Race relations are a sad state of affairs up North
posted November 2, 2009 - 11:49pm
You would think that in the Union Territory, black and white folk would be getting along well in every sense of the word. Hasn’t conventional history beaten into us that the Civil War was only about slavery?
However, after living in Northwest Indiana for
three years I can confidently say that whites were more a part of blacks and vice versa down South. Ah, the beautiful, hot, sticky South full of sweet tea and a slang that encourages speaking with a slower cadence.
I lived in Alabama for more than a decade. I first moved there in the 10th grade. The first lunch table to welcome my company was full of black peers.
They seemed to accept me for what I was. I didn’t judge them and they didn’t judge me. At the time, I didn’t even focus on our differences in color.
My mother instilled in me the belief that all people deserve respect, no matter how they look. I knew the history of racism. But I was a child of the 21st Century. It is a new age. We are One Love.
I suppose the biggest moment of the recognizing the emphasis some place on differences in color happened when I joined the NAACP at my college. I was one of the charter members. I was looking forward to working together to bring out the beauty we all share as fellow human beings.
But the meetings quickly turned into black vs. white, and I didn’t feel like intruding long enough to truly discover if I was welcome. I found it interesting that the most vocal person at the NAACP meetings, who burned the most with anger toward the discrimination of black people, was half white.
I voted for Obama. It wasn’t because of the color of his skin. It’s because I agree with where he wants to take our country. I agree with his thoughtful humor and political leanings.
“Obama, Obama!” my daughter was happy to cheer with me.
I think it’s pretty cool that the USA finally has a black president, sure. But I didn’t vote for Obama because of the color of his skin. It’s for his character.
I believe in progression. I believe in coming together for the common good. But what I’m seeing here in Northwest Indiana is a definite self-segregation. There’s palpable tension. Both sides kind of look down their noses and over their shoulders at each other. That’s too bad.
I really do feel blessed to be able to say that at one time in my life, I saw a black man and a black man saw me without noticing our differences in color.
I had been living in London for seven months or so. I had surrounded myself with Italians, French, English, Australian, Kiwi, etc.
I was at a bar and heard an American accent. I was so happy to hear it. He also seemed happy to hear mine. We smiled, we laughed, we spoke about how things were happening back in America.
I saw this black man as an American. Period. We knew each other on a level shared with nobody else in the room purely because we both grew up in the USA. He was my fellow countryman.
But as soon as I got back to America 10 years ago, my culture quickly corrected me to recognize a black American first and foremost as an African-American.
Remember to notice the color first. Hmm…
I know concentrating on color discrimination is a big business and I know racism still happens.
But I’m saddened to not feel a certain striving toward coming together in race relations nowadays, especially up North.
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