Black ain't Nothin' But a Color

Note: I have been trying for weeks to figure out a way to write this idea down in a way that won’t offend too many folks.  Of course I am going to offend some, that’s the nature of raising some of the issues raised on this blog.  However, I seriously want to parse this issue carefully, not to save face or maintain allies in certain places, but rather because I want to treat the issue with the temerity and seriousness it deserves, while also being honest.

With that said…

It has come to my attention that many people (more than I ever knew) are mired in the race based philosophies of an earlier era.  It is not just those in the streets (see Occupy and radicals), but it has unfortunately shown its ugly head in the ivory towers of academic institutions, as well as the public sphere of intellectual conversation/discourse.  What I explicitly mean is too many folk rest on the notion that since the history of America, as this camp so eloquently articulates, was built on the backs of Black and Brown folk that we – those of us who are Black and Brown, must somehow hold this country forever responsible for whatever societal ills which happen to us.  In short, structural, institutional and societal racism has and will always hold us back from achieving the “American dream.” 

            What many who adhere to this belief insist upon is that simple isolated advancements/achievements, from being able to sit/eat/shop/walk anywhere in this country without being legally harassed, not to mention the current (and future) occupant in the White House, do nothing to change the singular insistence that “things have not gotten better, nor will they ever.” 

            I’m sorry, but as I sit here, in Los Angeles, a true melting pot or stew (which, of course has its boiling points and warts) I look out on the block and see a sea of humanity, or as Prince, expanding upon Jesse Jackson, put it, a sea of “rainbow children.”  I know there are undercurrents of anger, resentment and yes racism, but walk into the shops along this block, or enter the place where I just got my hair cut.  See who owns these shops, not just who patronizes them.  If you don’t think change (financial, social and otherwise) has come to many of these entrepreneurs, you are doing a disservice to their hard work, perseverance and dedication.

            As I think about my experiences in my current residence on the other side of the country, I can only think of a few instances and individuals which truly represent the “rainbow children” mentality.  And let me be clear, I am not so much speaking so much to those who have traditionally been in power or were the perpetrators of racism in this country (i.e. white folk), I’m talking to you, my brothas and sistas.

            Since when did it become socially and culturally acceptable in too many places to see race through a singular lens?  If I’m not mistaken, the history teacher in me can examine as far back as DuBois and Washington, or Malcolm and Martin the dichotomy which has existed in the our community.  In short, there are too many examples of what it means to live, act, socialize and thrive as a Black/Brown person to conclude that only one way should be socially acceptable.  What is hurtful for those of us without a home (not fully embraced in either the dominant society or their “home” culture) is that as we advance the ladder – whether it be in business, academia or simply by living in a mixed community, we are further and further excommunicated by our own.          

If those of us who try to present a third way to Black/Brown folk, or actually see the dream King envisioned becoming a reality (albeit not as fast as it should, but no one is drinking out of a segregated water fountain) ever challenge the “norm,” we become pariahs, traitors or liars.  Yet in the dominant world, we are seen as “angry” “dangerous” and “threatening” if we challenge not how far we’ve come, but how much further we still need to go.  In some circles, we are increasingly held to a different standard even if we have the same credentials, same education, live in the same neighborhoods and frequent/enjoy the same cultural artifacts.

            So what is a 21^st century brotha/sista to do?  While I personally am not afraid to challenge anyone or, in the same vein, learn and grow from others, I see fear emanating from both sides.  Fear of change.  Fear of the unknown.  Fear of failure.  If we, as Black/Brown folk acknowledge, yes, things have changed since the 1960s, or even the 1980s, we run the risk being dismissed and reduced to an inaccurate conclusion that change has produced a “post racial world.”  If we challenge white folk in the same manner and approach their peers/colleagues do, on an intellectually level playing field, we run the risk of being dismissed as “dangerous” or “threatening.”

            In short, in this day and age, the younger generation doesn’t see race as we once did (or some still do).  What that means is that for them it is OK to like both Drake and Taylor Swift, to eat sushi, tacos and grits all in the same week, or participate in any other culturally hybrid phenomena which exist today.  Maybe we can learn from their hybridity, and maybe they can learn the historical constructs of the past from us.  We have the puzzle pieces in place, now the difficult part of putting them together must take place.  It starts with what the late Rodney King said so famously 20 years ago during civil unrest in LA “Can’t we all just get along?”  Getting along doesn’t mean forgetting the past, it means understanding, acknowledging and as Mandela and the Apartheid Movement has taught us, Ubuntu – “I am what I am because of who we all are.” 

Letter to my Son

Dear Son,

You are just over 9 months old and have accomplished so much in your young life.  Let me first say that I am extremely proud of you and have anticipated your arrival for over 40 years (well at least since I’ve been old enough to think about kids of my own).  You are loved by so many people, some of whom are close to you, but what is more interesting to me are the dozens of people who come up to me or your mom and comment on how “smiley” and “friendly” you are.  I’m not sure about nature or nurture, but I do know that your disposition seems to be on course to be a friendly outgoing person.  My only wish is that living life never takes that away from you.

What do I mean by that?  Well, as much as I’d like to buy into the notion that since the 2008 election of President Barack Obama, we live in a “post-racial” society.  I sincerely hope and pray that by 2028 when you are approaching 30, that we as a society will HAVE achieved this goal.  Until then there are some things that you need to know being a young black (mixed) man in this society.   Those lessons will be somewhat difficult and confusing, not to mention frustrating, and will be advanced in time, but they are lessons we will need to learn/teach nonetheless.

Something else that will make the transition from childhood, where there are no such things as hate, prejudice and discrimination, to adulthood even more challenging for us, will be that these lessons were not taught to me by my father or any singular male figure.  If you haven’t noticed, this family is heavy matriarchal on both sides.  Your mom has her father, your grandfather in her life, but besides that, it’s mostly women.  Let me be clear, that is not to say you cannot grow up to be a “man” by being raised by women, in fact I am saying the opposite.  Your father, me, grew up to be a man by being raised by women.  You, are lucky to have the best of so many worlds.

So let me say this, as we celebrate father’s day this weekend, our first, it is my wish that we never stop going to baseball games, never stop singing, never stop dreaming, never stop showing love and affection for one another, and, as selfish or cynical as this sounds, never stop demonstrating and showing other people that there is a different model of black male parenthood besides the one that is so prevalent in the media and the public discourse.  While I will continue to argue that I am a work in progress, and that there are a host of things I could do better (not the least of them being more patient), I will concede that every time we step outside the threshold of our house, we help to change the meaning to so many people about what it means or looks like for fathers, black fathers in particular to help raise their children.  I take from the experiences of watching male and female (as well as black and white) examples of extraordinary coaches, teachers, mentors, family members and yes media images (e.g. Bill Cosby) who have helped me become the father I am growing into. 

As Whitney Houston sang, I will always love you.  Ms. Whitney, also famously sang I believe that children are the future, teach them well and let them lead the way.  Lead the way son, I will follow.

Love always, Dad

We love that Basketball…

In honor of the NBA Conference Finals, I wanted to think out loud about a few parallels between sports (basketball in particular), education policy/discourse, and teaching.   It seems like the sports adage, “winning isn’t everything, it’s the only thing” has permeated into the educational discourse.  We are hell bent on “winning” (all apologies to Charlie Sheen).  What does winning mean?  Who wins?  And, as I used to implore my history students to ask, who wins and at what cost?

In an earlier blog post, I lamented about teachers, it seems like everyone from Diane Ravitch, to Randi Weingarten to the local teacher doing lunch duty of helping their children cross the street, feeling as if they  are being “bashed,” “scapegoated” or worse.  Let’s examine this current political climate and discourse through the lens of sports (sorry for those of you who are sport phobic).

If schools and their stakeholders are “teams,” who is the “owner?”  Parents?  The Community?  The District?  Let’s put the ownership aside and look at the micro level.  If teachers comprise  the “team” we have to admit, as in any sporting endeavor, that there are “superstars,” “stars,” “role players,” and “has-bens.”  On a basketball team, there are 12 players. Multiply that dynamic in a school building and you have the potential for a powder keg.   While everyone wants to believe that they are either the “superstar” or the “star” most people are “role players.”

During their unlikely and improbable run to the Eastern Conference Semi Finals, the Philadelphia 76ers were the epitome of “overachievers.”  They survived the first round of the playoffs only after the reigning MVP of the NBA, Derrick Rose went down with a season ending knee injury.  They were helped even further by an injury to another important starter and one of the biggest energy guys in the league, Joakim Noah.  The Sixers not only dispatched of the Bulls in 6 games, but in the next round, took the 2008 NBA Champion Boston Celtics to 7 games before succumbing.

 

The point of mentioning the Sixers is not to whine more about my beloved Bulls being upset in the playoffs, but to make this point.  There are teams, organizations and situations which look perfect on paper but in the practical application of events, things fall apart – in other words, stuff happens.  Could have’s begin to dominate the conversation as opposed to what actually is taking place.  In the discussion surrounding public school teachers, too many pundits and especially many "leaders" in the teachers unions would like us to believe what I said above, that there are only superstars and stars.  In the discussion surrounding education reform, no one mentions the role players or worse, the has-beens. 

What this means is that ed reformers and pundits continue to present a false dichotomy.  Whereas in sports, those of us who have played the game, or are avid fans, know that in order to make a truly great team you need a mix of players and coaches who know how to bring the best out of their teams (see Phil Jackson, or more recently Greg Popovich as examples of excellence).  

In schools therefore, it is critical that we not only be more honest about the make up and composition of our teams, but also that we help attract and foster coaches (administrators) who are able to bring the best out of their teams.  Hopefully we can begin to have the tough conversation of acknowledging that not everyone is a superstar.  But that is ok.  It takes all members to not just think they are a superstar, but to strive to be one.  Not the one who scores the most points, or gets the most endorsements, but the one who knows their role and is the best in the clutch and, most importantly, helping their team win.  It goes without saying that more successful teams allow for coaches to have the ability to create, organize and manage their own teams and members, but that discussion is for another day.

Voting While Black

There are several books which are currently on the market which speak to “post-blackness” or articulate a redefinition of “blackness” in this confusing era (see http://tinyurl.com/bvfgkoy).  In my humble opinion, and that of noted Professor and scholar Henry Louis Gates and others, there is no one definition of blackness, nor should there be.  However, the arguments’ surrounding what is and is not blackness and how it relates to the overall political discourse in this country is something that has been troubling me.

The latest example comes from North Carolina.  Amendment One – the measure which sought to define marriage as exclusively between a man and a woman was approved by the residents of North Carolina overwhelmingly.   What is problematic is not that a state with such historical ties to oppressing human/civil rights is up to their old tricks, but rather what is surprising is who, in part, the culprits are contributing to the denial of rights to a group of American citizens. 

Much in the same manner as in 2008 with California Ballot initiative Proposition 8 – which defines marriage as between a man and a woman, this ballot measure in North Carolina is nothing but solidifying hatred and discrimination into codified law.  That black folk, supposedly religious black folk, supported both of these ballot measures in great numbers is something that I cannot fathom.

Just to give you the numbers, in the same election in which over 90% of the black population voted for Barack Obama for President, 7 in 10 blacks voted yes in favor of Proposition 8 in California.  In Los Angeles County alone, if that number had been reversed, the measure most likely would not have passed.  As it stood, the measure passed 52-47%.  Most recently in North Carolina, Amendment 1 passed with a 2-1 margin of the black vote and an overall percentage of 61-38%.  While the majority of blacks may not have carried Amendment 1 to defeat, they certainly added to its victory.

During the fight for equality in the 1960s there were a host of allies who sought to help the Civil Rights Movement achieve their goals.  Most notably both Bayard Rustin and James Baldwin were two openly gay black men who fought on the front lines of the Civil Rights Movement.  Further, as one recent article noted, everyone who has ever sung in a black church choir knows someone who is gay – either openly or suspected.  What is the most disappointing thing about my own people’s abandonment of civil rights in the name of “religion” or worse, in trying to define “Civil Rights” as only those rights negotiated and fought by and for blacks, is the hypocrisy.  Not only were there black gay leaders, there were whites, women, and other minorities all fighting in the struggle. In the early 20^th century, it was the prevailing wisdom of whites to use a biological determination concerning the need for the separation of races before it was found to be illogical, ill-conceived and downright wrong.  

Another critique of miscegenation was that it was an “abomination” of God that the two races (they never include other groups besides “black” and “white”) shouldn’t mingle, much less procreate or marry.  That some blacks are using the same arguments to deny rights to LGBT couple who want to marry (especially in certain states where the STRAIGHT divorce rate is above 50% but that’s for another day), is completely 180 degrees from everything that the “Movement” stood for.

Let me be clear, certain black folk both in and out of the public arena have continually been outspoken in favor of LGBT rights before Obama’s announcement, including, ironically the Rev. Al Sharpton and Dr. Michael Eric Dyson.   However, there are too few foot soldiers who do not challenge the negative, ignorant assumptions made in barbershops, locker rooms and elsewhere about LGBT folk.  Too few of us who stand for human rights mean it in regards to everyone.  

On a personal note, in much the same way as President Obama, I too came to the epiphany of being open to not just marriage equity – which is somewhat new on the policy/political agenda, but LGBT issues in general.  I was never “against” gays, I just didn’t know anyone nor was I openly exposed to the culture.  Attending a liberal arts college in Los Angeles will change that lack of exposure real quick.  I was confronted with people who I respected, admired and yes even had crushes on who were lesbian or bi.  I was forced to reconcile my dream at the time of being a “Civil Rights” lawyer with my own hypocrisy of not including all rights under that banner.  While I would consider my mother and the rest of my family religious, I would also consider them to be extremely progressive.  Sometimes those two can reconcile themselves, and other times they cannot.  The one thing I can say is that I strongly believe that education and exposure are key.

So how do we educate black folk to both “love the sinner while hating the sin” and keeping their religious convictions (which no one is trying to deny) out of the polling booth?  My initial response is education - education not only in the home, but in the pulpits – which, when it really comes down to it, shouldn’t be in the business of telling us who or what to vote for anyway.   Finally, we need to publicly expand what blackness means.  It does not have to include oppressing other groups in the name of hyper masculinity, religious beliefs or other reasons.  It can include being more understanding that while our struggles for justice and rights are far from over, we will never completely overcome as long as Black folk continue to be the oppressors of other people, many of whom look like them. In order to truly make this a more perfect Union, we need to join with other groups still in their middle stages of their fight for equality.  Together, with as many allies as possible (and we now have a tremendous ally in the White House) we will one day be able to achieve equality.

We'll treat you like a King...

 In the wake of the "uprising" which occurred in Los Angeles in response to the Rodney King verdict in 1992, I was a 22 year old college senior one semester away from graduating.  It was April/May 1992 and most of my friends whom I started college with were finishing up their final semester.  At this time, my college was on the trimester system meaning we did not finish until the beginning of June, as opposed to some other schools who were finished in early May. Consequentially, we were in the midst of classes, partying and once the verdict and ensuing violence began, panic.

I vividly remember my roommate at the time, a white brother from near Chicago, who immediately went down to the reconciliation meetings which took place at a South Central Church. His roommate was a bit apprehensive.  Being a Black man in his early 20s, regardless of my impending college degree, I was afraid of getting caught up in the mix. I believed that although there were well intentioned Black folk doing good work down there, I didn't think that the combination of my...being an outsider and being Black was a good mix.  I struggled with this decision to stay "safe" on campus while my college community was quick to respond.

Another friend of mine, one who was associated with a religious organization on campus which was always performing service, was also quick to respond with a broom, garbage bags and the like to help in the clean-up efforts. She loaded up her car with as many friends as she could and proceeded down into the fray, unafraid and in my opinion heroic.  Unfortunately her family did not see it the same way and she was "requested" to return her car to her mother because her mother did not want her daughter in harms way.  As a new dad I can understand her mother's anguish, but would not have responded in the same manner.  Her daugher was doing what she was taught, not just at our liberal arts college, but through her faith.  She was performing God's work.

As I reflect on the 20 years since the King verdict, I am trying to look critically at where we've come - how far we have come.  Obviously race relations have changed, but to what degree?  Not only has America grown over the past 20 years - see OJ trial in the same city a few years later, the increase in the number of Black politicians and police chiefs (obviously Barack Obama being at the head of that lists), and the number of Blacks who have graduated college and matriculated into the middle class. All of these are signs that things have changed in this country tremendously. However, as the saying goes, the more things change, the more they stay the same.

For a certain portion of the Black population, things have become increasingly worse.  Unemployment and underemployment, persistently violent neighborhoods and schools, hopelessness, anger and yes fear.  While many in the middle class of Black folk have been - in the words of the Jefferson's theme, moving on up, but at the same time, we are leaving millions behind.  As we increase our educational outcomes, one of the first things we (I'm including myself in this equation on purpose) do is to leave the neighborhood.  This leaves the neighborhood left with those who struggle to make ends meet, who do not have the same social and cultural capital and of course the economic and intellectual capital to make a transition. 

 

What is increasingly problematic is the type of persistent deficit thinking that has permeated too many black folk both in the neighborhood AND in colleges and universities. 

It is my hope that as we reflect on 20 years after Rodney King and his infamous words “why can’t we all get along?” that we take the time to truly begin to get along.  Not just with those who sit on the opposite aisle on the political spectrum, or who are of a different race/ethnicity, gender or otherwise - but most importantly from within.