave the house because I do expect something stupid to be said. Because someone always says or does something stupid. This is not therapy for me---I've gotten over my issues and I am thoroughly proud of who I am and who my ancestors are. I represent their fight to survive and I won't let them down. But for those who believe racism is gone, and for those who think that AA cures all. Realize that when you're a Black person in America, it's not so easy. There is no cure because no matter how many ways we try to protect our children---something happens to trigger everything that existed in the past. It is not as terrible, but the pain is still there and it's shared for every generation---into this day and age.
Keep in mind I'm from New York---the "melting pot" ---racism is alive and well. I remember having discussion with a group of people---we were talking about interracial dating. To some this may not be racist, but a guy who's also a Liberal, he was White, stated how he would date a Black woman but never date them. He went on to say, they didn't eat the same food, didn't listen to the same music...yada, yada, yada. He was a mature adult. I asked him, so are you suggesting that because I'm Black I would have more in common with someone from let's say Nigeria, because they are Black? He said yes. I then went on to say---while I was the one who sat next to you when our kindergarten teacher read us Charlotte's Web. But I'm datable, but not marriageable. So in his eyes---we're so inherently different because of our coloring, that even a similar culture couldn't mend that divide. There was more than just racism here---there is sexism and it also plays into the stereotype of the HYPERsexualized Black woman. bell hooks wrote about this regularly. Fuckable but not marriageable. It also plays into a lot of Early Feminist beliefs too.
Another instance was with a former employer. I will mention her background ...because there is a reason for it. She happens to be Jewish and her employer is self-identified Black (although of bi-racial lineage). One day we were in an office---doing a late night game plan for the following day. Air conditioner was turned off and no windows. I stated it was hot. Her response to me..."But your Black?" She realized she said something off but kept digging.."I mean Caribbean, you're from a hot country." I mention her background because maybe I was under this delusional idea that we were of a shared struggle, both our groups were persecuted so she would have been a bit more sensitive. It didn't seem to be the case. I have had many people tell me that this is not racist. I identified her statement as a racist statement which feeds off of very archaic stereotypes.
This is to lightly touch on the seeming divide when it comes to race. I have a friend who's biracial. Her mother is African-English and her father is English. She came out dark---caramel for instance with more so European features. Her father talked about what a great time they had in the some English country side. He said there was no racism, everyone was super friendly. Until his wife looked at him like he lost his mind. Apparently for her and her two children who came out dark and are Black people, they were hit with a lot of racism, from looks, to snide comments to straight racist attacks. The people were extremely hostile to them. He was oblivious to it all. He was in such shock he actually sat there silent when he heard. Then he got angry because they didn't tell him. They spent about a month there. It's not his fault---I don't think they saw him as part of the group--but independent. So he was treated differently. However he was there and didn't read the signs, unfortunately.
Another instance was just recently. My mother was watching her stupid religious channel. That Swaggert guy? My mum listens to the music---we have a thing for Christian music, although we're far from religious people. Anyway he was recounting a story of helping your fellow man. And in the story he did this....He began by saying he went by a KFC to get some food, and as he was there he met a woman. Then he made a point to emphasize she was a Black woman. Who was crying because she didn't have any money. So she apparently recognized him and then he gave her a $50 to pay her light bill. She was crying because she didn't have money for her light. Now, I'm sure to some they didn't pick up on the slight dig into Black women. I did, my mother did, and my sister did. My friend who's White, saw nothing wrong with the statement. It just went over his head. I said, if you're recounting a story of someone who is poor---there is no need to specify the race. Her race brought really nothing of significance to the story--except for what I picked up as a veiled dig at Black people. Kind of like..."Oh she was Black, typical." His point could have been clearly stated without an emphasis on her race. And the way he said it, made it seem as though the Black woman was crying because she recognized him and figured she could weasel some money out of him. This was the impression I was given from his story. Needless to say my mother decided to focus on her crossword and tivo her christian singing and my sister and I left the room in disgust.
I then remember asking my White friend about this. Because I tend to notice that---there seems to always be an emphasis to define many of us by our race. I'll explain this. This is where the issue of Blackness in our society comes in and racism in the media. This is continuous and has yet to change. I was watching the news. And there were two reports of violence. They said...the policing are looking for 3 Black males height were 5'8-6'2, 2 were overweight from the ages of 15-24. Another report, and this is a true report...4 teens were said to have bought a turkey and went to a highway bridge and threw the turkey into the highway. They were 2 boys and two girls. Notice what was missing in the two reports--or the key element. Mainly race. That was when I knew, oh..when there is no race mentioned then they are White. But when there is race they identify. Another report a following day---Two, what appears to be, White Hispanics were seen blah blah blah. When they say White Hispanic in New York---it's a clue into most likely Puerto Rican. Or that's what I've seen.
And he media continuously propagates this. We saw pundits on both side of the aisle saying Obama is either too Black or he's too White. Even in my Ethnic Politics class my teacher stated---that many biracial men tend to marry African American women to solidify their place in the community. I remember hearing this stated as well in the media. As though Michelle Obama was a prop to get Obama ahead. Women on the left---made a lot of veiled commentary about President Obama.
They made Obama an example of what went on during the early Feminist movement. Where the Black man was given an advantage over White women. This is both a play on sexism and racism. This is actually something that is rarely if ever really talked about. This double interplay that went on. Some feminist felt that it's Obama's role as a man in a patriarchal society that allowed him the President. So he didn't really earn it, it was his birth right through his gender. But the second part of that--is when they compare it to early history---many early Feminist were not only upset about the 3/5ths rule because they were men---but because they were Black. When this comparison is used...there is absolutely no way to deny White Liberal racism. Don't get me wrong---I think many White women would decry this is not about race. But the comparison was made and the race is a factor. Early Feminist didn't think slaves deserved any rights what so ever---we have to remember these people were of the elite. You can't just ignore it, or erase it as though it did not exist. I'm always shocked when there are people shocked by being called out when they made that relation. I'm not even trying to rehash any primary war. This is to explain a fact that was going on during the primaries.
This also brings into play the Black woman vote. This doesn't even really exist in the political world---or the political pundit world. At one point it was mentioned but then ignored for the White woman vote. While it was so easy to lump all of us Black people as one vote for Obama. They ignored how gender played a part. I strongly believe that Black women were on the fence between two candidates. Let's be honest here---the two candidates were very similar. Some people just feel more in line with Obama's position--which wasn't very different. I do think race, gender, (religion) and ideology all played a part in this election. I don't really think it's possible to divorce these three things during the 2008 election. I think many Black women were probably in the Clinton camp, she was familiar, she wasn't that different from Obama, and she was a woman. She's one of our own. She's a strong woman with a law degree; she accomplished a great deal for herself. Obama was a man, but then he was Black and he was not that different from HRC. I think the real push for Obama came from many extremely racialized comments that were scandalized from the HRC camp. I don't want to make this a primary war---I'm speaking frankly about this. I personally didn't care between HRC and Obama. But Obama is our President and I support him so I do defend him from time to time. And I can say---I was sort of pushed to his side because of some comments from people who supported HRC. I felt HRC was not involved but I didn't want anything to do with that environment---the racism was enough to repel me. The factor of religion was also tied to racism in the 2008 primaries and still in full affect to this day. The hatred of Islam and muslims in this country is profound. And is actually very racist in origins. They played Obama out to be a villain.
I've said this in the past and I'll say it again. I felt that when Obama decided to run for President he basically was giving me a crash course in the Civil Rights movement. It was then that I was really seeing racism, blatant racism from the Republican camp---but also some coming out of the Democrat camp. I think most of the racism in the Democrat camp doesn't have the same root. I had a teacher who stated---"Don't you notice the more PC someone tries to be...the more the veiled racism comes out." <---Because they're working on presumptions. I have no name for it---but it's sort of lack of communication, misunderstandings, or no understandings.
I just wanted to share a bit of my past. Kind of show different forms of racism or what I defined to be as racism. I don't know how many people share their stories...or how many people have really openly discussed it to outsiders. This is not something I find particularly special or unique. Just a perspective from a Black person. Thoughts and views are welcome---good or bad.
|
Printer-friendly format
Email this thread to a friend
Bookmark this thread
(1000+ posts)
Send PM |
Profile |
Ignore
