Back from The Future
My wife encountered an older black man listening to NPR who came to the conclusion that we as blacks should practice separatism. He believes, from my understanding, we should have our own healthcare, educational experiences, etc. This bothered her on so many levels, one being she grew up with a unified perspective, accepting of anyone, despite their race or ethnicity. I have, too, in a sense. We both share the same idea that anyone can be a jerk in any language. My wife and I, along with many others, look for character instead of color. It's not that we don't see it, but that it's not the determining factor of whether or not we choose to engage in a long, lasting relationship with anyone.
There's validity from both perspectives. Who's to say what this older black man experienced, developing his current ideology. He might have scars from some past trauma during the time racial inequality was peaking. It appears he feels strongly about his stance, so there's obviously a track record of every moment feeding this desire to separate us like life pre-desegregation. If this is so, his pain, like many others, is valid and must be considered at all cost. It is a part of the problem existing today. There are some benefits to what he believes in, of course. Maybe there wouldn't be as much fighting for space and acceptance from other races. The black community would then receive it's just recognition and support from fellow blacks, increasing it's black worth. This can spill over into the consuming world, Hollywood, and education. This would push black-owned businesses, the further accreditation of HBCUs, and maximize the funding and worth of black cinema. Black empowerment would be at an all time high, but...what about everyone else? What about the Latinos, the Mexicans, the Asians, the Middle-Easterns, etc.? Would we then be educated and engulfed in our own culture so much that we miss out on learning from others to better life as an overall concept? I believe so.
I understand my wife's resistance towards agreeing with him. This world is too big for us not to explore, yet too small to fill with bigotry and biases. We are all human beings seeing life from millions of different angles. We are hurting from the spread of COVID-19 on several levels (physically, psychologically, spiritually, and mentally). We're exposing systemic racism learned through generations leading to now, 2020. Social distancing is filtering out bad relationships and creating new ones, creating this process of killing and blossoming. This heaviness is being carried on our backs (not meant for us, but God, of course), yet because of selfishness, we wish to separate and tend to our own. We've taken the metaphoric Delorean back, away from the future...to 1954...where segregation was encouraged before the opposite was passed by law. How did we end up back here? Was this avoidable?
Yes, we should continue to share life with one another, but at some point, you get tired of doing so and still feel excluded. I posted on Twitter how many are uncomfortable with Black Lives Matter, but were totally okay with Only White Lives Matter during the 60s and beyond. When there is a divorce, some parents force their children to choose a parent during certain holidays. Some couples are so spiteful, their distaste for one another spills over into the child, causing them to hate their mother/ father. This creates a wall between them, depriving one parent of possibly developing a solid relationship with the child. There has to be some middle ground. Though both parents think differently, I'm certain they can agree on making sure the child is loved. Both my wife and the older black gentleman are hurting, tired of having the same fight. They are two parents, trying to raise a child, finding it difficult to meet in the middle because it's in the middle where things get murky and difficult to handle. America, how can we co-parent this child called understanding if our main objective isn't catering to its needs? Unless we want to go back farther in time, we must address the issue of insensitivity and the devalue of human life.
There's validity from both perspectives. Who's to say what this older black man experienced, developing his current ideology. He might have scars from some past trauma during the time racial inequality was peaking. It appears he feels strongly about his stance, so there's obviously a track record of every moment feeding this desire to separate us like life pre-desegregation. If this is so, his pain, like many others, is valid and must be considered at all cost. It is a part of the problem existing today. There are some benefits to what he believes in, of course. Maybe there wouldn't be as much fighting for space and acceptance from other races. The black community would then receive it's just recognition and support from fellow blacks, increasing it's black worth. This can spill over into the consuming world, Hollywood, and education. This would push black-owned businesses, the further accreditation of HBCUs, and maximize the funding and worth of black cinema. Black empowerment would be at an all time high, but...what about everyone else? What about the Latinos, the Mexicans, the Asians, the Middle-Easterns, etc.? Would we then be educated and engulfed in our own culture so much that we miss out on learning from others to better life as an overall concept? I believe so.
I understand my wife's resistance towards agreeing with him. This world is too big for us not to explore, yet too small to fill with bigotry and biases. We are all human beings seeing life from millions of different angles. We are hurting from the spread of COVID-19 on several levels (physically, psychologically, spiritually, and mentally). We're exposing systemic racism learned through generations leading to now, 2020. Social distancing is filtering out bad relationships and creating new ones, creating this process of killing and blossoming. This heaviness is being carried on our backs (not meant for us, but God, of course), yet because of selfishness, we wish to separate and tend to our own. We've taken the metaphoric Delorean back, away from the future...to 1954...where segregation was encouraged before the opposite was passed by law. How did we end up back here? Was this avoidable?
Yes, we should continue to share life with one another, but at some point, you get tired of doing so and still feel excluded. I posted on Twitter how many are uncomfortable with Black Lives Matter, but were totally okay with Only White Lives Matter during the 60s and beyond. When there is a divorce, some parents force their children to choose a parent during certain holidays. Some couples are so spiteful, their distaste for one another spills over into the child, causing them to hate their mother/ father. This creates a wall between them, depriving one parent of possibly developing a solid relationship with the child. There has to be some middle ground. Though both parents think differently, I'm certain they can agree on making sure the child is loved. Both my wife and the older black gentleman are hurting, tired of having the same fight. They are two parents, trying to raise a child, finding it difficult to meet in the middle because it's in the middle where things get murky and difficult to handle. America, how can we co-parent this child called understanding if our main objective isn't catering to its needs? Unless we want to go back farther in time, we must address the issue of insensitivity and the devalue of human life.
Comments
Post a Comment