blacksnextdoor

Wow, life so very chock full of drama personal and otherwise, stayed in bed until close to noon Saturday I was so wiped out and even then, ventured outside my blankie with extreme reluctance.

Choppy rewind: Eric Holder in a speech honoring Black History Month accuses the U.S. of being a ‘nation of cowards’ for not discussing race enough.  

Honestly, I find our Attorney General quite good looking – love his laughing eyes, that dark ‘stache and the way he wears a tie and jacket.  But that remark was a boisterous power chord without music to follow.

All Americans seem to discuss is race. The commentary is non-stop and mostly grudge driven.  For instance, if one more black woman tries to bond with me by referring to white women as if they’re some radioactive force that must be controlled, I’ll jump screaming off the nearest cliff.

The problem seems to be that there are no clear guidelines for what healthy discussions about race are. I would say NO discussions about race are what I look for day to day. I prefer taking people one at a time and am always invigorated by those I meet who don’t follow the script.

On the subject of ‘the script,’ the Bullet Proof Weave story that emerged mid-week never mentioned race, yet seemed to have no function other than to question black female beauty.  Surely, in a trigger happy nation like ours where guns are in such abundance, people survive being shot at every day.

But for some reason, a black woman’s scalp was suddenly being shown over and over inviting viewers to step right up and take a peek at the monstrous mechanics of her hair. It’s a real downer when the news has the same circus bark as The Maury Povich or Jerry Springer show. Had little time to process how to respond to the leering anchor people on Eyewitness News in New York reporting this trash with the controversy over the New York Post cartoon raging, however.

I don’t see the point in accusing The New York Post of being racist. It’s a Murdoch creation like Fox News designed to be just that.  All the hurt feelings and shock that The Post could print such a thing struck me as dumb.

What I did relate to was singer, John Legend putting companies who advertise with the Post on the spot by asking them to not run ads in the paper as well as refusing interviews with Post reporters and encouraging other entertainers to do the same.

Perfect.  The Post has been a dying paper for a while and will regret publishing that cartoon because of threats to its revenue stream far more than black people sobbing and putting on temper tantrums about how hurt we are and vulnerable our feelings.

From Rush Limbaugh to The New York Post, the voices of the Republican party continue to broadcast fear of the future. That’s why the right wing fantasy of a chimp being murdered is so symbolic.

The planet has evolved without anyone’s consent. The future is a force of nature – and it’s coming no matter how much they try and shoot at it.

One could say a very quiet, bloodless revolution has taken place.

Blacks have taken over the White House.

Or as I heard a famously bigoted Spanish speaking colleague complain to a family member on her cell phone, “This is horrible. This country’s going down the drain.”

I’ve noticed too many times, immigrants with no history as long or as tied to the creation of this country from the ground up – literally —  as African Americans, waving American flags at the same time they exhibit extremely anti-African American sentiments.

A few years ago, my son and I got in a cab in Meriden Connecticut en route to Wesleyan University in Middletown. It was a perfect day and as he hurried from the cab to return to his dorm, he looked so inspired, his shoulder length dreadlocks bouncing as he rushed back to complete a summer program he’d already begun. My motherly reverie was quickly interrupted by the cab driver as he coasted off.

“Your son goes there? Wow. ” He began. “Black people lazy.  Very lazy.  No computers.  No studying.  All they want is to steal and sell drugs. You’re lucky. Your son is different .”

I instantly regretted having asked him to take me back to the train station and considered getting out, calling the company and requesting another cab. Peering into the rear view mirror, all I could see was someone gold-brown with a coif of jet black hair and an equally jet black unibrow.

I wasn’t able to tell if he was aware he was making the most racist observation one stranger can make to another, and intentionally insulting me or was someone so out of touch with the American mainstream, he considered this acceptable small talk with a black female passenger.

“How long have you been in this country?” I asked.

“Not long time.” He shrugged.

“Obviously, because you don’t know very much about African-Americans, “ I fired back, adding in afterthought, “Are you a citizen?”

You can find both my maternal grandparents on passenger lists at ellisislandrecords.org. I’m not exactly Captain America, but my reasoning was that if he had been given the educational materials on U.S. history and society that immigrants study to become citizens, he wouldn’t be so ignorant.

 “I am a citizen, miss.” he sang in an impatient tone.

I tipped him the same amount I would have tipped a driver who had not ruined my afternoon, fearing that by not doing so, I would somehow make his negative perception of black people worse. Noticing the angry stare he was giving me as I got out, I realized I shouldn’t have given him a dime. It occurred to me that I should place a complaint with the dispatcher. Too overwhelmed by the whole thing, however, I merely boarded my train feeling upset.

The prevailing myth is that on entering the US, an immigrant is granted economic opportunity unequalled anywhere else on the planet and that this economic mobility alone is what will define them as American. 

Still, there’s a little test that US Citizenship and Immigration Services requires that an immigrant pass that is written in the same disinterested voice as a driver’s manual.  I was able to find 100 of its sample questions online. Only one, which asks who Martin Luther King was, alludes to black people having played a crucial role in the creation of not just the physical, but ideological foundations of this country.

The correct answer seems to be: a civil rights leader.  I’m not sure, however,  how tangible the words ‘civil rights’ are to someone who may come from a society where minorities are discriminated against or even methodically raped and murdered as a social strategy.

The Civil Rights Act of 1964 stopped lots of evil, extremely backwards behavior in this country.  More importantly, it set a standard — see MLK’s  “I Have Dream Speech”  for the most eloquent example of this — that we haven’t reached entirely, (some might say at which we’ve failed miserably) but still puts us light years ahead of so many of the countries from which immigrants arrive every day.

So it is absolutely essential to make it understood by immigrants and Americans alike, that the source of some of our countries most cherished ideals are the African-American community.

Or more simply put, there would be NO bill or legislation that grants such an open access society without thousands upon thousands of black people having visualized, protested and organized it.

May all we African-Americans work hard to create the context for an Afrocentric society that the Obama presidency presents.

Our race has never been in the national or global spotlight to the extent that it is now.  How can we really best leverage this moment?

As for those of you who didn’t get Aretha’s hat.  I have one word for you: gele. Go to http://www.gelestyles.com to acquaint yourself with how continuous this cultural continuum of ours really is!

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