In America there are few things that are more important than race.
Making race super-important deprives
Americans of devoting more
time and energy to other matters, some of which have to do with
life and death.
How important is race in America? It is important but not as important as most Americans make it to be. Race is not everything. Yet, in America it is important for both black people and white people in different ways and for dffferent reasons. (In this discourse I will use Black instead of African American and White instead of Caucasian. These are terms I use when addressing racism.) In America Race is an obsession for black people and a dilemma for white people.
The primary focus of this discussion is with black folks' obsession with race, not with the American dilemma which is essentially a white problem. In "An American Dilemma: The Negro Problem and Modern America," a 1944 study on race relations made by Swedish Nobel- laurate economist Gunnar Mydral that was funded by the Carnegie Foundation he found that there existed a vicious cycle in which whites oppressed Negroes and Negroes' poor performance was reason for the oppression." This is like loading 150 pounds of bricks on the back of a person and requiring him to run as fast and as far as the man without a single brick. Mydral concluded that the 'black problem" is a "white problem." That is, whites as a collective were responsible for the disavantageous situation in which blacks were trapped."
This writer agrees with Mydral's assessment. While blacks have made signficant progress resulting from the Civil Rights Movement of the mid-1950's and 1960's they have not achieved equity with white Americans. They have a long way to go before justice is realized. After nearly seventy years Mydral's thesis remains true. The American Dilemma was then and is now a white problem which for the most part whites' response are expressed with guilt, denial, color blindness and falsely contending that Americans now live in a post-racial society. They say that America having a black President proves the corrrectness of their contention. Blacks comprising 12 percent of the population and 47 percent of the prison population, making America the world's number one jailer, may be a better measurement to gauge the present racial nature of America.
In the remaining portion of this discourse the focus is on "Black Americans' obsession with race and the path out of their dilemma, which is different from the American dilemma which is a white problem, similarly as the American Dream for black folks, as accuratly articulated by Martin Luther King, Jr., in his "I have a Dream" speech that was delivered at the Lincoln Memorial in 1963. Paraphrasing , King said, "The dream of black folks is rooted in the American Dream" which, in fact, is not the American dream, at least not the American Dream enjoyed by white folks.
Black folks have an obsession with race, partly because of their history, the legacy of slavery, legal segregation and disfranchisement, but also because of the practice of racism which is systemic in their present-day living. The "Webster's Dictionary" defines obsession as a "persistent disturbing preoccupation with an often unreasonable idea or feeling; a compelling motivation." An obsession has characteristics that are similiar to those of addiction.
Race colors much in life and impacts how blacks conduct their lives: in making decisions, the way they relate not only to white people but to other blacks. An example is when a black person accepts the standard for beauty as espoused by whites. When I was a Iad I heard people talk about good hair. And while they did not always say they had bad hair, when referring to someone, even if it was another black person who had staight hair similiar to that of a white person they said, "She has good hair," which implied that blacks with the texture of hair that most blacks had was "bad hair." Admittedly, I used a lot of lard-like grease on my hair in attempting to give the impression to others that I was moving closer toward having "good hair, even though I would never get there." Thank God, I learned better.
For black folks it is high time and long overdue to cease being obsessed with race and put race in its proper perspective. This can be done and it must be done if a black person is to live potentially and help by being an example to add to the collective consciousness of not only black people but white people. White people are less inclined to accept black people as equals or deserving of respect when blacks do not accept themselves as being acceptable as they are or trying to be like white people.
As important as race is, and it is easy in a racist society to make it more important than it is, race is not everything. Far from it. The simplest way to become "de-obsessed" with race is to make a practice of these five principles which have effectively liberated me from being a race-conscious person. That is not to say I ignore or disregard race and racism. But I have been able to use race for good, not evil. Come with me.
1. Accept yourself as you are now, and that may mean, as a person obsessed with race.
2. Imagine how you would like to experience race, feel good about your race and the races of others. Imagine seeing yourself as your Creator sees you, as being "wonderfully made."
3. Make a list of the things that you would like to do that you have the opportunity to do but because of fear or a lack of motivation, you do not do these things, such as visiting a library, a museum, a National Park or a white church? Yes, there are white churches and black churches that are attended by people who contend that blacks and whites will be in the same Heaven. When you do these and similar things you will not only learn about white people, you will learn about yourself. You will take a leap in self-discovery which is essential for living in keeping with your potential. 4. Cease viewing the things that you experience as being race--prescribed, race-based or racists-produced. Only then will you be able to keep your power. Frankly, you need all the power you have and more if you are to become fully human.
5. Respect yourself and all people, irrespectively of their race. That means listening respectfully to others and expressing yourself as a person of goodwill. It helps, in this regard, to be aware that everyone has a problem or more than one, that nobody has it made and that anyone can make the best of it.
The human condition is of such that there are times when the most privileged will experience destructiveness and be debilitated even when the less privileged people are enjoying good health, freedom and happiness. Possessing and abundance of stuff does not give a person more freedom or more happiness. Someone has said, "You have never seen a u-haul behind a hearse." Life is fragile. A person cannot know what another day will bring or even if he will exprience another day. So live in the present and live it to the fullest. You cannot do that when race hinders or limits you, preventing you from doing all the good that you can, to all the people that you can, especially in the now. Live in the now and live fully.
Putting race in perspective, as emphasized above, can transform a black person and expand his horizon. This is my testimony. Adhering to these principles enumerated in this discourse I have been liberated and empowered. I have joy that would not have been possible had I maintained my obsession with race.
Never forgegt, race is not everything. You do yourself a disservice when you make it more important than it really is and deny yourself and others blessings you and they deserve. Nobody else can bring to the table the interconnectedness that your uniqueness presents.
So don't fail to make your unique contribution that will add to the consciousness of the human race. That is a noble thing to do. On that note I say, "Amen" to some and "Namaste" to others.
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