Black in America Feedback

Black in America with Soledad O'Brien was on CNN last night and some very interesting points were made about being black in the United States.

The most intriguing point for me was the wide differentiation between siblings who were raised in the same environment but ended up at opposite ends of the spectrum. In the case of Michael Eric Dyson and his brother, where he is extremely accomplished and his brother is in jail for life, it shows that race in America is more complicated than black and white.

Slavery ended in 1865 but black people have only been allowed to “roam” the country freely for thirty or forty years. That's only one and a half generations away. Most of us still have grandparents who remember when black folk were beat up and killed just for sport. There's a certain psychological affliction that occurs when a person, or a people in this case, is exposed to the possibility or the proposition of powerlessness.

Those of us with the ability to strategize use this possibility to our advantage. We study out competition, oftentimes mimicking what appear to be their positive traits, thus the accusation that we're “acting” white. Acting white has little do with it. The point is that we've discovered a way to survive figuratively, financially, and aesthetically.

Others of us dig in our heels and become defiant at the idea of assimilation. The problem with this is that we give white people too much credit. They didn't actually invent positive social behaviors or aptitude. Human beings are also not naturally defiant and being defiant is therefore a learned behavior that can only appear so after prolonged periods of anger or feelings of unfairness. It's easy to be angry when opportunities appear out of reach, but harboring feelings of hatred is unhealthy and counterproductive.

Then we have the lowest common denominator, those in the Black community who gravitate toward the most aggressive form of behavior. If it walks like a thug and talks like a thug most people think it's a thug. It seems to be a right of passage that a lot of young black people need to experience. It is why more than a million black men are in prison and why so many black children are raised in poverty. Social skills, just as antisocial skills, are learned behaviors. When parents are socially inept their children are more likely to follow suit.

It's always easier to take the low road especially when it seems acceptable. On the one hand personifying the original gangster is empowering. On the other hand the act isn't original at all and in fact is most often self effacing.

We will suffer, as a race, until black people recognize that the enemy is within. When Black parents choose better friends, better partners, better schools, and better neighborhoods their children, and we, will recover.