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Colorblind: Racial Ignorance in America
Though she knew she was breaking the law, Rosa Parks, a simple, elderly, hard working,
housemaid, one day decided she would not give up her seat on the bus for a white man. And with that small act of defiance, she became, unintentionally, a Civil Rights icon.
Parks never intended to be a popular and respected leader of this movement. She only wanted to be comfortable after a day of being on her feet. Parks was arrested, and with the media outrage that followed, America’s eyes began to open.
Sadly, that is a lie. America’s eyes have yet to open. They have steadfastly remained in darkness.
Being the youngest child of an interracial marriage, I am often asked if this relationship has affected me in any way. To be honest, I am rather offended by people who question me about this.
I am simply a teenage girl who chooses to ignore her parents' heritage, racial stigmatism, or any of the myopic, stereotypical prejudices one wishes to impose. That's their problem, not mine.
To be frank, you could not pay me enough to care what slave ship brought my fathers family from Ethiopia. Nor can I feel a pang of sorrow when relatives tell me of my ancestors' hardships when they immigrated to America. I know it sounds harsh. And yes, in a way, it bothers me. But, it is the truth.
I did realize that my father was the same color crayon in my crayon box, brown. But it hadn't occurred to me that he was African- American until the age of seven when a classmate asked, “Why doesn’t your daddy look like your mommy?” My initial reaction was to shake my head and argue that my father looked just like anyone else's father.
How could it could be possible that he was different. He coached my biddy ball team, sat through my two hour Christmas concerts, cooked when mom was away. At that age, some children have yet to learn the difference between doing and being.
That night, at dinner, I saw my parents differently. With my recent discovery, I slowly began to understand that I was biracial, and supposedly different, just like my dad.
As I grew older and went through Catholic school, teachers asked if I celebrated Kwanza. Some classmates called me cookie dough, and parents asked me about Black History Month.
No, I do not celebrate Kwanza, nor does my dad. In my opinion, Kwanza is a recently created black Christmas to build more of a barricade, to separate, not for reasons of heritage, or being different in a positive way.
I did, at one time, let people nickname me because of my skin color. My own mother even took the
liberty of calling me peanut butter. But now, since I have been questioning and thinking, being called peanut butter, Reese cup, and mocha bear, offends me. Or when people say that I am mixed, I feel like yelling. I am not a beverage, so how can I be mixed?
I believe Black History Month, along with other months dedicated to a specific group, should be prohibited. There is no need to focus on a particular group for an entire month. Instead, parents, teachers, and media should discuss historical interests throughout the year.
Historian, Carter G. Woodson’s original Black Awareness Week ,was intended to help others envision a better future through an identity of their past. But now, his vision has become a pop culture phenomenon, which corporate America has been quick to exploit. During the last Super Bowl, for example, several corporate commercials specifically mentioned Black History Month, and how much they honored it.
Another injustice of our nation is affirmative action. On September 24, 1965, the executive order number 11246 required federal contractors, “Take affirmative action to ensure that applicants are employed, and that employees are treated during employment, without regard to their race, color, religion, sex, or
national origin.” With affirmative action, employers are being asked to hire less qualified workers and in some instances for more money. Title II of the Act prohibited discrimination in privately owned businesses and facilities opened to the public. In Title VI of the Act, it prohibited discrimination in federally funded programs. Title VII prohibited discrimination by both private and public employers. During the Civil Rights Era, affirmative action was created to abolish racial imbalances in hiring policies. Affirmative action was later extended to include college admissions and governmental contracts.
Today, affirmative action is a controversial matter facing our equal rights status of individual rights. As I have just recently explained, the idea and hope that affirmative action implemented was that America would truly become equal. So far, this hope and dream of equality has lasted thirty years and has yet to resolve any of our current problems concerning equal rights-it has made things worse. This act was created with intention of using reverse discrimination to resolve discrimination. With this, minority groups are being chosen over qualifications of other workers.
Affirmative action is also influential in the educational system. In some college admissions, minority students who may have never been accepted into a decent college, are now getting accepted. With this, the American people believe that this will end all racism on school campuses, creating diversity among students. The United States constitution states that all Americans are created equal. Therefore, I believe if we are created equal, shouldn’t we all have the same opportunity as everyone else?
Finally, Black Entertainment Television, commonly known as BET, creates a stereotypical outlook on the African American culture. Founded by Robert L. Johnson in 1980, the network showed movies, television series, and music to target an African American audience. BET justifies racism by pressing personal and broad generalizations about African Americans, affecting how many young viewers see the African American culture. Many generalizations include being womanizers, promiscuous, nuisances to society, and opposing integration.
This network contributes to the stereotypical diet of African Americans: fried chicken, cherry Kool-Aid, and soul food. BET also neglects the fact that most African Americans do not find people of Caucasian heritage as the bad guys or the nerds. Also, BET would like to portray the ‘injustices’ of being an American citizen who happens to be of African descent. For example, if one were to create a new television franchise called White Entertainment Television, or more commonly known as WET, people would assume it would be promoting white supremacy. BET exploits and manipulates the depiction of an African American’s daily life, which is why the network should be renamed or taken out of your basic cable lineup.
Why do Americans feel that they have conquered racism and prejudice? Granted, from that spark that Rosa Parks lit, to the election of Barrack Obama, is one giant leap for mankind. However, we are not even in spitting distance of erasing racial bigotry.
I notice it among my peers when they say, “I would never date a black guy.” Or, “They only like your dad because he’s the only black man they know.” Even, “I’m going through a black guy phase. I have to date one.”
When people mention things like these, intuition tells me it starts in the home. Where else would one learn behavior and comments of that nature? Social prejudice is not innate. It has to be predisposed. If one truly wishes to stop the idea of seeing race, it must start within themselves.
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This article has 142 comments.
thank you
thank you
thank you
I commend you for writing this article, and it is very well written. You have a future in writing if thats what you choose to do, but you know that
I can't say I agree with all of them.I think its sad when anyone doesn't care about their heritage - but at least your honest.
I wish Kwanzaa could replace Christmas the seven principles are so much better than what Christmas has become a bunch of hype to get people to buy buy buy basically things they could live without.
The Seven Principles (Nguzo Saba) of Kwanzaa are:
•Umoja (oo-MOH-jah): Unity
Success starts with Unity. Unity of family, community, nation and race.
•Kujichagulia (koo-jee-chah-goo-LEE-ah): Self-Determination
To be responsible for ourselves. To create your own destiny.
•Ujima (oo-JEE-mah): Collective work and responsibility
To build and maintain your community together. To work together to help one another within your community.
•Ujamaa (oo-jah-MAH): Collective economics
To build, maintain, and support our own stores, establishments, and businesses.
•Nia (NEE-ah): Purpose
To restore African American people to their traditional greatness. To be responsible to Those Who Came Before (our ancestors) and to Those Who Will Follow (our descendants).
•Kuumba (koo-OOM-bah): Creativity
Using creativity and imagination to make your communities better than what you inherited.
•Imani (ee-MAH-nee): Faith
Believing in our people, our families, our educators, our leaders, and the righteousness of the African American struggle
The Seven Principles (Nguzo Saba) of Kwanzaa are:
•Umoja (oo-MOH-jah): Unity
Success starts with Unity. Unity of family, community, nation and race.
•Kujichagulia (koo-jee-chah-goo-LEE-ah): Self-Determination
To be responsible for ourselves. To create your own destiny.
•Ujima (oo-JEE-mah): Collective work and responsibility
To build and maintain your community together. To work together to help one another within your community.
•Ujamaa (oo-jah-MAH): Collective economics
To build, maintain, and support our own stores, establishments, and businesses.
•Nia (NEE-ah): Purpose
To restore African American people to their traditional greatness. To be responsible to Those Who Came Before (our ancestors) and to Those Who Will Follow (our descendants).
•Kuumba (koo-OOM-bah): Creativity
Using creativity and imagination to make your communities better than what you inherited.
•Imani (ee-MAH-nee): Faith
Believing in our people, our families, our educators, our leaders, and the righteousness of the African American struggle.
my only problem here is not as inclusive culturally at the Nia and Imani principles.
However when you have been excluded and discriminated against as much as the African American has - I can undersatnd their desire to create something of their own.
Prejudice hardly just belongs to the color of our skin as you have pointed out. It is sad that the world feels anything but who we are inside matters.
I think things are changing slowly as you say and those who try to bring about change don't always do the right thing for sure.
We should all be proud of what we do to further ourselves and those around us and delight in who we are.
love and hugs
deborah
i didn't graduate from college until i was about thirty. i graduated from a traditionally black college in the university of maryland system - bowie state university...sister to howard university, etc. i dealt a great deal with reverse discrimination in my years there, and at other times in my life. i remember in particular one seminar class , the instructor had us separate into groups based on our ancestry - you know, african-american, german/saxon, english, middle eastern, etc. the anglo group (of which i was a part) was not a huge group, but many of us were much older students. the instructor said a bunch of inane stuff and asked if any of us had any questions. a much older woman in my group asked the following question: why is it okay for that young lady over there (she pointed to a pretty young girl in the african group) to wear that t-shirt that has "black power" and "black is beautiful" printed on it, but if i wore a shirt that had "white power" printed on it, i would be considered a racist?"
the instructor shrugged and asked the african group to answer. they said it was because of slavery, etc., etc...it made me really sad.
in my interview for admittance to the education department at bowie, i was asked about diversity and how i would handle celebrating diversity in my own classroom. the professor who asked the question (who knew my opinion quite well and was white, unlike everyone else in the room - i think he wondered if i would be honest) grinned at me. anyway, i told the truth - as i see it: i think too much emphasis has been put on diversity, on the differences between us. i do not believe that this has brought us any closer, believe, instead, that it has only served to separate us even more. people should not think of themselves as german-americans or african-americans or italian-americans -- they shouldn't think of themselves as anything hypen americans. they should consider themselves, instead Americans of whatever descent, that we need to appreciate the differences between us and recognize them, but we should celebrate our similarities...
so. i agree with your piece very much.