By Cherina Jones
I had an interesting conversation with a co-worker today. He and I are among five blacks who work for our firm (there are over 100 people in our office). He shared with me that now that Barack Obama is President, black people don’t have anything to complain about. Troubled by his sentiments, I launched into how that is complete bullshit.
It has been a tired myth that most black people complain. We are ostracized in the media as peddling the government for handouts and complaining about racism like it is some colorful illusion. Racism is very much sewn into the fabric of our society. Noting the existence of racism is not a complaint, nor are the effects of racism that people live with daily.
I, nor the people in my circle complain or make excuses. We recognize the institutionalization of racism, and how its subtle presence makes an overt impact on our lives, but we keep it pushing, like most black people do. Too often black people are canonized as a people who seek freebies and comfortable rides down “easy street.” This image of black folks conflicts greatly with our legacy in this country. We could not have progressed this far without the appreciation for the fundamentals of hard work. The news and media will always underscore the less flattering aspects of our community, but we should know better.
There are many Harriet Tubmans, Sojourner Truths, Marcus Garveys and Nat Turners, who are very instrumental in our communities today. There are poor and middle class people seeking to achieve the American dream, who would scoff at the notion that they are not hard workers or that they are looking for excuses. Failure in the black community in any capacity falls squarely on the shoulders of the greater community. We cannot settle righteously in our success with a tilted nose at those who are still struggling up the mountain of success. Success is subjectively multi-tiered and takes some longer to achieve than others. We fail miserably in our assessment and critique of our black community. We quickly and sharply offer criticisms about how people should live without the balance of praise, reflection and appreciation for our history and accomplishments as people.
Obama’s victory was not the peak of our success. It does however, show the world what we have already known, that we are a capable and progressive people. We will have arrived when we can clean the stain of white supremacy from our hearts and over all consciousness. When we can achieve true universal equality, then we will have arrived. Racism is not an excuse, it’s a fact.
I had an interesting conversation with a co-worker today. He and I are among five blacks who work for our firm (there are over 100 people in our office). He shared with me that now that Barack Obama is President, black people don’t have anything to complain about. Troubled by his sentiments, I launched into how that is complete bullshit.
It has been a tired myth that most black people complain. We are ostracized in the media as peddling the government for handouts and complaining about racism like it is some colorful illusion. Racism is very much sewn into the fabric of our society. Noting the existence of racism is not a complaint, nor are the effects of racism that people live with daily.
I, nor the people in my circle complain or make excuses. We recognize the institutionalization of racism, and how its subtle presence makes an overt impact on our lives, but we keep it pushing, like most black people do. Too often black people are canonized as a people who seek freebies and comfortable rides down “easy street.” This image of black folks conflicts greatly with our legacy in this country. We could not have progressed this far without the appreciation for the fundamentals of hard work. The news and media will always underscore the less flattering aspects of our community, but we should know better.
There are many Harriet Tubmans, Sojourner Truths, Marcus Garveys and Nat Turners, who are very instrumental in our communities today. There are poor and middle class people seeking to achieve the American dream, who would scoff at the notion that they are not hard workers or that they are looking for excuses. Failure in the black community in any capacity falls squarely on the shoulders of the greater community. We cannot settle righteously in our success with a tilted nose at those who are still struggling up the mountain of success. Success is subjectively multi-tiered and takes some longer to achieve than others. We fail miserably in our assessment and critique of our black community. We quickly and sharply offer criticisms about how people should live without the balance of praise, reflection and appreciation for our history and accomplishments as people.
Obama’s victory was not the peak of our success. It does however, show the world what we have already known, that we are a capable and progressive people. We will have arrived when we can clean the stain of white supremacy from our hearts and over all consciousness. When we can achieve true universal equality, then we will have arrived. Racism is not an excuse, it’s a fact.
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