Hey Ice Cube!

I shall admit that last night when I realized I’d be away from home this morning and wouldn’t be able to post by my normal time, I though tabout Glory and Beloved. Then, I rolled my eyes, and went to sleep.

Anyway, last night I watched Black and White on FX. First, who knew that the same man who brought us Amerikkka’s Most Wanted, would being us this. Ice Cube has come a long way or has he. I’d like to believe that if I were put face-to-face with either passing group, I’d be able to tell their skin just didn’t look quite right. But I have been known to give me imperfect vision too much credit. I watched the show. If you aren’t familiar, it’s a six part series where two families, one Black, one white live together and funtion outside of the house as members of the other’s race. Oh the hilarity. I know it sounds like a Dave Chappell sketch. As a matter of fact, I bet most of us remember when Eddie Murphy did it on Saturday Night Live.

Every person had their own issue with race. The little white girl seemed to be waiting for her parents to mess up and say something she knew better than to say. The Black man was pissed because the white guy seemed to refuse to see racism. The Black boy was clearly just there because his parents made him do it–talking bout he doesn’t deal with racism. But I’ll get to him later. And the white woman, well I just don’t think she’s ready for what’s in store. Oh and lest I forget the Black mother who told the whites that Blacks don’t need coaching on how to ‘act white’ because we have to learn to function around them. Amen.

From episode one, I agree with Bruno to a degree. If you look for racism, you will find it. But everything single thing you see as a slight can’t be attributed to your race. If you walk into a store being an ass, you’re going to be treated as an ass. At the same time, I think Bruno (the white guy) thinks that racism only comes in the form of being called a dirty-filthy-nigger-bunny while a band of klansmen rape your Black wife and virgin daughter. Not so much. For the Black guy, I still think he sees racism everywhere because he’s super aware of it. I find it interesting since he grew up in Detroit and lives in Atlanta. How much racism could he have experienced where everything that happens to him, he can attribute it to race?

Then the Black boy said he doesn’t really deal with racism. I think for him, he’s on the same page as Bruno. If it’s not some lemme-violate-your-civil-rights-and release-dogs-on-you type racism, he doesn’t see it. Or maybe, since he is being raised in Atlanta, around whites and others who are used to Blacks and where Blacks are in positions of power and success, he isn’t nearly as affected as his father.

I don’t deny racism exists. Gawd knows it does. However, after I watched this show I was talking to someone about it and once again realized that I’ve lived my entire life and never had a white person, or any person say or do anything malicious that I could contribute to them being a racist. There was a case where I thought a boss was a raging racist but she never came at me with impunity. I have had friends say they have been called nigger here and again or had white folks use the word in reference to them. Me? I’ve heard white folks use the word to think they were cool but not in a derogatory way to me or any other Black person. I’ve never felt a white store clerk didn’t want to touch me because I was Black. Maybe because I just don’t like strangers touching me anyway. Or maybe I don’t hang around enough white people to see that they are treated differently.

How could this have happened? I live in America. I interact with whites. How could I be this old and never expereinced the things most Black people say they have experienced? Is it because I was raised in Detroit? Where Blacks were the majority. Is it because I went to a Black school? Is it because I live in an area where Black people are in positions of power and success and where whites are used to interacting with these types of Black people? Yes.

What I realize is that I don’t really have to navigate my way around someone I know has it in for me just because I’m Black. Nor have I ever had cause to learn. I’m not saying that I’ve never encountered racism, I just wasn’t fully aware of it. I guess. I have had whites say things that let me know they acknowledged that I am Black. Was it done to be mean or to set me apart from anyone else? I don’t think so.

I guess I’ve been places where I didn’t get good service. And it might have been because I was Black. But it was never such a big deal to me to even waste time wondering why someone else got seated before me. I spent my time turning on my heels and leaving the establishment. Have I lost jobs because I am Black? Eh, I don’t know. I probably got more than I lost because of my skin. I don’t have one Earth-shattering moment where I can recall someone else’s views on race affecting me–to the point where I can say the incident(s) impacted my development. No loss of innocense moment here.

Maybe I’m lucky in that on a day-to-day basis, I don’t have race to affect how I view my options in life. There’s a part in Plum Bum (Fauset, 1929), someone says, with regard to race, “You’ve gotta decide whether or not you’re going to let it interfere with personal development and to what extent it may be harmful or it may be an incentive.” I guess somewhere along the line, I don’t think I knowingly made a decision either way.

I think back to the scene in Crash, after Terrance Howard and his wife get back home. He tells her she doesn’t know what it’s like to be Black in America. Some could say maybe I don’t. Except that even though I’ve never experienced the ugliness, I know it exists. I don’t sit and say, “It’s never happened to me so it’s not real.” But I wonder how many Me’s are out there? Anyone? Anyone?? And how will the Me’s handle the race issue with their kids and what will we do if/when undenyable racism hits us in the face?

Have at it y’all. I should have some type of disclaimer here, but I don’t. Just know that this was written partly as truth and partly as discussion fodder.