This is unedited and was sent to me by one of my bloggers; My
response is at the end. I would like to hear what you think so please comment.
The idea of “White Responsibility” suggests that the
majority group – white America
– is solely responsible for the generational difficulties placed on the black
population and that it is only white America that can correct these
issues. There are some very valid points to this line of thinking starting with
the fact that it takes structural and institutional racism and puts a spot
light on it; not allowing folks to turn a blind eye to it. As a white man, it also
makes me look honestly at the fact that there is such a thing as “white
privilege.” So many times whites just want to gloss over everything with almost
a color-blindness approach, as if racism is not still a reality in the
twenty-first century.
I feel whites love to be color-blind because it removes the
fear of the reality of the situation and makes their “sense of reality” more
palatable and easier to write off; in essence it keeps the truth from
interfering with their own perceived truths. Like anything though, there are
some less powerful things associated with this model. For instance, it
absolutely removes and ignores the responsibility of minorities to take
ownership of the process of change as well as enables minorities to point
fingers at others while playing the race card; waiting and expecting others to
rectify the situation. In this brief essay I will look at the positive and
negative ramifications of white responsibility and try to extract an avenue for
us to work together to right this American ship.
The ideal of white responsibility that I most commonly agree
with is that white America must make greater efforts not necessarily to correct
what our forefathers did generations ago, yet we must work to better understand
our black American brothers and sisters for who, what, and how they are. This
understanding will not come from a book or a class, however it will come for a
determined and intentional effort to engage each other, set aside our raw
emotions, and initiate a series of discussions that may last for years,
decades, or even generations. The topic of race is so taboo for us all simply
because it is very delicate and would require us all to not wear our feelings
on our sleeves. Instead of everyone walking on egg shells trying to find the
best possible way to express their thoughts and opinions, we must have an open
dialogue where we exchange the realities of living in white America, black
America, and then finally in the America of tomorrow.
There are two main issues that are crippling this process,
and they are both intertwined. As noted before, the majority of white America is
color blind to the fact that racism is still a very real and prevalent issue
being dealt with by black Americans. Because white Americans do not have to
deal with it, and because many would not know it if it bit them on their ass,
to them is simply does not exist. In this case, ignorance is definitely not
bliss. Just because it is not raining in your backyard does not mean it is not
raining in your neighbor’s across the street backyard. White America has to
deliberately look for the signs of racism; that is IF they want to truly become
an agent of change. Regretfully though, most of white America does
not want to deal with this either because they do not care or because they do
not want to exert the effort it takes to deal with these issues. However, they
will be the first ones to smile in black America’s face then blast them in
the back when they feel like they were passed over due to affirmative action.
The next main issue that is crippling the process of rectifying the race issue
in America
that I believe is caused by white responsibility is that it takes ownership
away from the minority group. Author Derrick Bell (1996) asserted that the
following quote would be easier to reject than to refute:
Black people will
never gain full equality in this country. Even those herculean efforts we hail
as successful will produce no more than temporary “peaks of progress,”
short-lived victories that slide into irrelevance as racial patterns adapt in
ways that maintain white dominance. This hard-to-accept fact is all history
verifies. We must acknowledge it, not as a sigh of submission, but as an act of
ultimate defiance.
Respectfully, I would think that Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
would absolutely disagree with this statement. I would argue that the works of
Dr. King have not slid back into white dominance and have been further
progressed by others who share the same ideals as the late, great Dr. King.
When I read this quote, I read it as though no matter what black America does,
they cannot and will not advance and win. I liken this to a football game. Your
team may start its drive backed up on your own one yard line with ninety-nine
yards to go. You may move the ball successfully down the field to the
opponents’ twenty yard line and then suffer a set back; a personal foul that
moves you back fifteen yards to the opponents thirty-five. Then you may have a
holding penalty that sets you back another ten yards to the forty-five. Now at
this point, you may regard your gains from your own one to their forty-five as
temporary and then just punt on second down, or you can remember the lessons
your coach taught you, think about the ones that played before you and the
struggles and mistakes they made as well as the heart and triumphs they had
when it was their turn; then with that resolve push forward to make play after
play to finally get the nose of the ball across the goal line for your team’s
winning score. Man, life would have sucked if you decided to give up and punt
on second down.
Another alarming idea comes from Andrew Hacker (1992) as his
parable that if a white person were to become black at the stroke of midnight and could request
any amount of “compensation” for being black, they would request $50 million
($1 million for each black year in front of them) as a way to place a value on
their white skin. While I appreciate the thought that Mr. Hacker is trying to
express, I feel this to be misplaced. I do recognize that there are inherent,
institutionalized, and might I add unfair advantages to being white, but I
would argue that if you asked a black person how much money they would want if
they were to become white at the stroke of midnight, you would probably get a similar
answer; not because of the value of their skin color, but because of the value
America has on the almighty dollar. Furthermore, Hacker goes on to say that
black adults have to explain to their children that they will “never” be seen
as simply Americans or wholly accepted and will “always be regarded warily, if
not with suspicion or hostility.” Now I understand that there are elements of
truth here but this is a fundamental hurdle being set up be blacks that work
against the efforts of Dr. King and the like. If as a child you are told this
by your parents and elders, then how can you allow your heart, mind, and soul
to be open to genuine acceptance? How can you allow yourself to understand that
there are harsh realities out there but that they are not inevitabilities that
are set up to pin you down? Hacker also states that an author who happens to be
black cannot just be an author, but must be a “black author.” Again, it is my
belief that he is damning himself by applying his own labels. If we take a
thirty-thousand-foot-view of this statement, we can see how this separatist
remark is played out across all spectrums. There are black people in every
college and university in America,
yet we still have “black colleges.” There are beautiful black women in every
beauty pageant, yet we still have “Ms. Black America.” There are black men and
women that own businesses and chair Chamber of Commerce Committees, yet we
still have “Black Business Owners Associations.” There are black people that
are republicans and democrats, yet we have “Associations of Black Republicans
and Democrats.” How is black America
ever going to become just part of America as long as they strive to
be seen as “Black Americans”, separate from the rest of Americans?
In closing, I agree that white responsibility embodies some
very helpful tools to address the issue of race in America; after all, we are the ones
that mucked it all up. I personally feel remorse, guilt, and shame for what my
forefathers did even though I personally had nothing to do with it. I believe
all whites should have some level of guilt or remorse that evokes a response of
understanding or at least a desire to better understand the plights of black America. I also
think it should make us look at the deeper issue of tearing down the major
reason racism is still prevalent in 2013; institutionalized racism. It is not
until we re-write the books that we can begin the rebuilding process, however
it must be a shared task; whites have to want to learn, understand, and
correct, but blacks have to allow us to do so and help us along the way; not
with one hand waiting for the other shoe to drop.
Change does not
roll in on the wheels of inevitability, but comes through continuous struggle.
And so we must straighten our backs and work for our freedom. A man can't ride
you unless your back is bent.
My Response
This was very well written, I agree with much of what you say
but a couple of points to add along the lines of responsibility. We as
Americans need to recognize the past and understand the whole story and truth
behind its existence. In this country we had Black, Latino, Asian, and yes,
even whit slaves. Slavery no matter what people from what land or what their
skin color is wrong. Most slaves brought to America was captured, by raids or
battles between tribes, by blacks and sold into slavery. What has been left out
of our history due to political correctness is these points; blacks were not
the only slaves, blacks put other blacks into slavery, and that blacks have a
part in this whole ugly past of ours called slavery but also, if it wasn't for
whites fighting for the freedom of blacks, they may still have been in slavery
as is the facts in other parts of our world.
Discrimination by age, gender, race, or any other group you
place in the cross-hairs is still discrimination. I do believe Affirmative
Action was necessary when it was implemented but is out dated. To tell a white
student with better grades, better SAT score, and having all the areas met to
get into collage they didn't make the score because a minority gets 20 out of
100 point to qualify just for being black is discrimination itself. If we can
have a black president in the country, it shows that only you as an American no
matter your race, only you can hold yourself back. . Eleanor Roosevelt said,
"No one can make you feel inferior without your consent” but the same is
true that “No one can make you succeed or fail without your commitment”.
There is still racism in America, but it comes from all the
communities, the Black, Latino, White, Asian, and any other you want to point
to. I hate the KKK just as I hate the New Black Panthers, La Raza, Arian
Nation, Nation of Islam, or the Brown Beret because they are all racist but
they are a fact that exists in our country. The only way to get rid of this
racist blight on America
is first must stop blaming everyone for our problems and stand on our own two
feet no matter your race. When you have a suspected crime like the Duke
Lacrosse scandal and automatically like on queue you have Jesse Jackson and Al
Sharpton saying "This was a racial act by privileged white people raping a
poor black sister" without even looking at the facts, this is racism in
itself. These kids lives were tore apart, threatened, and forever tarnished by
lady who tried to shake them down for more money; She is now in jail for murder
but did Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton ever apologize to these kids? NO
When you have leaders like these leading the black community
and using the black communities strife to get rich, they don't want racism to
end; it's their money train. These type of people must be removed from all
communities not just the black, and the parents, teachers, politicians,
preachers, and any other role models need to tell them they can succeed instead
of "its there fault". I was lucky to have a good influence and made
it out of my predicament of society by having people tell me I was as good as
the others, I could succeed, and it was all up to me if I did or didn't. One of
Martin Luther King, Jr. famous quotes is what we need to live
by, "I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a
nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character." I would add to it, my
version goes like this, "I have a dream that my three little children will
one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of
their skin but by the content of their character and
likewise judge not others by the color of their skin but by the content of
their character." Martin Luther King, Jr. would turn over in his grave at
seeing what Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton has done to his legacy. Our nation
will never come together as long as we have race baiters like these.
