Race In America: Reflections Of An Angry Black Man
November 29, 2005 | 27 Shawwal 1426
Being Black in America is not easy. Let’s start with that. Now, let me just get a few things off my chest.
The Problem With White Folks
I’ve been spending the last few weeks looking for a new apartment. It’s an arjuous task without having to add racial discrimination to the mix. But that’s just what I’ve been going through. Late last week I found a really great loft apartment that I had my heart set on. It was in a really cool neighborhood and the pad was tight. The landlord was a little kwerky but most of the other landlords I’d met all had certain odd character traits. So I filled out the application and eagerly awaited his answer. Lo and behold, I get a call from a couple of references he called. It seems that this guy, who we’ll call The Wack-o, was not interested in my profession, or that I made enough money to pay for this place, but if I was black or not. Yes, that’s right. He asked my references, two of whom are black, if I was black. Hello? Where am I? Is this Philadelphia or Lynchville, Tennessee? And then, to pour more salt in my wounds, when I go to look at another place in South Philly, this old Italian guy asks me what my ethnicity is and when I asked why that mattered he explained, “We don’t like to mix the races too much here in these neighborhoods.” WTF?? Can this truly be happening?
But the part that is absolutely incredulous is when I talk to other white people about what has happened, they just explain it away. You must be mistaken. He was just curious if you’re black or white. He probably found someone else to rent it and that’s why he’s not returning your phone calls. It’s shit like this that really places a strain on my friendships with white people. I do not condem all whites to a fate of wearing white pointed hoods and burning two-by-fours on people’s lawns. But I am very curious that when black people try and talk to white people about racism, the common reply is that it’s a figment of our imagination. We’re overly sensative or paranoid (geez, I wonder why?). Something has to be done to bridge this gap. I don’t know what exactly but something (aside from blacks looking to whites for sympathy or validation that their cases weigh true or whites coming to terms with guilt).
The Problem With Black Folk
So now that I got my ravings about racism off (for the time being) my chest, let me also address my peoples. In the coming sentences, I’m gonna speak a little candidly about race relations within the Black Circle.
First, there’s a lot of self-hatred amongst blacks. We resent each other because of the hue of our browness. Light-skinned are resented by their darker counter parts because they can “pass”. Light-skinned in turn may feel that they are scorned and look down upon the darker brown-skinned brothers and sisters. It’s the classic house nigga’/field nigga’ syndrome. And attitude! Folks in the hood have so much attitude. I’ve heard it termed as a reaction to a condition. Because many blacks who live in urban areas are economically and educationally less fortunate, they tend to lash out at the world around them. It’s a way of trying to have some kind of control in an environment they feel they have no control over. Example: yesterday I went to the Wawa on 38th & Spruce to get a sandwich. It was well after the afternoon lunch rush so there was no one ahead of me. I ordered my sandwich, went the other counter to pay for it and when I returned, the girl or sandwich artist hadn’t even started on it. She was busy yaking to the security guard. I tried not to get too upset so I asked her calmly, “Sister, I don’t mean to be rude, but I’m on my lunch break and need to get back.” She replied, “I’ll get to you in a minute.”, and fixed me with a nasty stare. She then proceeded to go back and talk with the young security guard. By now there were several others in line behind me and I lost my temper. I told her, “You know, this is why black people can’t get ahead. This is why niggaz can’t hold down a job or make more then $8/hour. You mad at the world ‘cuz you up in here makin’ sandwiches and can’t make more than a few dollars an hour. Well, what skills do you have to offer? Shit, your attitude sucks. Why should anyone treat you with dignity if you don’t treat yourself with it? Now if you don’t start makin’ my sandwich, there’s gonna be help wanted sign up on this window before I walk outta here!” She stood there, half mortified, half enraged. But she did make my sandwich. The sad part about this is that we, two black people, had to have this confrontation in front of a store of white people. It was like the Minstrel Show. “Bob, you should have seen it! I was in the Wawa today and these two negroes where verbally duking it out. I’ve never seen such entertainment!” Please, please, please, leave that ghetto mentality behind. I was born in the hood and want nothing to do with it. There’s nothing glamorous about being poor, broke, uneducated and jobless. Nor is the hood synonymous with being black. We, as a people, must make some seriously large strides to better ourselves. White folk ain’t gonna come along and save us - there’s no reason they should, either. So please, respect ya’ self. We got enough problems without hating each other.
November 30th, 2005 at 9:23 am
Wonderful read.
November 30th, 2005 at 4:26 pm
Yo M-Dash
That was a deep post. I hear you, and we talk on this alot, but as you say, people aren’t going to fix our problems for us - we have to fix our own.
Looking to white folks for validation leads to ruin, as at the end of the day, everybody has their own problems.
Being Black shouldn’t be one of our problemsm but we sure as hell treat it as such.
December 1st, 2005 at 6:34 am
Marqas: I believe you truly have worthwile things to say. This post was an awakening not only to perhaps the white and black folk but also to brown folk specially if they are not in the US and exposed to polarities of 2 colors.
December 1st, 2005 at 11:10 am
Well, I’m glad to see the response to this - and by that I mean from both sides of the isle, so to speak. I for one believe that while white people cannot and will not solve our problems it is healthy on a social level to have a discourse. The funny part is, talking about this with a friend the other day, is how the term angry black man came to be. Well, if you think about it, black folk have a lot to be mad at (both at non-blacks and at ourselves). The defining moment will be when we start channeling that anger, that energy into something positive instead of continued self-destruction. Thanks for your comments and I look forward to reading more of your comments. And by no means is this discussion over! Feel free to leave more comments.
December 1st, 2005 at 5:06 pm
“We, as a people, must make some seriously large strides to better ourselves. White folk ain’t gonna come along and save us -…”
What do you mean white people aren’t going to come along and save you? Haven’t you seen Finding Forrester? Gods Must Be Crazy? More recently, Sahara? Doesn’t a white man ALWAYS come along and save blackness from the powers of darkness, mainly other black people? Geez brother, you need to get the story right. Shoot, white men seem to have been CREATED to save every other race from acting naughty. (Although they have problems saving their ownselves from the freakish, cannibalistic church-going serial killers that pop up every month or so.)
Or at least that is what “they” woudl like us to think.
Great post brother.
Salaam.
December 2nd, 2005 at 3:17 pm
Bro, you know that I feel you 110%!!! We’ve spoken towards this topic on several occassions and I only hope that in the future this topic will have progressed. One book that has helped me to put these issues into perspective is: “Losing The Race, Self-Sabotage in Black America”–Prof. John McWhorter U.C. Berkeley. Perhaps you could highlight this as an “influential read” among your other suggested books. I won’t continue to beat the pale horse (its already dead), but will say with great resonance and conviction, all of our comments must be made with the intention of doing something about it. God Speed to all as we become synergetic in our struggle for justice, equality, and personhood, especially in our own backyards!
December 5th, 2005 at 10:19 am
You said, “I’ve seen the opposite. Your post is really interesting because recently people were talking about how mean dark skin girls are to light skin girls”.
Yes, you’re right. I’ve experienced the same type of treatment from other Blacks because I’m “light skinned”. That’s why my post had two parts. I have issues with both sides. Thanks for the comments.
December 27th, 2005 at 12:31 am
asalaamu alaikum marqas,
fabulous post! you really put it out there.
insha ALLAH i plan to move to philadelphia soon and now i’m praying i do not have to experience unbearable discrimination. not only am i a person of color but i am also identifiably muslimah. oy vey!