Reaction to Michelle Obama’s comments at the Obama foundation late last month resulted in a plethora of responses from journalists, radio hosts pundits, politicians, plain Jane’s, average Joe’s and many other individuals across the political spectrum. Many conservatives took offense at what they described as the former first lady’s “racially charged comments.” Not surprisingly, many progressives praised Ms. Obama’s for her remarks and for candidly discussing how racism has and continues to manifest itself in society. Such polarized political reactions should hardly come as a surprise.
Indeed, if the past several years have taught us anything, it is that we as a nation are in a perennial state of crisis when it comes to the stain of racial discord plaguing our nation. Earlier this year, the Pew Center released its latest findings on how different groups of Americans view race relations in our nation.
Notable percentages of Blacks and Whites, as well as Americans across all races and ethnic groups, characterized race relations as poor if not, downright “bad.” A small plurality of those polled saw race relations as improving. Black Americans were more likely to harbor feelings of despair and doubt about their own individual prospects as well as society at large. The recently conducted poll provided specific detail on the vast divide of opinion between different races on topics ranging from politics, economics, law enforcement, etc. Despite however one decides or desires to interpret the findings, the undisputed truth is that race is still the unruly, evil, three headed monsters wildly devouring the landscape.
The violent, racially motivated murders of more than a few Black people ranging from attending bible study classes, driving to or home from work. Getting accosted and arrested for daring to sit in coffeehouses (Starbucks) without immediately purchasing something to eat or drink. Being racially profiled for having the audacity (sarcasm) to take a nap in the college dorm they reside in. Confronted with selling bottled water despite having a permit to do so. And get this, being attacked by news anchors as being “obnoxious and arrogant” for applying to “too many colleges” after gaining acceptance to all of them with a full-ride mind you!
Indeed, the penultimate example/accusation was beyond outrageous. Rather, such an absurd allegation was outright asinine! One can only ponder on what these same anchors felt in regards to the all-White/Asian parents ensnared in the varsity blues scandal that erupted earlier this year. That is another entire column.
The indignities go on and on. It is as if Black people are damned if they do or damned if they do not! The feeling among many people across racial lines, particularly people of African descent, is that Black America is under unrelenting physical, mental and emotional siege. There appears to be no relief in sight!
As a Black academic, I can personally attest to the fact that by speaking with other educated Black professionals in varied professions (and some non-Black), friends, acquaintances and through social media, I can detect the unmistakable level of anger, anxiety, stress, in some cases, fear and most certainly, resentment in regard to the current fractured state of affairs. Such heightened emotions are indeed well-founded. The temperature is hot and the climate has become unpredictable.
For a sizable number of us, our viewpoints on race have largely been formed by our personal experiences. In a nation that has been less than judicious to people of color, in particular, Black Americans, it is justifiable that many Black Americans are more inclined to believe that race is an intractable factor in our society that has an impervious grip on all people regardless of ethnicity either as proactive perpetrators or reactive observers to such dehumanizing impositions.
Many of us can recite harrowing and lacerating stories of parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins, siblings, other relatives, ourselves for that matter, who have been the recipients of its often poisonous and psychologically debilitating venom. On the contrary, large segments of Whites, particularly White men, are in positions where the specter of racial prejudice has little, if any, direct impact on their lives. Indeed, for many White Americans, institutional and structural racism is a vice of which they are large, if not totally, immune.
Truth be told, a number of Whites are in denial about racism. A greater percentage are even more dismissive about the potential negative economic, psychological and emotional impact that racial prejudice can have on the lives of non-Whites. Such attitudes have manifested themselves in polls like the recent Pew study, on social media, internet chat rooms, political and cultural oriented websites, talk radio, private clubs and multiple avenues of society. Over the past several years, a number of politically right of center media outlets have shamefully and purposely misrepresented or, at the very least, perversely manipulated or deviously downplayed racial incidents as well as President Trump’s blatantly racist antics.
Conservative talk radio chimes in with its relentless bombastic, acerbic thrashing of non-White immigrants, routinely deny, codifies or attempts to disguise Donald Trump’s abhorrent, rancid and divisive rhetoric as “harmless…Attack politicians of color and multiculturalism and diversity in general as “scourges on our nation” and other deplorable tactics are a primary culprit… President Trump has avidly aided and abetted an already precarious state of affairs.
Despite lower Black unemployment (the rate is twice as high as that of White Americans), the growing wealth and income gaps that do, in fact, transcend across racial lines still disproportionately affect Black and Brown Americans. Lower life expectancy is more likely to impact poor people (especially poor Black men). Systematic and structural discrimination are all too often still aggressively directed toward Black and Brown Americans. All of the aforementioned factors indicate that racism is a malignant form of cancer that relentlessly spreads itself throughout our society.
Chattel slavery, Black codes, Jim Crow servitude, grandfather clauses, oppressive sharecropping systems, lynchings, increasing gentrification, political disenfranchisement, covert and overt discrimination and outright unapologetic violence have deeply affected America’s Black population. The results still linger with us today. Denying such hard truths will not bring us any closer to any sort of racial reconciliation. Rather, acknowledging that racial conflict is a serious problem and making a valiant, diligent and committed effort to tackle the issue will be the only viable solution to addressing such a crisis.
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This post was previously published on Medium.com.
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