Somehow, I feel like the way I've been living is wrong. Up until this class, I've lived pretending as though my blackness has no further implication than the fact that I have more pigment than the people around me. Being black has never been uncomfortable for me; I don't count the number of black people when I walk in a room or take due note of how many are in a given community. I've been the "token black kid" all of my life: I wen't to a predominately white, private grade school and now college. It's never been a point of contention for me. I've never encountered direct racism/oppression. And in many ways I've lived in a bubble of privilege.
But since we've been studying in class, I somehow feel naive. I feel like my experience is definitely not reflective of that of the greater community. I've never felt more ignorant. The part of this class that has had the biggest impact on me is the discovery of the systemic obstacles to being black in the whole society. It's incredible to me how, even though we have strode forward, the very legs with which we move are molded in racist ideology. It's incredible to me how slavery was considered part of the very essence of the democracy that we now cherish. It's crazy how non-black expectations of a black person's behavior today are reflective of the very expectations held by racists of then. Though we say we moved past it, it definitely still lingers.
With that being said, I'm torn between "post-racial" to more "post-black". There's a book out by a guy named Toure called Who’s Afraid of Post-Blackness? What It Means to Be Black Now where he explores this notion of there being no definition to being black. There's no mold or box that one must fit into, but being black undoubtedly has an profound impact on who an individual is. There's a part of the book where he writes about some art and interprets as saying "These people are our history, so honor them, but also, these people are history, so let’s move on".
And that's where my struggle is. I agree, I honor my history and my blackness--thanks in large part to what we've learned in this class--but I also truly believe in moving on, moving forward, and letting the traditional notion of "blackness" go. I think pretending like race doesn't exist is insane. But to me, being black still means little more than just "being-black".
What do you guys think about coming to a point where race has no implication. We can't ignore that there are black and non-black people. But so what?
I'll have to check out this book by Toure. His argument is interesting. The post-racial ideology is everywhere, and its main function seems to be shutting down any conversation about race. If we do not acknowledge race, we cannot talk about it. I have always thought of post-racial ideology as a mechanism of white supremacy.
ReplyDeletePost-race means there is no racism, right? But we know that is not true. Some of us see racism in our daily lives, but it can surely be seen in institutions where still only white people are given power. I would agree with Toure that there really is no absolute "definition to being black." People can be anything, anyone. People are diverse, regardless of their skin--they come from different places, have different interests and opportunities…of course there is no single way to be black.
However, it seems that white people still have a narrow, often negative definition of being black, and that is the problem. I'm not sure whose responsibility it is to move on and move forward--perhaps it is a black and white responsibility. But as long as racism does exist, and we are still defining people according to race (especially in a disadvantaged way), then I do not think race should be ignored. Race still has many implications for individuals and institutions. I wish that it didn't.
After taking this course and being able to sit in on many related lectures, I, too, feel as though I have been living in a world of ignorance. Although I come from statistically one of most racist southern states, I do not feel as though I have been exposed to blatant racism and discrimination.
ReplyDeleteThis course really has showed me the endless boundaries that racism can have. Racism exists without people ever even realizing it is there. During one of the lectures that I attended, the speaker discussed a song remix that discussed Kanye West's words that "George Bush does not care about black people" in reference to the thousands of people left in New Orleans during the hurricane. When I first heard this comment many years ago, I did not really buy into what West was saying because I did not believe that Bush would not want to help citizens of the country he was running. While I still do not think Bush's intent was to abandon thousands of people, I cannot help but wonder if the response by the Bush administration would have been different had the majority of people still left in New Orleans had been different. Similarly, would his response have been different had the state of Texas been affected as much as New Orleans was? Are people simply predispositioned to favor as well as prioritize their own culture, background and ethnicity?
I too, feel like my perspective of race has been turned upside down this semester. I am taking this class and another on race, and it has completely changed my way of looking at race. In the past I have always viewed myself as very open minded and accepting because I didn't notice race, and now I feel as if I was being ignorant and racist for NOT noticing race. I feel as if not being cognizant of the problems that exist makes me more racist, because I was living in this happy little bubble. At times it feels like we can never live in a post-racial society (we definitely don't right now) because of all of the historically implications it has had on our society.
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