I keep hearing about racism. Everyone is a racist, well everyone that isn't black anyway, you are a racist if you don't agree with people of color. You are a racist regardless of the subject matter, regardless of the situation, regardless of anything! If you disagree with people of color about anything, you're a racist. And furthermore if a person of color is less than successful it's because you are a racist. That's the narrative I hear, that's why white folks should pay reparations. Well that's because white people are racists. And white people are most anyone that aren't black, and have ancestral roots in Europe. Just like all black people are from Africa. Well okay some come from Caribbean countries but you don't get reparations for that. Anyway the narrative is, racism.
Now I would have to be pretty naive to believe that racism doesn't exist. It certainly does and in my opinion will continue to exist as long as man walks the earth. You are not going to legislate that away. You can not change human nature. Regardless of any scholarly studies or thesis attempting to prove otherwise, it is human nature. People are naturally wary of anyone that looks different, acts different, speaks different, or in any way appear different. Yes children are naturally curious and have no such fear. They don't have a fear of a lot of things that why we have to watch them closely. Yes they will eat the paint off the walls, jump off the bridge, and in general go where normal men fear to tread! But children learn as they go. They develop a natural wariness about unfamiliar things and people. It's called development. There's a whole science dedicated to studying that.
As far as racism goes it is a learned response. As children we are taught to respond to certain things in a certain way. That has always been so and parents will continue to instruct their children in that fashion. It's what parents say is right and wrong. Not a difficult thing to understand as I don't believe parents ever say, whatever you like is just fine. In my experience that's like your wife saying the same thing. That's not what she, or they, mean! But are we teaching our children to be racists? That's where the conversation gets muddied a bit.
Myself, being raised in the north, never experienced the segregation of the south. I heard about it, saw pictures on television, but had no first hand experience of that. It is difficult to empathize with that when you have nothing to compare it to. I wasn't taught that the color of your skin made you a bad person, or that you were somehow inferior to me. I wasn't told anything like that. What I was taught was that people of color had a different culture than white folks. Of course it wasn't expressed in that way, no one spoke of culture, they just said different. Black folks were different. That didn't mean you couldn't be friends with them, that didn't mean anything bad at all, all it meant was, they are different. A cultural thing.
When I was young black people weren't called African-Americans. Yes I had heard about slavery in the south. I was taught that they came from Africa. I was also taught that slavery was abolished in America by 1865. Yes, I knew those living in the south were badly treated long after slavery was abolished. I knew there were those that just plain hated black people for reasons I didn't understand. Personally I didn't have an opinion. It just was. So now all these cries of racism, some directed at me, still leave me a bit baffled. Are there people that just hate others because of the color of their skin? Apparently so. That's prejudice, a pre-judging of a persons character. But are they judging the persons character or are they pre-judging the culture? The big question is, do all black people have a different culture than white people? Well, we know we can't speak in absolutes, they just don't exist. So we have to speak in generalizations. They too, are a slippery slope. But in general black people claim a pride in their culture, in their heritage. Nothing wrong with that. Do white folks do the same? Well most claim to be Americans or at least that is the way it used to be. Sure they celebrated their heritage, one reason we have St. Patricks day in America, but their culture was American.
This is where it gets a bit confusing. I can only speak about what I feel. I hear cries of racism all the time and it is always, because I'm black. But I don't think that is true, all the time. I think it is more of a culture clash than a color clash. Assimilation is the key. All the Europeans settling here in America assimilated to the American culture. That was the goal, to be an American. Now black people have never adopted that attitude. I can't say as I can find fault with that given the circumstances of their arrival in America. They surely weren't embraced and welcomed as equals! Still they have been free to pursue the American dream or any other dream they may have since 1865. Yes, yes, there are impediments to achieving that dream. As hard as it is to accept, there are impediments for white people too.
I have heard dissension among the black community about this very thing. I believe the term used is Uncle Tom. If a person of color appears to be adopting the culture of the white folks, he is an Uncle Tom. That is to say, if a black person appears to be subservient in any way to the white people. Now it's fine if a person of color attains great wealth as long as they stay black. Much leeway is given in those circumstances. And by staying black, I mean they must promote racism. They must maintain their blackness. And what is blackness? Culture. That's how I see it anyway. My prejudice lies in believing that all black people embrace black culture. Do I believe that black culture is inherently bad? No, I do not. it's different than white American culture though. The differences aren't that great but they exist. I'd say mostly in music, dress, and social interaction with one another. Other than that I've never found black people to be much different than anyone else. Yes I'd say cultural assimilation is the sticking point here.
Should black folks just turn the page? That's what it sound like I'm saying but that isn't my intent. I'm just talking about how I feel about things. That was the original intent of my blogging. I want a written record of me and my thoughts. Hopefully future generations will read and perhaps learn from my thoughts. Learning isn't always agreeing with what was written though, I'm aware of that. As far as the prejudice thing I don't believe that will ever be eliminated. I just don't believe it can be, people are people for better or worse. The challenge lies in developing culture. The blending of cultures is the struggle of civilization. It always has been. Can culture be surrendered? No I don't believe it can be, but it can be celebrated. Problem being you can't celebrate every day! Some days you just have to go to work.
No comments:
Post a Comment