As a young African-American growing up on the Northside of
Jacksonville you are keenly aware of race and racism. Matter of fact I would go as far as saying it’s ingrained in
your DNA from the moment you are born.
You are taught to recognize and acknowledge both structural and
institutional racism from birth. There
are countless lessons my parents taught me regarding race and racism that have
served me well till this day.
Therefore, when I went to a recent exhibit at the Museum of Science and
History that dealt with race and how much we are alike I went with less of a
critical eye toward racism and with one trained on the intellectualism of the
exhibit. Now as a scholar I am keenly
aware of the fact you cannot separate race from racism the two are constructs
of each other. However, that was
not the purpose of the exhibit.
The purpose of the exhibit was to scientifically show how the
constricts of skin color can give a false sense of difference when if you look
beyond that we are all quite similar.
Matter of fact if you peel back the layers according to research humans
are 99.9 percent the same genetically.
As I said previously I went to the exhibit to sharpen my “intellectual,”
skills, nowadays I find greater value in that rather than pointing out the
obvious.
I guarantee you Bill Gates, Phil Knight and the countless
other billionaires of the world don’t consider race much when moving their
products. Race is an obsession
amongst those who don’t have the economic wherewithal to see beyond last week’s
paycheck. Therefore, we spend an exhaustible amount of time having
conversations about both race and racism while those at the tippy top of the
economic pyramid laugh all the way to the bank.
It is my personal belief as well that the conversation regarding
things we as “humans” have in common are more beneficial to my efforts of
serving the poor and marginalized and moving the larger concept of humanity
forward. I gain nothing nor do the
people of New Town (where I work) or Brentwood (where I live) by replaying
conversations of race over and over again. However, it is my responsibility to point out instances of
racism when it does exist and sometimes that means with folks that look like
me. May I suggest Dr. Jeffri Ann
Wilder’s work on colorism if you don’t think Black folk can be racist.
I find greater value and much more productivity in having
conversations around classism rather than race, because it is class rather than
race that’s the greatest impediment to success, in particular African-American
success. Class has not only
destroyed the African-American community, but it consistently allows folks
passes based upon the fact they are simply African-American. Maybe that’s why Cornel West doesn’t
get invited to the White House and we refuse to acknowledge the growing wage
and income gap.
Finally, let me share my thoughts on The 10 Things Black
People Should Do Now as food for thought (http://irvincohen.com/blog1/2011/02/16/hello-worldhttp://irvincohen.com/blog1/2011/02/16/hello-world)
That’s My Story and I AM Sticking To It…
I AM
