The last few weeks, I have had the privilege of having plenty of time in which to do things, and the opportunity with which to do them, especially reading. I have read about six books in the past two weeks, just from the time I have sitting on the train on a regular basis.
Two of them stand out to me especially, Lakota Woman and the Autobiography of Malcolm X, which I just finished last night.
I have heard, multiple times, that reverse racism (Afro-Americans disliking light-skinned Americans on the basis of color alone) is a travesty, because, the person telling this to me would say, 'I'm not racist. I didn't try to enslave that person.' And I would think, well yes, that's true. You're not racist, that I can tell, and no, you didn't attempt to enslave that person.
I have often struggled with how precisely to express the fact that collectively, all light-skinned middle class Americans have a responsibility to improve the situation of poor minorities. This is not because I have any communist leanings and think that wealth should be distributed equally, or anything like that. Communist philosophy seems to me to be much like Christianity - it's a great idea on paper, but how often have you seen it actually working in the real world? The reason I believe that all light-skinned middle class Americans have this responsibility is because all of our success and opportunities in the United States came at the expense of the dark-skinned peoples our forefathers exploited.
I do not know, like most Americans, who my great-great grandparents were. All I know is that most of my forebears actually emigrated to the United States around the turn of the 20th century, long after slavery was illegal. I'm virtually certain that neither I, nor my family were involved in oppressing Afro-Americans directly. However, I am part Cherokee. My grandmother's family is from Oklahoma. The white man who decided my grandmother wasn't worth acknowledging, and the tribe that refused to accept her are part of my heritage as well.
What can now be done? I think I am right in saying that most light-skinned Americans today do not consider themselves inherently superior to anyone of darker skin simply on the basis of color. But how many times have I heard complaints about 'those dirty Mexicans' or 'blacks are just like that' or 'why should that Indian get any money? He'll just blow it on booze and a pickup truck he'll wreck by next week anyway'? Who put them in that position? The white male power structure.
Malcolm X's grandson, Malcolm Shabazz did time for the arson of his grandmother's home, Betty Shabazz, Malcolm X's widow. She died in that blaze in 1997. I'm not really sure what Malcolm X would say to that. Probably something like, 'liberals are trying to tell you that the race problem in America is getting better. All they're doing is keeping Afro-Americans from being proud of who they are and where they come from.'
I really don't know. But I find it inutterably sad that a man who sacrified so much of his life and energy trying to make life better for the Afro-American should have a grandson who was responsible for the death of his wife.
Here is an excerpt from 'Black Enterprise' from 2001:
"African Americans also saw record rises in income in 1999. That year the median income for African American households rose to $27,910, the highest household income for blacks ever recorded by the Census Bureau. This number, however, pales in comparison to the median income for white Americans or all households, which was $42,504 and $40,816, respectively."
UPI, 2001:
"The NCIA said, "During the twelve years we examined (1985 to 1997), the U.S. prisoner population more than doubled from 502,376 to 1,240,962. Nationally, non-whites accounted for 70 percent of this growth in state and federal prisons.""
Avert.org, 2007:
"The latest Centers for Disease Control report on the US epidemic shows that in 2005, 73% of people diagnosed with AIDS were men. Within the African American population, men represent 65% of AIDS cases. Women comprised 35% of all African Americans diagnosed with AIDS in 2005. Black women represented 67% of AIDS diagnoses in women in 2005, though they make up just 12-13% of the population."
One of the things I found most interesting about Malcolm X's reasons for converting to Islam is that Christianity, as it exists, is not real Christianity. This was also the reason given in Lakota Woman for Mary's embrace of the American Indian Church. Christianity is unique in that it was a relatively obscure sect of many sects in the Roman Empire that grew to become one of the most powerful and influential forces in the world. Originally, it appealed to the poorest and most indigent in society, telling them how much worth they had in the eyes of God - one reason for its rapid spread. Today, I think Jesus would be crucified again today by all the so-called Christians who talk about God like he lives next door. After all, the first person to whom he showed himself in the Bible after the resurrection was to Mary Magdalene, a former prostitute. Today's 'Christian' leaders hang out with prostitutes - but they certainly don't want anyone to find out about it (cf. Ted Haggard). Jesus would have been derided for spending too much time with drug dealers, prostitutes, and other social outcasts, just as he did in his own time. And those of us who call ourselves Christians had better do something about the hijacking of our faith and name by those who glory in living like modern-day Pharisees.
I don't think that the situation is really better than it used to be. It's simply been masked in that there are a lot of individual Afro-American success stories, or individually successful Hispanics or Native Americans. Just because a dark-skinned man is in the position to run for the White House, we shouldn't think that somehow the crimes of our forefathers are null and void. We are successful because of their poverty. Our riches came at their expense. Somehow, I think we need to do something about that.
