Caucasia (LINK)
July 22nd 2008 00:35
So I met this woman the other day, white woman. I know that you are wondering where I’m going with this, but be patient I’ll get there sooner than later. We started discussing the state of this country, economics, race, education, illegal immigration etc. Oh yeah and gas, let me not forget that, that is usually the conversation starter these days. There are so many things wrong in this country right now we were able to speak for hours. She started by telling me she was an educator, I congratulated her, and praised her dedication. We started talking about the children, and how the school system in this country is falling apart in a lot of places. I realized talking to her that she was suffering from the disease of whiteness, and I started to feel sorry for her. It is a disease that is native to most of white America, and there has yet to be a cure discovered. It seems that white people have become so scared of saying what they really think about things that they remain silent, and carefully re-invent the things they think for fear of being labeled racist. They treat our children with kid gloves, because on some level they do not really believe that our children are capable of really achieving. People of color have been making excuses for why we can’t move forward as a people, I know this sounds familiar, “black man can’t get a break because the white man is holding him back, he just wants to lock up our men, our children can’t learn that way . . . “.
The more we talked the more I realized this woman, white as she was, she meant well. In this country we have become so used to the discussion of racism as it pertains to blacks and its effects we have negated a conversation about the effects of racism on whites.
The woman was startled when I said to her “you are giving these children too much lead way, so what they have problems at home“.
she looked stunned, and simply asked, “what do you mean?”
“You are feeling sorry for these kids, and failing them by rubber stamping the I can’t make it syndrome.”
She became distraught, she felt it was her duty to be sympathetic, and understanding and let them achieve less because of the hardship of their life. As an educator, and as a human being first I am sure that she is right to be sympathetic, and understanding, but not to the point where it is harmful to a student. Life is hard, and when the ball bounces no matter where on the floor it bounces in order to survive you must pick it up and score. No one is going to care about racism if you can’t do a the job you’re hired to do, or if your inability to vote comes from a stint you did in prison (yes your voting rights are taken away after being in prison, although you can petition for them back, spread the word). Life is full of turmoil, and unfair circumstances. Our ancestors have given us the greatest gift, freedom. Freedom to say what you want, make as much money as you want, as long as you have a viable product, go where you want for the most part, and dream what you want. Yes we are pulled over for driving while black, hassled where whites are not, have a tougher time getting a mortgage or loan, experience police brutality and harrassment with some constant regularity, but we live in a country where just about anything is possible. At what point are we going to stop making excuses for the sad examples we are giving our children when showing them what it means to be men and women, and our children when we come to school to cuss out teachers but our PTA meetings are empty, and our spring concert choruses only boast whte children? The disease of whiteness is killing our children but the disease of blackness is what keeps it contagious.
At this point in time I have to say who cares about racism, yes it is alive and well, it probably will always be, but we live in a country that allows you to make a life for yourself. Yes we have a disproportionate amount of men in jail, our class lines separate along racial lines but nowhere else in this world can you travel from class to class economically. At what point do we concentrate on the things we can change and leave the things we can’t alone. The fact that our children are lacking dreams is not white Americas fault it is our own.
If white people disappeared tomorrow what do you know how to do? Our children of color have it ingrained that there is racism and that is why they live in poverty, why they can only aspire to be rappers, and ballplayers. We now live in a world where if someone doesn’t want to let us into their building we can build our own. So with all this power why do we insist on telling our children that they cannot achieve because some imaginary white man is holding you back? White America speak up and stop holding onto your thoughts because you are scared of being called a racist. The likelihood is you are a racist, prejudice is so ingrained in this country at some point in time you will react or function in a situation that was dictated by color instead of pure reason. So what! We live in a country now where I can get a lawyer and sue you for it so I don’t really see the big deal. White America stop letting our children get away with mediocre work because you think our kids have it rough enough in the ghetto, they need to be pushed in the same manner that white kids are. And to these kids who walk the streets and think that when they come from the hardest hit part of town that means you “ . . . come from nothing “, as Young Jeezy’s misguided shirt said on the 2007 BET awards, tell that to the children in Africa who have no indoor plumbing, and clean running water in their village, and who cannot receive a free education paid for by the their government.
( For those who are unaware of who Young Jeezy is, he is an ignorant, though I am sure nice fellow with a misguided idea of what nothing is, twisted up with a lacking of a thorough history lesson in Black culture, who just so happens to be a material Hip Hop success. There is no way to ever come from nothing as a person of color in this country, too many people gave their lives to actually come from nothing).
Even at the worst, the ghetto in this country is still a testament to the fight of those who came before us. And to Young Jeezy you come from something if only for the fact that you made it to a stage that allows you to boast such fallacies.
My people can we let it go?
Now the time is over where we legislate laws and think that that is the same as legislating minds.
The more we talked the more I realized this woman, white as she was, she meant well. In this country we have become so used to the discussion of racism as it pertains to blacks and its effects we have negated a conversation about the effects of racism on whites.
The woman was startled when I said to her “you are giving these children too much lead way, so what they have problems at home“.
she looked stunned, and simply asked, “what do you mean?”
“You are feeling sorry for these kids, and failing them by rubber stamping the I can’t make it syndrome.”
She became distraught, she felt it was her duty to be sympathetic, and understanding and let them achieve less because of the hardship of their life. As an educator, and as a human being first I am sure that she is right to be sympathetic, and understanding, but not to the point where it is harmful to a student. Life is hard, and when the ball bounces no matter where on the floor it bounces in order to survive you must pick it up and score. No one is going to care about racism if you can’t do a the job you’re hired to do, or if your inability to vote comes from a stint you did in prison (yes your voting rights are taken away after being in prison, although you can petition for them back, spread the word). Life is full of turmoil, and unfair circumstances. Our ancestors have given us the greatest gift, freedom. Freedom to say what you want, make as much money as you want, as long as you have a viable product, go where you want for the most part, and dream what you want. Yes we are pulled over for driving while black, hassled where whites are not, have a tougher time getting a mortgage or loan, experience police brutality and harrassment with some constant regularity, but we live in a country where just about anything is possible. At what point are we going to stop making excuses for the sad examples we are giving our children when showing them what it means to be men and women, and our children when we come to school to cuss out teachers but our PTA meetings are empty, and our spring concert choruses only boast whte children? The disease of whiteness is killing our children but the disease of blackness is what keeps it contagious.
At this point in time I have to say who cares about racism, yes it is alive and well, it probably will always be, but we live in a country that allows you to make a life for yourself. Yes we have a disproportionate amount of men in jail, our class lines separate along racial lines but nowhere else in this world can you travel from class to class economically. At what point do we concentrate on the things we can change and leave the things we can’t alone. The fact that our children are lacking dreams is not white Americas fault it is our own.
If white people disappeared tomorrow what do you know how to do? Our children of color have it ingrained that there is racism and that is why they live in poverty, why they can only aspire to be rappers, and ballplayers. We now live in a world where if someone doesn’t want to let us into their building we can build our own. So with all this power why do we insist on telling our children that they cannot achieve because some imaginary white man is holding you back? White America speak up and stop holding onto your thoughts because you are scared of being called a racist. The likelihood is you are a racist, prejudice is so ingrained in this country at some point in time you will react or function in a situation that was dictated by color instead of pure reason. So what! We live in a country now where I can get a lawyer and sue you for it so I don’t really see the big deal. White America stop letting our children get away with mediocre work because you think our kids have it rough enough in the ghetto, they need to be pushed in the same manner that white kids are. And to these kids who walk the streets and think that when they come from the hardest hit part of town that means you “ . . . come from nothing “, as Young Jeezy’s misguided shirt said on the 2007 BET awards, tell that to the children in Africa who have no indoor plumbing, and clean running water in their village, and who cannot receive a free education paid for by the their government.
( For those who are unaware of who Young Jeezy is, he is an ignorant, though I am sure nice fellow with a misguided idea of what nothing is, twisted up with a lacking of a thorough history lesson in Black culture, who just so happens to be a material Hip Hop success. There is no way to ever come from nothing as a person of color in this country, too many people gave their lives to actually come from nothing).
Even at the worst, the ghetto in this country is still a testament to the fight of those who came before us. And to Young Jeezy you come from something if only for the fact that you made it to a stage that allows you to boast such fallacies.
My people can we let it go?
Now the time is over where we legislate laws and think that that is the same as legislating minds.
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