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Racial politics and the next generation, part one

Posted in Irshaddering Thoughts on Jan 20, 2010

(Courtesy: WikiCommons)

On Martin Luther King Jr.’s birthday this past week, I joined MSNBC anchor Chris Matthews, Black radio icon Tom Joyner, and many others to discuss race in “Obama’s America.” The LIVE two-hour event aired from Texas Southern University.

My segment focused on young people and the future of race relations. Something I said early on ignited the emotions of a lot of folks, many supportive and many others enraged. The responses — negative and positive — are still being vented. I’ll post them soon. If you want to weigh in, watch this and this.

To prepare for the broadcast, I asked members of my worldwide Facebook community whether their generation is “color-blind.” The conversation took off like a bat outta hell. Highlights:

* “Every time I hear the term ‘color-blind,’ I gag. Color only becomes an issue if you use it to oppress someone. You can’t help but see color. Sheesh. Enough with this bogus term and let’s get real about racism.” - Rosalind

* “There is no such thing as ‘color-blind,’ only ‘color-neutral’ or ‘color-biased.’ My generation, my friends, are smart enough to take everyone as they come, and being black, I know the look and tone of racists. I see it in my neighborhood speckled with confederate flags. I see it in the looks of the police officers and judges in the ‘wrong counties.’ Racism is far more advanced, and while it’s slimming and suffocating, it still exists.” - Sharonda

*  “The younger generation of white Americans are more ‘color-neutral’ than the previous ones. However, that’s not true for other ethnicities. I’m Afghan, and racism and ethnocentrism are sadly thriving in my culture, even amongst the ones that have grown up in the west. Discrimination is alive, especially in the world of dating/marriage. As human beings, we have  a long way to go towards real acceptance.” -  Naheed

* “I don’t consider myself ‘color-blind’ because I feel it erases part of a person’s history and culture. Our culture is becoming more global by the day. It would be foolish to say we don’t recognize the physical differences, but our generation is noting the possibilities in a positive light.” - Ian

* “There are those of us who see a person’s mood before their color and recognize their color only as something that makes them unique.” - Manda

* “I’ve gotten a couple of my Jewish friends mad because I don’t immediately perceive they are Jewish. Same with friends [in the Middle East] who are Arab Christians and Druze. The fact that I don’t make a push to differentiate them is seen as being insensitive to their unique cultural backgrounds.” - Mehdi

* “In order to become ‘color-blind,’ which I am hoping represents acceptance as a whole human, not avoidance of one’s unique background or culture, individuals must be raised to understand their own fears and frailty. I believe most of our worst behaviors steam from fear – fear of being overlooked, of being less than, of being behind whomever crosses the line first. Raising our children to see individuals versus groups or labels will do more to reduce discrimination than any social or media awareness campaign.” - Michelle

* “Here in India, being fair [lighter-skinned] is a huge plus point, especially among the literate, educated classes, even though we are a multi-coloured nation. No amount of objective reasoning or subjective experiences can cure this disease.” - Chetna

* “Coming from Italy, I hate hearing such discriminatory words as terrone, which means ‘Italian of the South’; negro; Vu Cumpra, which means Moroccans asking ‘do you wanna buy?’ [Vuoi Comprare], frocio, which means ‘faggot’ and stupid words like that. This really hurts me a lot. These words are used by young people every day, in a light-hearted way, like it was normal. We definitely have to do something.” - Juliette

* “I can’t stand the N-word. It doesn’t just affect the black community. The widespread use of it outside of our immediate community is now de-sensitizing any and all Americans. It’s embarrassing to see African-American youths using the N-word, rapid-fire, around elderly caucasians, asians, indians or whatever, essentially forcing these people to get used to this harsh word. We’re becoming de-sensitized to the point of using it N-I-G-G-A style (familiarity) or N-I-G-G-E-R style (racist). For me, there is no distinction between N-I-G-G-E-R and N-I-G-G-A. The first word is an insult while the second word is a term of brotherhood and community.  Yet we ALL know that just as a weapon can be used as a tool, any tool can be used as a weapon.”- Antar

* “I think there’s as much racism as there ever has been, but fewer opportunities for discrimination. Anyone can be a racist — no matter their color or station in life – but it takes power or advantage to discriminate.” - Elizabeth

* “I recently attended a student/parent meeting for students who have high school ‘truancy’ issues. Of the 20 or so students reported absent enough to be considered ‘truant,’ only one was white. There were maybe three Hispanics (my son being one) and the rest were Black. My son skipped those hours with his WHITE friends. Where they not marked absent? Did they get out of having to attend the ‘mandatory’ meeting? Maybe the younger generation is color-blind but their lives are not.” - Lauren

* “The U.S. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid talked about Obama as a ‘light-skinned black’ who doesn’t have a ‘Negro dialect.’ This was a comment prompted not just by Reid’s prejudices, but also his appraisal of the prejudices that he thought the American electorate shared. However, it was a not a racist comment. On the other hand, there is Bill Clinton’s comment that ‘a few years ago, he [Obama] would have been bringing us coffee,’ allegedly uttered in the heat of the moment to Ted Kennedy when Bill was frustrated by Obama’s success over Hillary. That was indeed a racist comment since it was intended in a hurtful and disparaging way.” - John

* “America’s youth (and many adults) really need to understand that they have an important legacy to pass on to the next generation. The responsibility of standing up for conscience and for what is right includes the true acceptance of all people regardless of skin color or background. We need to show respect for those who have gone before them; those brave souls and countless millions who had a dream, sacrificing their own personal aspirations so that a new nation, conceived in liberty, would not perish from the Earth.” - Ismail

PART TWO WILL BE POSTED IN A FEW DAYS. MEANWHILE,  MY FB FANS ARE RECOMMENDING BOOKS, ARTICLES AND VIDEOS FOR FURTHER REFLECTION:

Estherhadas recommends a provocative commentary from the New York Daily News. She says “it’s one Black man’s opinion about why he doesn’t like the term ‘African-American.’”

A quote that stands out for her: “…there is something far from backward about the sound of ‘Negro’ and the magnificent people who used that word to describe themselves.  They gave it majesty; they made it luminous… America was bettered by the non-violent, multi-racial civil rights movement, not by those who saw anything less than black-approved self-segregation as a form of selling out. They did not call themselves African-Americans, which is a pretentious term conceived by Jesse Jackson and some black academics.”

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Manda recommends a children’s book called The Crayon Box that Talked, by Shane Derolf. She describes it as “beautiful and relevant.”

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Jamie recommends a British TV comedy clip featuring an incompetent translator. He warns, “I can see why it could be incredibly offensive, but I also see the humour in it. The first time I watched I could not stop laughing. An important point to make is that the British will almost always mock themselves also.”

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Minki recommends the blistering stand-up act of Russell Peters, who “tells the truth in the most humorous manner.” But she cautions, “it is not for everyone…”