Terry L. Dean tdean1@netscape.net
I've been on Voices for two semesters now. It's been an experience that I could not have imagined. One of things I had hoped to accomplish was to use the Voices Op-Ed pages to address important issues in our community, racism being one of the main issues. Why? Because it is and has been for some 400 years the most pressing issue dividing this country.
It's not abortion - though that issue may be running a close second - or the death penalty. It is race and all that has come to encompass it: slavery, affirmative action, the O.J. Simpson trial, the Rodney King verdict, Brown v. Board of Education, the Alabama bus boycott, the 1963 Birmingham church bombings, which took the lives of four innocent girls. I could go on and on and on.
What I have come to find is that almost everyone has an opinion about racism, be it factual or distorted, thoughtful or illogical. Because people have such a strong and visceral reaction, it's odd to hear people try and downplay it. "Race is not as bad as it used to be," I hear and read over and over again. How can something that's not really that big a deal cause people so much angst as soon as it's brought up? Because most have no real concept of racism, and I'm talking about those of all races.
Yet, I gear this message toward whites, as I do most columns. Why do you all throw a fit every time Tommy Curry refers to blacks as "Africans" and to you as "Europeans?" "Because we're all Americans!" Right? We are, and so are Italian-Americans who call themselves "Italian" or Irish-Americans who call themselves "Irish." It's the same race-based reference to their culture, but you don't get up in arms and tell them to go back to Italy or Ireland. You don't even tell Matt Hale to go back to wherever the Hales come from.
I do consider myself a black American, and my ancestors - I'm pretty certain - came from Africa. I could be wrong, but I think that's a safe bet. Other blacks can call themselves whatever they feel comfortable with, and so can whites. But blacks/African/Afro-American/people of color and such are constantly attacked for projecting and communicating their culture through race-based terms. Those attacks tend to be extremely unfair.
Also, another thing that some whites don't consider: if I ask white people about their backgrounds - where their parents or grandparents come from - I'll get some interesting stories. Their grandparents and great-grandparents came from Italy, Ireland, Poland and so forth. You ask me that question, and I can't really answer. My great-grandparents, I think both sets, worked on plantations in the South. They were slaves.
And where did they come from? Can't really answer that one either. Who knows where in Africa most of our ancestors really come from? You want a basic understanding? Take a history class in Black American Studies and you'll have an idea. I do know we were sold and our families were usually broken up. Men and women, particularly male slaves, were sold like horses. Which one could make the best babies and do a great deal of work?
It kind of makes you pause and think when people say things like, "You blacks should stop living in the past" or "Other ethnic groups experienced prejudice, racism and even slavery." No, your grandfather and great-grandmother were not bartered for goods; beaten and bread like animals; forced to work in 100-plus degree heat from sun up to sun down with a 50-pound ball and chain shackled to their leg; earned no wages for such strenuous labor; forced to eat the leftovers from their slave masters; slept and lived in deplorable conditions - no heat in the winter and no air-conditioning during the summer, and so on and so on and so on. There's a reason why slavery in America is called "The Peculiar Institution."
I can't speak for others, but for me, there is a void in my historical family connection. Mind you, I've not traced my ancestors like others have, but there's still time on earth to do so in the future.
But maybe that void is true for other blacks. Maybe that's why some don't want to have anything to do with their past - Africa, slavery, segregation, et al. And perhaps that's why so many blacks cling to anything that is "black" so tightly, even at the misplaced criticism of whites.
The reality: blacks have had it worse than any other ethnic group in this country. This is not a contest or a badge of honor. It's the God-awful truth. And though things are better, racism still permeates every facet of society, as it always has - in education, politics, business, the criminal justice system, coaching and ownership in sports, housing and so on and so on and so on.
Now, call me "another angry black man" if you wish. Before you do, however, ask yourself this one hypothetical question: Would you now or at any time in the past want to live as a black person in America? Since racism isn't as bad as WE say, your answer should be an easy one.
The Unusual Suspect appears periodically. Terry is a senior in journalism. His views do not necessarily reflect those of the Daily Egyptian.
Published on 11/17/05; 12:24:44 PM
