I Don’t See Race, I See People
April 20, 2006 | 22 Rabbi al-Awwal 1427
“Gimme a freakin’ break, lady.” - That was my internal response to a discussion I had with a group of white kids the other day while attending class. We were talking about the recent beating of a bi-racial man (let’s not call him black cuz that’d mean it was a black-n-white thing, which of course it ain’t) in Milwaukee. It truly, truly amazes me that in this day and age of “enlightenment” that folks simply cannot come to grips that certain parts of the society have got some damned issues. To put is bluntly, white folks is got some problems with niggaz. Yeah, I said it - cuz I’m mad as shit. Last year, yours truly had several nice run-ins with the police in Wisconsin (the Madison area - Wisconsin’s little bastion of liberalism [please…]) where I was both held at gun point (police were looking for a black male - came to find out they were looking for a 5′6″ man with a pony tail whereas I am 6′5″ and no, I don’t have a pony tail - perhaps the dispatcher was dyslexic) and then retaliated against me when I complained against the offending officer, which resulted with me spending a night in jail. When talking about this recent incident, many of the white students said it wasn’t a racial problem but a problem with the police. That the reason that the police beat the man is because either a) he deserved it or b) the police were bad people and would have beat up anyone. Of course, the fact that the officers basically gang jumped him, shoved objects in his orifices and called him racial epithets had nothing to do with the color of his skin.
Seriously, white folks is gonna have to get over their guilt and participate and take an active role in addressing these kinds of issues (i.e., taking people to task in your own racial group - whites need to be more actively intolerant of racism). When we’re getting back numbers that still show that blacks are red lined when applying for housing 2 to 3 times the number of their white counter parts, we have issues. When there are more blacks in prison that in college, we’ve got issues. So when you say you don’t see race, you see people, it makes me wanna slap that teeth straight out yer mouth. We don’t need to sing Kumbaya My Lord nor, as Craig Mack put it, do we need psychic healing from Dion Worwick. But most of all, Black Folks have got to get serious about empowering themselves and stop living as victims. America does not need another black entertainer. America does not need another rapper. America does not need another athlete. And nor does the black community. A friend of mine who teaches in the inner city said that when he talks to black high school students, the vast majority of young black men aspire to be professional athletes. They have no concept of having some sort of professional occupation. And young black women he’s spoken with seem to have no aspirations at all. Is this part and parcel with all blacks in all communities? No. But is it still alarming? Hell yes. Much of this post is an emotional rant, to be sure. And no, I’m not an angry black man. I’m a Black man who’s angry (not by nature but by observation). And to tie this all off with a cute little segway, this is what pisses me off so much about the state of Salafi movement within the Blackamerican Muslim community - where are our real needs and issues and crisis being met? Being discussed? Going over seas? Negro, please! Let’s work on not getting my arse beat while I drive to the corner store to buy groceries.
April 21st, 2006 at 1:11 am
You know what guys, in Russia in 1917 the pressure of the differences between classes/races brought about a revolution. It succeeded for a while and eventually retreated into the capitalist catalog. Let us all be aware and cling to the nature of our ambitions. To be able to express individual and cultural heritages in peace, is all that we really want. I don’t care whose label is on the ketchup bottle. Indeed, we do need another revolution first to wake up the soccer moms and mall-jumpers. A little poverty for them would be lessons that need learning. However, we all have to suffer to purge our selfish tendencies. But, so many of us have suffered beyond necessitude. Colonialism, Racism, and Capitalism have evolved into one definition; “Can I survive as a longhorn steer in the Texas plains.”
April 21st, 2006 at 11:58 pm
Human beings have spread intolerance from time immemorial. I just finished taking a course on Africa and I learned much about our huge capacity to hate and harm one another.
I have been asking myself all day today will we ever learn to live in peace with each other? No anger from me today just bone deep sadness.
Will people ever see us as individuals outside of the box they have so neatly packaged us in?
One of the symptoms of being prejudiced against an outgroup is that you see them as being ‘all the same’ while you see your ingroup as being varied. White people can’t tell any of us apart because they don’t give a shit. And the societal structure they have created makes sure that they don’t have to give a shit.
We live in a classist society where a certain large segment of the population lives in a world uninhabited by scary ‘others’. South Africa was a capitalist system built on racism. America is no different.
July 17th, 2007 at 9:49 pm
With regards to the commentary, I could agree with the aurthor. As a young black woman I can relate to most of the obersavtions made by the “black man that is angry”. The statement I see people, I don’t see race is a joke in many cases when it comes to black people applying for jobs, trying to get promoted, applying for home loans/credit etc.. It’s hard for us.. We are immediately judged by the coat we were on a daily basis… this wasn’t our choice… I believe society should really take a look at themselves in the mirror and see who really are the “Niggas” walking around - for those who don’t know the true meaning of that ugly word…. look it up… Call me a hopeless romantic so to speak.. I just hope one day the word equality really applies to everyone…