If Race Is our #1 Issue, Should It Be Our #1 Conversation?

Electing Barack Obama not only represented the beginning of Hope and Change, it allowed America an opportunity to ease long standing guilt.  The White House of only white men  gave race critics plenty of room to complain.  When president Obama moved his family in to the White House, he ushered in a term called post-racial America; an America where race no longer is the limiting stigma that it used to be.  The America that asks, "how did Oprah and Obama happen if America is so racist"?

Whether you chuckle at the very notion of post-racial America, or you believe that we can never move on until we simply move on, America is constantly making a topic out of matters of race while simultaneously running from any genuine conversation about it.  

The truth about the Obama presidency is that Obama has closely followed Clinton's moderate, to right leaning policies, so it seems reasonable to expect that republicans could find as much common ground with this President as they did with Bill.  Shunning the single payer option for a Federal version of RomneyCare  is as right leaning as is the TPP (Trans-Pacific Partnership), Obama's NAFTA equivalent.  To many black people (including me), going through life answering to the name "Barry" instead of Barack is a sign of Barack's propensity towards anglo assimilation instead of the black power persona given to him via connections to Jeremiah Wright or My Brothers Keeper.

Barack Hussein Obama, who has family roots from Kenya, was always going to have a hard time bridging the racial divide in America.  I have a hunch that Barry Obama, the Harvard Graduate who deports more Mexican's than Bush ever dreamed of, might have been received in a different way by those still hung up on his skin tone. During the Bush year's, the KKK was dying into a marginalized group.  Under Obama they are alive and kicking and a group that is back on the move. The fear that white America is becoming a minority speaks to the ear of many  white Americans, even if extremism isn't how they express this concern.

As Black America evolves politically, we remain largely unified on the idea that we have yet to reach the place that Martin Luther King Jr. had dreamed of for America.  Even Herman Cain, once seen as a republican front runner for the presidency, cried racism when seedy stories from his past curtailed his run at the white house. For every moment that we feel progressed as a nation relative to matters of discrimination, we are constantly taken back by stories of voter suppression and of states who've flipped their "white only" signs around in order to write the words "heterosexual's only"

Not every apparent racial debate is naturally divided along racial lines.  Voter suppression, immigration, entitlement reform (which now includes the ACA) are all matters of public policy that do not differentiate on racial lines but  have been primarily drawn on lines of social status (the givers versus the takers).  Yet, when you separate the masses and look at the faces, race can not be ignored as an obvious element within these stories too.  Nancy Pelosi says that immigration reform would have already been signed if the said immigrants were Irish. The difference of course has much to do with the opened border we share with Mexico versus Ireland, but many people would say that Pelosi is right.

Race has conspired against America from the day that it was allowed to be a dividing line between its citizens. Yes Mitch McConnell.  The opposing party to a seated president has always fought the good fight of legislative give and take.  Never have they done it using kamikaze warfare.  To educated observers, the end game of this republican power play will resemble that of Jim Jones during the Jonestown massacre.  It is virtually impossible to explain away your "true motives" when your end game seems to disregard your own safety.  Wallowing in the mud just to get a little of it on your enemy might be a way to cloud the waters on Obama's legacy, but at what cost.? Republican's have always opposed Democrat policy,...... just not like this.  Are they truly attacking the left, or are they left with no other explanations for their intense focus on the failure of America's first brother?

If it is fair to say that the race of Barack Obama has conspired to grind politics (immigration, ACA repair, entitlement reform) to a halt, then it is probably fair to say that race remains our number one issue.

While no one wishes to be labeled a complainer, only unresolved complainers get offended by the label.  (I am personally a classism complainer ) No matter how right you think you might be,  the challenge is to find a way to address issues that matter to you without sounding like a complainer, even when complaining is your only recourse.  Martin Luther King Jr. complained about the nature of this nation and his complaining got him memorialized. Yet, even Dr. King saw the lines between poverty and color blur as he pressed towards a better America for blacks, who's primary challenge was the impact of racism (poverty) and not simply  the viciousness of hate.

There are black people who will falsely tell you that minorities can not be racist' (by definition) because racism is an act of powerful people against weaker ones. Whether the crime is racism or bigotry, there are plenty of examples of how we all let stereotypes of race taint our image of the world, leading to our abuse towards the people in it. As a result, we all expand racism and classism in our own way.  In effect, no one cares to address something that everybody practices.

With as much as we discussed these things in grade school, why is America still full of  racial stereotypes?  

The easy answer is that we forgot the lessons we learned.  We  limited our conversation to those mandatory classes, and forgot to reinforce that, while stereotypes are generally true, they are viciously dangerous to employ.  Our teachers always told us that there are no stupid question because they knew that the height of human ignorance is a question unasked. By asking questions about geometry we indirectly master the language of the craft.  

Race is no different. Without a healthy conversation surrounding race, we do not have the strength of vocabulary needed to further the discussion. In the absence of the proper words for discussions of race, most of us mess up when seeking to learn about others.  Eventually we came up with a term called political correctness (which means the other guy is simply way too sensitive) and refuse to go down that road ever again.

Political correctness has been the fuel to the growth of racial division, but now it is high tide. We must link arms and test these waters for change.  Change is necessary because we take way too much comfort in our stereotypes. Absent of our stereotypes, we are forced to do the work it takes to get to know people independent of their persona, which is largely driven by race and class.  

When it comes to genuine discussion, our reluctance to "go there" as it relates to race is because it is a sensitive scab that just doesn't heal quickly.  Some say that our problem is that we won't leave the scab alone long enough for it to fully heal and fall away.  Some believe that in time, racial division might heal itself because technology has joined people together in a way that removes the ignorance, and thus the fear that we have towards one another.  Unfortunately, this method of racial progress demands the death of several generations of ignorant people who continue to proliferate racial division by breeding the same fear that was bred into them.

President Barack Obama has been extremely aware of the presence of the racial extreme's in America.  Obama needed a significant turnout from his base, so he has tried to be as cool a black man as he knows to be without being a President of just the black people.  As a result, he has offended many of those who voted for him to represent their unheard voices, while simultaneously offending those who generally oppose cool black guys.

It is hard to ever say that 'the time is now' to have this discussion because it is not easy to get any one of the races to embrace their role towards change.  What is an obvious reality is that the Obama family forces everyone (even other blacks) to see black people in a different light.  Before the Obama's, it has been nearly impossible for America to see any black man as smart and passionate and articulate enough to outshine the white guys who have dominated the white house.  Now that the Obama family has come along, the world has an opportunity to see black Americans in a much less monolithic way.  We are more than entertainers.

It is also very hard to gain an understanding about someone else when you start with too many preconceived notions (stereotypes).  Every action that a person does when cast beneath the shadow of a stereotype is darkened by that shadow. Even your positive traits can be rationalized away by someone who generally see’s you in a negative light.  Whites and blacks and all races do this to each other; holding securely to our stereotypes until we meet someone who forcefully snatches them from our grip by defying them all, and then we simply count them as an exception to the rule as we continue to discriminate against the rest. 

Obama has shattered many stereotypes of black people, but he has not removed common questions. Barack Obama has unsettled dust that had long since found a comfortable resting place. He has been a steroid to the leadership journey that  other black leaders started years ago.  Sometimes, their is a legitimate curiosity as to what a black man might do in the face of leadership. Other times, people just want to see what your hair actually feels like. In the end, we haven't given enough black leaders a fair chance to know what the data will show, and we haven't given enough white people a chance to touch our hair. One day we might finally discover that black leaders succeed and fail just the same as others.  One day we might realize that the only true difference does lie in the skin tone and hair texture.

The Obama’s are cool and smart and composed and charismatic and black.  They are the Huxtables who made it to the very top of the mountain.  They make many people have to observe and rethink their impressions of all blacks because if there is one family  like this, there has to be two.   Most importantly, while they help us to accept that we have come a long way, they remind us daily of how far we have yet to go. Especially with matters of race.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                 
When is the right time to stage an intervention?  

The time is ripe for this debate that we have long since tip-toed around.  We are more polarized than ever because those who are most benefited by divisions of race and class are afraid of what happens when these institutions fall.  The KKK was able to thrive for years by feeding off of the contrived fear that had been developed against blacks and Jews.  As that fear dissipated, so did their power base.  Racism and racist organizations survive from fear. Fear is a funny thing because the less man fears God, the more likely we are to become fearful of one another stifling the quality of our conversation.  In my mind, racism grows because it continues to be fertilized by fear and watered by ignorance.

When race is implicated as a contributor or an impediment to social class, minorities develop class envy breeding a widespread inclination for unhealthy consumerism (keeping up with the Joneses) that only increases the class divide.  Classism is the ugly institution that feeds off of our pursuit to afford an unhealthy version of the American Dream.  Classism thrives from our inability to define the dream for ourselves and not succumb to a force fed dreamlike illusion.  In the end, classism wins if it convinces anyone of us that what I lack is directly related to what you have.  When you then associate this same notion to skin color, you create a destructive convergence which some are describing as the most intense polarization of modern history.

We first allowed fear to polarize us, but now we are letting the fear of our dying familiarity (aka stereotypes) overwhelm the fear of impending change. Our stereotypes are not only easy and familiar to us all, they keep us safe from the unknown and the uncomfortable.   Every black man you once feared isn't necessarily your opponent anymore.  Some of them are like Herman Cain and a few are like Spike Lee who both moved away from city folks when their money elevated their class, but are probably  similarly stereotyped by the suburbanites who they call neighbors.  

Racism may not be gone, but it finds a way to temper itself when confronted by wealth. For people without money, racism seems the same as it ever was.  For those who have money, racism is a taboo topic that most will shun within every environment that money controls.   A person's color might influence our initial impression, but a keenly purchased watch or pair of shoes can offer a sufficient head fake.  Thanks to black conservatism, electing a black president and nice watches and shoes, racism is no longer painted on the face of America even if it remains in our bloodline.

So is racism a legitimate problem worthy of a legitimate conversation, or is the alleged abuse of Barack (because he's a brother) much to do about nothing?....and what do black people's hair actually feel like? 

Who know's because we just won't 'go there.  In order to get a check up, you have to be willing to visit the doctor.  When it comes to getting a checkup on racism, America has yet to make the appointment.

What I know for certain is this.

When you seek to find common ground, you quickly discover how easy it is for any two people moving towards each other to close the gap between them. My hope is for the death of fear and the hope of change wherein lies the conversations of a brighter tomorrow.