It is August 2011 and in
America, race still matters.
With the election of Barack Obama, a new flurry of discussions of “dream realized”--- “judged on content of character, not color of skin” burst forth.
Tears of joy were shed by those who were part of the combative struggles of the 60’s and early 70’s when a true African-American took the oath of office as the 44
th President of the
United States.
My heart and soul
celebrated the election of Barack Obama and I smile perpetually when I think of
Michelle and her daughters.
It is wonderful to identify with educated and successful leaders who look a lot like me. This visual identification is predicated on a tacit understanding of what Michelle and Barack overcame to become who they are now.
Skin color matters in
America and a person of color must remain sober in these times despite the heady jubilation spurred by the election of the new president -proud man of color.Unfortunately, skin color is an immutable identifier that has been maligned to validate negative stereotypes.
The
idea of race goes far beyond the color of ones skin and the poisonous side of the meaning was unveiled with the election of a man of color as president.
In the
United States of America,
race identification is as American as Apple Pie.
I was vividly reminded of this recently when I answered the
phone at a friend’s office and the speaker asked for a colleague who was not there; the caller did not want to leave a message. When my colleague returned, I told her of the call and her first question to me was, “Was the caller black or white?”
I answered the question , then thought about how
our thinking is programmed to a racial classification even when the person is not seen - we are expected to identify race by a voice tone or quality.
How is that possible?
Biologically, race has no basis. Despite many attempts by scientists to define race by skull bone structure, nasal width and fat layer thickness over the buttocks; nothing passes the accepted standards of scientific proof. Race is a social tool:
Pre-emancipation, it was an identifier of “human property”; During civil rights struggles it was the measure of compliance to law mandates. In present day census, race is used
to track slave-descendents, immigrants, and european descentants who live in
America, join Armed Forces, go to college and live in specific regions of the nation. Income, birthrate, food preference, religious preference and buying tendencies are other data collected and reported for each racial group living in
America.
A broad brush stroke that labels persons of color as perpetrators of crime, inhabitants of poverty and reservoirs of illiteracy continues to be crimpling. Young African Americans - descendents of slaves, striving to achieve the best things offered by America, often must climb over the stumbling blocks put in place before their time. If they are not alerted to the existing perils engrained in the fabric of America, they are subject to failure without known cause, disappointments without explanations and unnecessary waste of talents. It is our responsibility to tell our story and document our history for ourselves. Many injustices of the past have been fought and battles have been won, but the war is not over.
