An explanation of why I think racial equality will always be just out of our reach as a society.
The year 2007 has been a year that shines light on the fact that we aren't the “colorblind” generation that we claim to be. We pretend not to notice because race is such a sensitive subject, but we're all living a lie.
As I scanned the news for a legitimate topic for this opinion column, events like the Mike Vick dog fighting case, the Don Imus controversy, and some recent events at the University of Mississippi such as the DKE incident and reports of suspicious males that could be 95 percent of the black males on campus stuck out in my mind and prompted me to address some of the racial issues in our great nation.
I know I'm not the only person out there who has entered into what had the makings of an all-white situation, and breathed a long sigh of relief when I saw the only other black person in the room staring right back at me. But I've also been in situations when that black face in the crowd wasn't there and there are no words that can describe the emptiness and loneliness that consumed me as I searched for someone who looked like me.
I knew I'd most likely never be friends with that person, and would probably not even speak to them but I desperately searched the crowd for any trace of brown skin; their mere presence is enough to calm me down because I feel like I could never hope to be treated fairly in an all white environment.
When I say “treated fairly,” I don't mean that I'd be called a nigger (I feel the word has to be said for effect, phrases like “the N-word” and “racial slurs” just don't do it justice) or asked to leave, sometimes the unfair treatment is more subtle. It can be a stare, a look of shock, or even patronization. In those situations, I rarely say anything because I know that I'm intruding in their world.
I accept it because I know life isn't fair; this harsh reality has been pounded into my skull since the first time I felt the pangs of mistreatment. Even to say the scales are tipped in favor of white people is an understatement because in reality, they still own the scale, we're just requesting permission to be weighed. Yet too many times the word equality is thrown around frivolously when race is involved; I hear things like “the search for equality,” “will opportunities in America ever be equal?”, and “the fight for equality. “
Equality is a term that should only apply to problems in math books because it doesn't exist in the real world and never will, especially in the context of race. We can't even begin to reduce the weight of race on every issue in society until white people actually understand what it means to be white.
By “understand what it means to be white,” like Fran Lebowitz in 1997, I don't mean for you to try to understand how black people feel or imagine what it means to be black because a white person will never understand how it feels to be 17-years-old and surrounded by five black SUVs containing white police officers after being pulled over for an expired tag; to have a woman lock her car doors as you walk by; to see a woman grip her purse with superhuman-like strength as you approach.
What I ask of you is to try to understand the glorious nature of being white, the massive advantages of having the “chosen skin.” Only then will you truly understand why even the smallest things are issues of race in the eyes of black America; why black people loyally rally around figures like Mike Vick as they struggle in a biased justice system; why we will openly celebrate every victory we can get from O.J Simpson getting acquitted to a black person being a primary character in an episode of Friends.
As so many have said, there will never be a level playing field and the term playing field implies that there are limits and set rules. It implies that one day we may be able to overcome the differences, but it's completely inaccurate. White people aren't even on the playing field. They created the rules and the stadium and put us on the playing field. They ARE the game and we can never win; we can never BE white so we can never be equal with white people, only advance slightly and we have to be satisfied with that.
Now, I know someone out there is rolling their eyes at this column and thinking that I'm playing the race card again but even the phrase “the race card” is an offensive statement. Being black isn't like being the big joker. Black culture, life, and hardships don't form a trump card to be used to win a game; to imply that hundreds of years of hardships somehow give us an advantage is ridiculous. Even if we were playing cards, “the race card” would only be a ten of hearts.
I don't dislike white people, after all, I am at Ole Miss, and I don't blame this generation for the mistakes of former generations, but I do blame each of us for trying to sugarcoat the subject and convince everyone that one day in the near future everything will be ok.
I'm not making excuses for the black community to sit on the steps and blame white America for their problems or think that success is unobtainable, I'm simply stating facts, saying what some are in denial about and what a select few realize, but are afraid to say. We're always going to have to work harder. We're always going to have to be bigger, faster, and stronger. Accept it.
