Conversations with a closet racist 2
Well I'm back, and there's more interesting things to detail. I had another conversation with my closet racist, and it started off in alright territory.
This time, I was stunned to silence, and it kinda mirrored a point another poster had made in another thread. Let me be clearer, there was two actual points he made, but they intersect because of the nature of the topic.
We started the conversation about books. It was innocuous enough. He asked what types of books I like, again, because for the life of him he can't remember. I responded with action, adventure novels, and of course my personal favorite mystery. He hates all of those kinds of books, sometimes I think he does it to be contrary, and others I wonder why we are even friends with so little in common. It must be because of my tolerant to passive nature. I tend to be non-confrontational about many subjects, mind you race isn't one of them but...
In any case, he goes on to describe a book he's currently reading that he thinks is completely awesome and all that, then it comes like a rocket from nowhere. "Why is it that no notable black authors write anything except for how much it sucks to be black?" I was rather dumbfounded, so I didn't responded positively or negatively, just a neutral "I don't know." He then goes onto one of his diatribes, that mind you he gets angry if you tell him it's not PC "Because fuck PC". The long and short of it is, he thinks it's because no one would accept them. Not by whites, but by blacks. That blacks don't want to read anything not about black suffering by a black author. At the time, my initial response was a blank "nah I don't think so." He then demanded I produce a name of a black author that wrote something other than things about black "suffering". I named a few, he then clarified to add that they needed to have not written ANYTHING about black "Suffering" to which I couldn't think of anything. Mind you, I'm no search engine, in the beginning I could only think of a few names of black authors to begin with. Not only did he take that to mean that none existed, because as a black person I obviously know every black author to ever exist, but that his theory was correct. With a little searching I found a few novels that didn't center around black relations with the institution we live inside of, not a difficult task by any search by Google. I sent them to him, and he found that the novels had some backlash from the black community for various reasons. Usually for use of dialect inside of the novels themselves. He then said it was because it didn't center around black suffering that they had backlash, mind you these are critically and culturally acclaimed books, but it didn't matter to him...
At this point he goes on to ask why there's a section(in his local book store) with the title, black issues. "Really, how much do you need to talk about it?" I was tempted to ask, is that ALL of the black authors in the entire store? Because honestly, I think it is. Not only that, I wanted to ask him to look around the store he was standing in. See something interesting? Ah, you mean the fact those other books are written by whites? I also think a moment of silence is needed for the Asian community, because other than manga(which America practically thinks is full of white people anyway), I've yet to see something on Asian culture or concerns in a book store. Library? Sure, but only about history, nothing dealing with Chinese, Japanese, Korean, ect immigrants and their experiences here in America. I'm sure they exist but...
In any case, there are a few things wrong with his assertions, besides their obvious ignorance and insensitivity...
1. There's the assertion, implicit as it is, that I know every black author that exists, and therefore my inability to name one stems from the lack of blacks NOT talking about race. There are plenty of black science fiction and action authors around, I just don't know their names. And it's not like they are unknown or non-notable, I just don't know their names.
2. That their being a section titled "black issues"(which I've never seen in my life, and MIGHT have something to do with that racist town he's living in...) denotes that blacks spend all their time talking about black "issues".
That last point reminds me of something a poster on another forum said. She's a immigrant from an African country...a literal mail order bride. Guess who bought her? In any case, we got into a heated argument over her husband of all things, in which we exchanged blows. She claimed there was nothing to the black identity but suffering and victim-hood, just a group of whiners and complainers. I don't know what I told her, but CR point about the black issues section intersects. It's all there is and all blacks want to read about, because it's all WE are.
Not only do I heartily disagree, but I can honestly claim that the legacy of my people, members of the African diaspora, is more than just the sum of our collective suffering and victim-hood. While that plays a role in what it means to be black in America, it's not all we are. We are a strong and creative people, who have forged for themselves an identity not only separate form the Americana as a whole, but from our African brothers as well. One filled with music, art, and poetry all our own. One filled with patriotism and strength, despite the country that we serve treating us as far below other citizens for years. One of solidarity and more than just the collection of our hurting backs and aching feet. I am surprised each day, at the strength blacks can find when they put themselves to it, and shocked at the depths we can sink to when we so chose to not use the gifts of spiritual strength given by our ancestors.
And so I gleefully respond, NO! We are not our pain, but we have been shaped by it, and while we seek to fix the wrongs we have been dealt, we walk with a song in our hearts no matter what tune we set it to.
And so I close this post, a little more secure in myself, not just as a person, but as a black woman in America.
This time, I was stunned to silence, and it kinda mirrored a point another poster had made in another thread. Let me be clearer, there was two actual points he made, but they intersect because of the nature of the topic.
We started the conversation about books. It was innocuous enough. He asked what types of books I like, again, because for the life of him he can't remember. I responded with action, adventure novels, and of course my personal favorite mystery. He hates all of those kinds of books, sometimes I think he does it to be contrary, and others I wonder why we are even friends with so little in common. It must be because of my tolerant to passive nature. I tend to be non-confrontational about many subjects, mind you race isn't one of them but...
In any case, he goes on to describe a book he's currently reading that he thinks is completely awesome and all that, then it comes like a rocket from nowhere. "Why is it that no notable black authors write anything except for how much it sucks to be black?" I was rather dumbfounded, so I didn't responded positively or negatively, just a neutral "I don't know." He then goes onto one of his diatribes, that mind you he gets angry if you tell him it's not PC "Because fuck PC". The long and short of it is, he thinks it's because no one would accept them. Not by whites, but by blacks. That blacks don't want to read anything not about black suffering by a black author. At the time, my initial response was a blank "nah I don't think so." He then demanded I produce a name of a black author that wrote something other than things about black "suffering". I named a few, he then clarified to add that they needed to have not written ANYTHING about black "Suffering" to which I couldn't think of anything. Mind you, I'm no search engine, in the beginning I could only think of a few names of black authors to begin with. Not only did he take that to mean that none existed, because as a black person I obviously know every black author to ever exist, but that his theory was correct. With a little searching I found a few novels that didn't center around black relations with the institution we live inside of, not a difficult task by any search by Google. I sent them to him, and he found that the novels had some backlash from the black community for various reasons. Usually for use of dialect inside of the novels themselves. He then said it was because it didn't center around black suffering that they had backlash, mind you these are critically and culturally acclaimed books, but it didn't matter to him...
At this point he goes on to ask why there's a section(in his local book store) with the title, black issues. "Really, how much do you need to talk about it?" I was tempted to ask, is that ALL of the black authors in the entire store? Because honestly, I think it is. Not only that, I wanted to ask him to look around the store he was standing in. See something interesting? Ah, you mean the fact those other books are written by whites? I also think a moment of silence is needed for the Asian community, because other than manga(which America practically thinks is full of white people anyway), I've yet to see something on Asian culture or concerns in a book store. Library? Sure, but only about history, nothing dealing with Chinese, Japanese, Korean, ect immigrants and their experiences here in America. I'm sure they exist but...
In any case, there are a few things wrong with his assertions, besides their obvious ignorance and insensitivity...
1. There's the assertion, implicit as it is, that I know every black author that exists, and therefore my inability to name one stems from the lack of blacks NOT talking about race. There are plenty of black science fiction and action authors around, I just don't know their names. And it's not like they are unknown or non-notable, I just don't know their names.
2. That their being a section titled "black issues"(which I've never seen in my life, and MIGHT have something to do with that racist town he's living in...) denotes that blacks spend all their time talking about black "issues".
That last point reminds me of something a poster on another forum said. She's a immigrant from an African country...a literal mail order bride. Guess who bought her? In any case, we got into a heated argument over her husband of all things, in which we exchanged blows. She claimed there was nothing to the black identity but suffering and victim-hood, just a group of whiners and complainers. I don't know what I told her, but CR point about the black issues section intersects. It's all there is and all blacks want to read about, because it's all WE are.
Not only do I heartily disagree, but I can honestly claim that the legacy of my people, members of the African diaspora, is more than just the sum of our collective suffering and victim-hood. While that plays a role in what it means to be black in America, it's not all we are. We are a strong and creative people, who have forged for themselves an identity not only separate form the Americana as a whole, but from our African brothers as well. One filled with music, art, and poetry all our own. One filled with patriotism and strength, despite the country that we serve treating us as far below other citizens for years. One of solidarity and more than just the collection of our hurting backs and aching feet. I am surprised each day, at the strength blacks can find when they put themselves to it, and shocked at the depths we can sink to when we so chose to not use the gifts of spiritual strength given by our ancestors.
And so I gleefully respond, NO! We are not our pain, but we have been shaped by it, and while we seek to fix the wrongs we have been dealt, we walk with a song in our hearts no matter what tune we set it to.
And so I close this post, a little more secure in myself, not just as a person, but as a black woman in America.