Category: Race

Lessons of Andrew Johnson

 

I’m reading an interesting biography of Andrew Johnson by Annette Gordon-Reed. Her primary contention is that Johnson was a wonderfully talented man who rose far beyond the expectations of his birth. Johnson utterly failed to recognize that his ability to transcend his station came from the sheer accident of his Whiteness.

 

Johnson’s intense disdain for the aristocrats of the South was almost entirely about the status of poor Southern Whites. He never connected the condition of poor Whites and poor Blacks who were slaves then newly freed people. It’s sad that the poor of America’s 21st century still struggle so much to make cross-racial coalitions.

 

It's amazing that we can still learn so much from one of the 19th century's most dramatic failures.

 

 

FDO

 

The Presidents of Black America

I'm thinking about the notion of Barack Obama as the first Black President. Another interesting thing to me is that there have been lots of Presidents of Black America. So far, here's my list. I wonder what will happen in a post-Obama world when he'll be the icon but no longer the US President. Hmmm.

 

Past Presidents of Black America

Frederick Douglass

Abraham Lincoln

Booker T. Washington

W. E. B. DuBois

Marcus Garvey

Franklin Roosevelt

Martin Luther King

Malcolm X

Martin Luther King (again)

Jesse Jackson

Bill Clinton

Barack Obama

 

And no, I don't think Minister Farrakhan or Reverend Sharpton belong.

 

FDO

 

Justified Use of Force (for Oscar Grant)

 

 

Every year there’s a new one

A Diallou, King or me

Clamoring loudly

Faces on TV

We ask so many questions

But no one’s forced to answer


 

With sympathy’s short half-life

Soon most are hoping for the noise to stop

And the questions to disappear once again

Just like us

In our lives

And our deaths

 

 

 

 © Gayle Force Press 2003

 

RIP Oscar Grant

 

Once again, Black folks in California are publicly distressed about a police shooting. This time, the victim was Oscar Grant, a 22 year old Black man who was shot and killed by a White police officer in a subway at the beginning of 2009. The officer was convicted of the shooting (involuntary manslaughter) and given a 2 year sentence. The frighteningly short sentence is the source of the protests. The officer, Johannes Mehserle, will probably be out of jail by Memorial Day 2011. 


The CNN article linked above is indicative of the attention that's been/being paid to the entire situation. Grant's name does not appear until the 11th paragraph. 10 paragraphs before this dead person is even acknowledged by name. 

 

The basic outline of the shooting is tragically familiar. White officer kills unarmed Black man. Momentary outrage. Down the memory hole. Wait a little while. Repeat. 

 

A few years ago, I wrote about this cycle of police violence but I wasn't bold enough to follow it to the ultimate conclusion for so many young Black men, death. Instead, I wrote about the violence that wounds, heals and scars. Today, that doesn't feel like quite enough. It's not quite enough for me. It's not quite enough for Oscar Grant. But it's all I can give him now. 

 

 

FDO

Amaré the Jew

 

I am very excited to read that Amaré Stoudemire is making efforts to connect to what he perceives as his Jewish roots. Honestly, I assume that this is part of a Black American religious subculture that attempts to connect with ancient Israel as an offshoot of the metaphorical relationship between Blacks during slavery and Jews in Egyptian bondage from the Hebrew Bible.  

 

Whether Stoudemire has a religious, ethnical, cultural or familial root in Judaism doesn’t matter to me. What matters to me is that he is willing to explore himself and the world. In a time when many of us try desperately to follow the footprints on the floor, watching a pampered young millionaire (with a very troubled background) work to expand himself this way brings a smile to my face.

 

FDO

Why President Obama Is Black

I’ve had students challenge President Barack Obama’s Blackness, asking why it is that he and everyone else seems to consider him Black although he has approximately equal Black and White parentage. Usually I just talk about the one drop rule and social perception without going much deeper. Often students will chime in that Obama never really had a choice, insisting that Black was the only race he could have been in America.

 

The revelation of his single Census box identity as Black has ratcheted up this conversation and led to some interesting responses. Melissa Harris-Lacewell suggests that Obama created “a definitional crisis for whiteness” by transforming the expectations of what Black and White lives are supposed to look like. She believes Obama won election in 2008 largely because his life hit all the marks previously associated with success in the White community and his decision to identify himself as Black is a deliberate effort to embrace his Blackness.

 

John Judis subtitles his piece on the subject “Why Barack Obama Isn’t Black” and discusses the one drop rule as a legacy of slavery and racism while positing that Obama did the expected but not best thing by indicating himself as Black only. Refusing to accept the paradigm, Judis seems to say, is the only way to remove the power of race as a social construction.

 

Even though I understand the hue and cry, the President’s choice seems remarkably simple to me: He thinks of himself as Black. That in no way diminishes his affection for his mother and grandparents; it certainly doesn’t elevate his absent father. Barack Obama was born in America and has been defined as Black for his entire life. How many of us have ever said (or even thought) Barack Obama is the 43rd White man to become President? Our country does not define Whiteness in the same ways we define Blackness and President or not, that’s the reality for Barack Obama in the same way it is for everyone else.

 

Judis wants the President to begin challenging conventional notions of race by checking more than one box. I would suggest that Harris-Lacewell provides a great answer to that request. Living as he does, accomplishing what he has, being who he is challenge race theory more than any form possibly could.

 

FDO

Easy Like Sunday Morning

I’m sitting on my front porch, typing a probable blog post about President Obama’s census form choice. A car just rolled past with two men in it. The driver was White and he had a Black passenger. Almost as soon as I noticed the passenger, he noticed me. Instinctively, learned of course but definitely unthinking, I raised my hand and my head in greeting. He was doing exactly the same thing to me.

  

FDO

Remix America

I wrote this poem a couple years ago and a NY Times article today encouraged me to post it. I love the phrase and the sentiment behind it.

Remix America

 

 

Mestizo mulatto hyphenated hybrid

Mixed up creole cultural mélange of meaning

As who we are and what we used to be pale
next to tomorrow’s endless postmodern possibilities of

Perpetual people driven progress

 

All the ‘I’s and ‘US’s can become ‘They’s and ‘We’s sooner than YouTube presents the next

Macaca spewing hate monger would be divider

Who unites us in disdain

For his antiquated rhetoric of race,

Religion and righteousness

The 3 Rs that used to keep the South backwards,

Black folks scared and the rarely compassionate conservatives

entrenched in their oh so corrupting power

 

The beauty of the remix

And the America it is frenetically remaking

Is that all the little boxes

Will mean the very same thing in the end

 

More empty spaces we can fill

Exactly as we choose

 

© Gayle Force Press 2008

Health Care and Hate- Part 2

I love this phrase from Rep. Cleaver's statement after being spit upon, "Our nation has a history of struggling each time we expand rights."

I think that's exactly true and part of the reason I still feel hopeful. Despite the ups and downs, the pattern remains clear: Americans GAIN rights over time. The right to health care is another in a long line. The same is true for gay marriage. 5 years ago there's no chance gay people in DC could be married. 5 years from now, I think gay marriage will be legal in 15 or 20 states. We're going the right way, it's just damn hard to get there sometimes.

FDO

Health Care and Hate

Several people I know were convinced by the 2008 Presidential election that America was quickly moving into a 'post-racial' society. There were lots of articles and essays suggesting that kind of notion and many folks believed that President Obama would be a symbol that America has moved past its racist past.

 

I tried not to say much in response because I don't like highlighting hate. Well, not only was it clear to many of us that America was nowhere near ‘post-racial’, I was quite worried that the election of a Black President would encourage many silent bigots to rally around their fear/anger. Last summer’s gun toting binge at Presidential events was a clear indicator of this reality and the storm of vicious comments surrounding Congress’ Health Care reform votes this weekend is another symptom of the same malady.

 

This weekend, that bigotry manifested itself not just in the use of racial slurs but also in anti-gay epithets directed at Rep. Barney Frank (D-MA). What, if anything, Lewis’ race and Frank’s sexual orientation have to do with Health Care has not been made clear. For many Tea Party protestors, however, obscene chants and shouts were part of their method of expressing discontent.

 

I should make it clear that I am emotional regarding this issue. Rep. John Lewis (D-GA) is one of my personal heroes. His life and career are beyond impressive to me and I’d be hard pressed to find a current political figure for whom I have even half as much respect. For people to believe they have the right to call Lewis names, especially ‘nigger’, infuriates me. Calling him names because he’s doing the work of representing his constituents is even more baffling to me. Rather, it used to be baffling to me. Now, I’ve come to feel confident that many in our country believe that anyone who disagrees with their opinions is undeserving of respect. Even though that’s patently ridiculous, many seem to operate that way.

 

What continues to confound and sadden me is that a few years ago, I was able to suggest that the right wing fringe was being moved along by Rush Limbaugh, Glenn Beck, Sean Hannity and other people whose interest in politics was directly connected to their ability to draw ratings. Now, these folks on the right margins are being coddled by elected representatives. The shift is important, I believe, because of the suggestion of authority Americans have always ceded to our officials. It’s much harder to dismiss Steve King (R-IA) than it is Glenn Beck.

 

I use King as an example because he’s already downplayed the importance of civility in public assembly being bold enough to assert, “There are a lot of places in this country that I couldn’t walk through. I wouldn’t live to get to the other end of it.” I can only think of a couple interpretations for this statement. One, being a White, straight, conservative male is the social equivalent of being Black or being gay and is just as likely to result in being targeted for death or two, America is dangerous enough that if my car broke down I might get killed depending on where I am. I don’t know which I find more objectionable but either would be ridiculous.

 

Sadly though, this kind of statement provides license for people to use the same kind of language and engage in the same kind of conduct as yesterday’s protestors. It also directly connects uncivil speech to the possibility of death. While I’m sure it was unintentional, it’s still real and particularly in this kind of political environment is a horrible link to make.

 

It appears to me that I’ve been wrong. That, in fact, I should be making every effort possible to highlight hate. I suppose I just wish there were not so much of it.  

FDO