Adapting To Race In the United States: 242 To 212
Before I begin, a topic such as race is extremely sensitive and it is for this reason I try to handle it with care. It is not my goal to bash or be condescending towards anyone but it is my desire to give my opinion from this particular seat while trying to understand the other side. This article is focused on the races of black and white as both of these are apart of me. More specifically, it is putting a spotlight on two sub-categories of the black race: the African American (Black American) and the black West Indian. With the perpetual prejudices running throughout these races I hope that whoever reads this is able to understand some current feelings a little bit better.
LIFESTYLE: THE 242
September 2016 will mark two years since I left the place where I was born and raised, The Bahamas, to move to New York City. I am now twenty-six and from the age of fifteen I wanted to move to The Big Apple, not just for opportunity but for the diversity this metropolis offers. Almost two years since my arrival, I can say this city is as diverse as I imagined and I love it. Of course, with diversity, this means there are people from all over the world and not everyone is as liberal as one could imagine; there are a great deal of right-wing conservatives that live here. However, I am also glad to say I have not experienced racism, or have I?
Growing up in The Bahamas, my outlook on race is more of a West Indian than an African American but because The Bahamas is quite Americanized much of what I saw in the media is of the United States of America’s perception; I grew up watching Matt Lauer (NBC’s Today Show) in the mornings before school and Tom Brokaw (NBC Nightly News) in the evenings after school. I identify as Bahamian-American, not African American and my race, biracial as I will explore in a later article. I was born to a black Bahamian mother and a white American father, in a nation where my father is a minority. In The Bahamas, a nation that gained independence from the United Kingdom in 1973, its members of government are mostly black, the leader of its nation is black, many that inhabit affluent neighborhoods are black. People of color in The Bahamas and the Caribbean understand privilege because we hold a great deal of power in these nations. On a side note, If you noticed I separated The Bahamas and The Caribbean I did this because geographically, The Bahamas is not apart of The Caribbean but politically it is linked with other Caribbean countries as part of the larger West Indies.
50 STATES OF BLACK
The topic of racism never was a topic that I cared about but shortly after moving to the United States I saw this article “Racism in America... Caribbean Nationals Just Don’t Get It? By Aiden Neal. This article spoke to me on such a personal level because it matched my life experiences up until that point. Such highlights from the article were “[I] never once notice that my table has the only number of black people in the establishment… without having noticed that we didn’t get straws with our water, or that the other table didn’t have to ask for their bread.” Also, “While I will not dispute that prejudices - whether they be racial, socioeconomic or sexual orientation - do influence the decisions of stakeholders, I’m not so quick to gesture toward the color of my skin,” stated Neal. I absolutely agreed with all of this. This may be deemed as racial ignorance to many people of color in the U.S. but to most Caribbean people we consider this as minutiae. If we were to complain about the restaurant situation we would see it as the restaurant service simply being lousy.
THE GREAT DIVIDE
As I will mention again in a future article, I am drawn more towards my black side and black culture which explains why I am a long-time supporter of Crissle’s and Kid Fury’s podcast, ‘The Read.’ Last July of 2015 I wrote into the episode titled “Who Started From the Bottom?” and asked, “A few times in the past, you have mentioned that there can be prejudice from Caribbean/West Indian people towards Black Americans but never elaborated on why. Although I know why, I want to know why you think that is?” Much of Kid Fury’s answer, who is a Black American but also has Jamaican heritage, was correct but it was not as raw and real as I hoped. I was hoping for Fury to be quite blunt on the prejudices of both African Americans and black West Indians towards each other. Luckily I found these bullet points from a book that was never written titled The Great Divide Between African Americans and West Indians (The Blood That Binds Us Is Thicker Than The Water That Divides Us) by Yashaya. So readers, can we speak about race for a few moments without losing our lids:
“SOME African Americans Feel That:
1. West Indians have been influenced by Whites to believe they are better than African Americans.
2. West Indians relate to African Americans in a condescending manner.
3. West Indians come to America to take over what African Americans have labored to build up.
4. Whites treat Immigrant Blacks better than Black Americans.
5. West Indians display a lack of sensitivity toward the plight of African Americans.
SOME West Indians Feel That:
1. Black Americans are lazy and do not want to be identified with them.
2. African Americans need to stop crying about race and talking about slavery and “get over it.”
3. Black Americans just want hand outs like welfare.
4. African Americans have no true culture.
5. African Americans are jealous of West Indians.”
All in all, Yashaya hit the nail on the head with all ten points. I can honestly say that I know Bahamian and Caribbean people who feel this way, to this day, about African Americans. A great deal of them feel that African Americans think the world owes them something. There are Carib people who work in the hotels and feel that it is the African Americans who are the hardest race to deal with and in some cases run at the sight of serving them. There is also this feeling that because African Americans are oppressed only they can play the victim. For example, a black person can openly state their distaste for another race when dating but if a white person does it is considered to be racism.
LIFESTYLE: THE 212
I am not painting a race of people with a single brush but I will admit that there are two specific incidents since I moved to New York City that made me say, “What the hell!” One, there is this belief that black people cannot be racist. I said to myself, “What did you just say?” I could not believe my ears. I always knew racism to mean simply, racial prejudice or discrimination. So I went ahead and searched because I wanted to understand what influenced this way of thinking. I then went over to good old dictionary.com and stitched together this definition from the three that were presented. Racism is “a belief or doctrine that inherent differences among the various human racial groups… involving the idea that one's own race is superior and has the right to dominate. A policy, system of government, etc., based upon or fostering such a doctrine; discrimination.”
Another incident that I experienced was last summer as I volunteered at a vendor at a popular music festival. The vendor was for a project focused on black people, in fact the entire festival was black-focused. So this white guy comes up to the table to ask a question and before he finished his question, a black customer said, “You’re not black, this is not for you,”. Although what the black customer said was true the delivery was completely uncalled for. That ignited a fire within me and usually that is the type of open rudeness that will get a person addressed but it was not my place to speak up. Let us be honest, one can have all the prejudice and racial feelings they want but to embarrass a person just because of your own personal issues or frustrations is not right.
About a week ago, I overheard an African American lady speaking with an African gentleman. The discussion led to traveling to Jamaica, the African American then says, “Jamaican girls are jealous of American girls. They just stare at you.” There is this one-sided perception that black West Indians and African Americans have of each other. This is a perfect example because the African American girl took the West Indian girl’s prejudice towards her as jealousy when it probably was just the West Indian girl having a sour attitude and not knowing how to contain it. It truly is a misunderstanding between both sides.
BLACKNESS TODAY AND THE MEDIA
Also, let’s take a look at Entertainment culture. The upcoming Nina Simone “biopic” played by Zoe Saldaña-Perego received all the criticism for obvious reasons: the painting of her skin and a prosthetic nose. Speaking with a black West Indian friend, he could not see what the big deal was as he looked at it from an economical standpoint and the pull Zoe Saldaña’s name would have. Fair enough but I did not agree with his opinion. The black face was not upsetting because black face is theatrically used to represent black people and as Zoe Saldaña is considered a black Latina it is not an offense. The issue here is terrible casting, terrible make-up and disregard for what Nina Simone represented. So much of Simone’s craft was speaking against the norm of beauty and being proud of her own beauty.
Gods Of Egypt made headlines last year when its studio announced an all star cast, an all star white cast. A handful of the American public was up in arms as we should know that Egypt is apart of Africa and many of its inhabitants were of color. To be honest after seeing the movie I personally did not see the issue. There were white people, brown people and a black person, here and there. This was a fantasy movie made to purely entertain; it was more along the lines of The Mummy than anything serious. In fact I thought the CGI was more offensive than anything. It literally looked like a stark merging of a CGI world and real life. Due to this public upset the movie opened with a mere $14.5 million in the U.S.
ENLIGHTENMENT
At this point you probably feel that I am just here to bash African Americans. No, no, no this is not the case. Like I mentioned before, most people cannot fully understand what they never experienced no matter how sympathetic one is towards the person or situation. So with that I feel it is only right that I step outside of what I know. I am currently an undergrad in an institution in Manhattan. I like to be informed which is why I signed up for a Men and Masculinities class which speaks about gender, race and sexuality of men through out American History. We are in the second Unit which addresses men, race and the hierarchy of power. The stories of how black men were treated, the big fear of races mixing, black men gaining enfranchisement, education and control of white women by black men brought out such an unbalanced level of territorialism within whites that it led to horrific incidents.
Emmett Till, a 14 year old black boy from Chicago, Illinois was lynched for apparently “flirting” with the then 21-year-old Carolyn Bryant. Till was originally only supposed to be shaken scared by his murderers, Roy Bryant and J.W. Williams, but instead they mutilated his body beyond recognition. Bryant and Williams were acquitted but Till’s mother allowed an open casket and the mass media to attend the funeral. The grotesque image circulated around the nation. It was an image that shook the nation. Sadly enough the image alone was not enough to change the lives of white America. Not until Bryant and Williams confessed to the murder in an interview with a journalist by the name of Huie did the white American public shun them.
Then there was also the incident of a quadruple murder on July 25, 1946 of two young African-American couples: George W. and Mae Murray Dorsey, and Roger and Dorothy Malcolm. George Dorsey had recently returned from serving in the World War II. On July 11 Roger Malcolm had allegedly stabbed Barnette Hester, a white man. He was arrested and later released on July 25. On the way home about 20 armed white men stopped the truck and shouted “We want that nigger[Malcolm].” The wives spoke out against them and were also tied up to a tree with their husbands. Between the four of them, their bodies were riddled with sixty bullets. Oh, just an extra bit of information, Mae Murray Dorsey was seven months pregnant and her fetus was cut out of her body: pure savagery at its finest. Only because I am able to turn myself off emotionally I did not cry reading these occurrences.
Then let us fast forward to more current times. I can honestly say am not one for a protest, it is just how I was raised. However, the Mike Brown protests that occurred in the fall of 2014 when I first moved to New York City were something to speak about. With all the media coverage of these young unarmed African Americans being shot and killed, it was a spectacular scene to see all of these people out in support of what was right.
To say that African Americans have no culture is not true. Jazz and Hip-Hop are both of African American culture. Then there is soul food cuisine which is an African American staple: fried chicken, black-eyed peas, collard greens, cornbread, etcetera… I feel the criticism of African Americans having no culture has to do with circumstance and time. Within the United States, much of what was created by African Americans was taken and made “mainstream” by white Americans. So over time it seemed as though these many cultural aspects were created by other races. Also with time, if you look at the current state of African American entertainment the term ratchet is the perfect definition. Television is now just coming back around with shows such as Scandal, How to Get Away With Murder and Black-ish. Then of course today’s Hip-Hop is extremely fun but empty with the exception of artists like Kendrick Lamar, Erykah Badu, Janelle Monae, Maxwell, etcetera...
LIFE AND LEARNING
“Personally, I think that we as black people need to stop the hatred towards one another, African Americans and West Indians, as our ancestors were all Africans. Yes, Black Americans will have a different concept of racism and discrimination than West Indians because it is what history dictates to us. It seems that it is easier to wage this daft internal cultural battle than to be more understanding to one another and promote one love, black love.”
The topic of racism, especially within the United States will always be a sensitive one. The races of Asians and Hispanics also matter but because the media focuses so much on the disparities of African Americans, I as a bi-racial Bahamian-American wanted to address at least one perspective on how a mass of people might perceive race within the United States of America to be. At the end of the day I do not know that I will ever be able to see things entirely the way of an African American but what I do know is I want to learn so that I am able to respect the race and not be a Stacey Dash. Lastly, just before finishing up this article a friend sent me another article, “The Rihanna Generation: How Black Immigrants Are Reshaping America” by Daniel Rivero. I loved the article because the main message was about trying to eliminate the idea of there being a “monolithic blackness” in America, touché!