(no subject)
so. i'm reading "Who's Afraid of a Large Black Man" by Charles Barkley, which is a collection of his conversations with influential, famous and/or rich people about racism. Barack Obama is the 3rd African American United States Senator, and his racial ties are Kenyan & Kansas American. he's black, and he is white. Mr. Barkley asked Senator Obama about the difficulty in socially navigating the racial divide as an adult. how does he assimilate the two halves of himself when faced with racially diverse interaction?:
"You go to the cafeteria," Barack said, thinking back to college, "and the black kids are sitting here, white kids are sitting there, and you've got to make some choices. For me, basically I could run with anybody. ...It became a matter of being able to speak different dialects. That's not unique to me. Any black person in America who's successful has to be able to speak several different forms of the same language. You take on different personas as you need to, when you have to. And there's nothing wrong with it. It's not unlike a person shifting between Spanish and English. You're going to speak differently on the golf course with your golf buddies than you are with your cut buddies around the kitchen table."
i think this is the first time i've come across anyone who has articulated this phenomenon so completely and so well. i feel... validated. i didn't know how much this aspect of my personality still bothered until i read that. he said "there's nothing wrong with it." but i grew up being told that "talking white", "trying to be white", "acting white" was wrong. it made me a sell out. ashamed of who i was. pretentious.
of course, the notion of doing anything "white" is absurd; it's ridiculous to assign static attributes to any group of people. many may be of the same clan, but never of the exact same mind. how is it "white" to wear polo shirts, "black" to wear jeans and work boots? "white" to listen to alternative music, "black" to listen to hip hop. "white" to speak with a lilt, "black" to speak in monotone. "white" to graduate college, "black" to scholarship until that professional ball playing contract comes through.
why do we cling to this generic concept of what it means to be black in America? why choose to be confined to someone else's perceptions?
i love that Bill Cosby and the Senator and other people like Jesse Jackson are speaking out about this. there's more than one way to live, more than one way to write, more than one way to speak. being able to relate to more than one culture does not mean that a person is confused about her own. pursuing successful relationships with different races does not mean that a person wishes to be someone he's not.
Michael Jackson said in his Oprah interview: "I am a black man. There's no doubt in that. I look in the mirror every day. I am proud of my heritage." and he still takes so much flak from people because they aren't convinced. he doesn't look like a black man should look, doesn't sound like a black man should sound, certainly doesn't behave as a black man should, so that must mean that he has an identity crisis. i don't agree with that. i don't think people should feel the need to be convinced of someone's race. there is this need to define how to "be" black, "look" black and "sound" black, and it's really getting out of hand. why don't we understand that there is no art to one's ethnicity? it's not a talent to which one can apply oneself.
boxes. it's the same with everyone, i suppose. gay people expect certain behavior from other gay people. deaf people expect certain behavior from other deaf people. fat people expect certain behavior from other fat people. and then get upset when others begin to follow their lead.
i wonder when we will finally get beyond this. when will we allow people to express themselves the way they see fit, and not the way others expect.
"You go to the cafeteria," Barack said, thinking back to college, "and the black kids are sitting here, white kids are sitting there, and you've got to make some choices. For me, basically I could run with anybody. ...It became a matter of being able to speak different dialects. That's not unique to me. Any black person in America who's successful has to be able to speak several different forms of the same language. You take on different personas as you need to, when you have to. And there's nothing wrong with it. It's not unlike a person shifting between Spanish and English. You're going to speak differently on the golf course with your golf buddies than you are with your cut buddies around the kitchen table."
i think this is the first time i've come across anyone who has articulated this phenomenon so completely and so well. i feel... validated. i didn't know how much this aspect of my personality still bothered until i read that. he said "there's nothing wrong with it." but i grew up being told that "talking white", "trying to be white", "acting white" was wrong. it made me a sell out. ashamed of who i was. pretentious.
of course, the notion of doing anything "white" is absurd; it's ridiculous to assign static attributes to any group of people. many may be of the same clan, but never of the exact same mind. how is it "white" to wear polo shirts, "black" to wear jeans and work boots? "white" to listen to alternative music, "black" to listen to hip hop. "white" to speak with a lilt, "black" to speak in monotone. "white" to graduate college, "black" to scholarship until that professional ball playing contract comes through.
why do we cling to this generic concept of what it means to be black in America? why choose to be confined to someone else's perceptions?
i love that Bill Cosby and the Senator and other people like Jesse Jackson are speaking out about this. there's more than one way to live, more than one way to write, more than one way to speak. being able to relate to more than one culture does not mean that a person is confused about her own. pursuing successful relationships with different races does not mean that a person wishes to be someone he's not.
Michael Jackson said in his Oprah interview: "I am a black man. There's no doubt in that. I look in the mirror every day. I am proud of my heritage." and he still takes so much flak from people because they aren't convinced. he doesn't look like a black man should look, doesn't sound like a black man should sound, certainly doesn't behave as a black man should, so that must mean that he has an identity crisis. i don't agree with that. i don't think people should feel the need to be convinced of someone's race. there is this need to define how to "be" black, "look" black and "sound" black, and it's really getting out of hand. why don't we understand that there is no art to one's ethnicity? it's not a talent to which one can apply oneself.
boxes. it's the same with everyone, i suppose. gay people expect certain behavior from other gay people. deaf people expect certain behavior from other deaf people. fat people expect certain behavior from other fat people. and then get upset when others begin to follow their lead.
i wonder when we will finally get beyond this. when will we allow people to express themselves the way they see fit, and not the way others expect.