I apologize that it has taken so long between posts. It has been an extremely busy time of year for me between the gym, work, softball several times per week, and school. At any rate, as you may guess from the title, this blog could get a little heated, if anyone chooses to comment. In many ways that's good, as you'll see below.
Did anyone watch the "Black in America" series by CNN? I only watched one espisode, but I also read a few of the articles on CNN.com. Wow was it thought provoking! The overall feeling I got from the program was an endless circle of anger, fear, and resentment due to a variety of factors, with "both sides" doing their part to keep the cycle going.
Watch the commercial for the program that I posted, go over to YouTube and search for "Black in America," and you'll see many segments from the actual series. You can also go to CNN.com and search for articles related to the program. Seems to me that most of us on this site are white, so this discussion, if you guys care to comment, will be one-sided, but can still be useful.
We are afraid to have these types of discussions for fear of offending someone and yes, we certainly do need to be careful to be courteous and respectful of one another. But, the time for these types of discussions is now. If done respectfully, it should only help us to overcome these issues.
At the risk of pontification...I am obviously white and have not "walked a mile in the moccassins" of a black man...my thoughts on the matter are this. There are no easy solutions. It will take a lot of work and heartache for everyone in order to reach an acceptable solution. I don't think racism will ever be completely abolished. There will always be those who dislike anyone or anything which is "different." Even every day, good people will always discriminate to some degree or another. Just by making a choice, you discriminate against one thing and show favoritism to the other, even if no harm was meant, it can be interpreted that way.
As gay and bisexual men, we understand discrimination very well. We also understand that very few will wake up one day and think "You know what? I haven't been giving gays the respect they deserve. I'll start doing that." And while respect ultimately is given, never taken, steps can be taken to make it easier for someone to give respect.
The first step, I think, is to stop viewing yourself as the victim. "Man, I can't find a job because I'm black." While there is an element of truth in that statement, that cannot be the only reason. I work with many blacks in my career and they are all as successful or more so than I am. Just looking around the hallways however, it is quite clear that they are under represented with regards to their proportion in society. Why is that? It's complicated, of course, but I believe that one of the keys to being successful and respected in the world is education.
One of the things "Black in America" discussed was the lack of education prevalent in black society. Many of my teacher friends have told me that during elementary school, black children perform just as well as their peers, but once they reach middle school and high school, their grades fall off dramatically. As "Black in America" told it, this is because black peer students accuse good black students of "trying to be white" or being a "sell out." As we all know, it is during middle and high school that your friends become an extremely important influence factor. The Black community MUST make education a priority, if they want to earn the respect they deserve and reverse the trend of poverty and resorting to crime to make ends meet.
Education is the key. Sounds simple, doesn't it? It is much more complicated than that, I'm afraid, and education alone will not end racism, but it will go a very long way to breaking the endless cycle of poverty and crime, and empowering the black community. Once blacks as a whole become more educated, then we as the white ruling class (no...I do not hold a management or leadership position, but I am white) will have no basis for job discrimination, legally speaking.
I believe that most of us are not racist in that we believe whites are superior to others, but naturally, we do prefer to be with people who are like us, just as blacks like to be with blacks, latinos with latinos, etc. Since we have most of the positions of authority, however, this leads to unintentional (and isolated cases of intentional) institutional racism. This is what affirmative action was intended to combat. Once blacks become more educated and therefore just as qualified as whites, affirmative action should lead to more blacks (and other minorities) in the work place and more in leadership positions. Well...that's the way it should work anyway. We also know there are many flaws in that system as well.
There have been many many books and articles on this issue, and I'm sure we all have opinions. I'd love to hear them. Please, though...keep it civilized.
Spout
