--- In scifinoir2@yahoogroups.com, Bosco Bosco <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> I'm white, caucasoidal, a cracker, and I don't feel any particular
loyalty or even affinity for other white folks simply because they
share my skin color. I'm nto saying that's right or wrong. It's simply
a statement of truth about my experience. Hopefully your point of view
will get me to consider some things I haven't yet.
>
> Bosco
>
I am glad you asked this question. Because you make an oblivious
point that should be basic and obvious. You have never professed any
particular loyalty or even affinity for other white folks simply
because they share your skin color because such loyalty and affinity
has been implicit since the foundation of this nation and the moment
of your birth.
Amongst my friends I have made a only slight tongue-in-cheek
proclamation: "Just ONCE, I would like to wake up and be both white
and right!"
Right not by my correctness but simply by the accident of my birth.
Just once I would like to go to an upscale white restaurant and not
have the other diners observe me as if they were watching television -
as if they were watching a newly discovered episode of "Good Times."
(I have a whole laundry list of "just onces" but I won't bore you).
Because black people are so clearly "the other" in this society, we
must choose sides, not just to play the game but to maintain our sanity.
I suggest Barack Obama, raised primarily by his white mother and his
white grandparents, is not a post-racial candidate as he is often
portrayed. I suggest Barack Obama was a deeply conflicted young man
until he made the only choice available to him: he declared himself a
"black man." He chose a dark-skinned black woman and had children who
will have no choice but to declare themselves "black." I suggest his
rise to the Democratic nomination began when he made that choice.
I suggest actress Halle Barry, raised primarily by her white mother,
did not become self-actualized until she made the only choice
available to her: she declared herself a "black woman." She is now
has a child fathered by a white man, a child who will have no choice
but to declare herself "black" even though her complexion and genetic
math would suggest otherwise. I suggest Ms. Berry would not be the
first black woman to win the Academy Award if she had not "chose her
team," and thereby her allegiance, when she did.
Although my son has two black parents and he is darker complexioned
than both of us, I sent him to primarily white schools so he would get
the best education possible. My son would gravitate toward playing
and socializing with the white kids because he had more in common with
them socially, economically and academically.
As I am an unrepentant "race man," this concerned me but I did not
interfere. During his teens I sent my "white friendly" son to college
camp at the prestigious Big 10 university in the allegedly liberal
state capital where he and those of his skin color made up less than
1% of the student body (this including the blacks who made up the
majority of the school's basketball and football teams). He came home
at summer's end sporting an Angela Davis afro, a Malcolm X goatee and
wearing a Richard Pryor "Kiss My Happy Black A$$" t-shirt.
To preserve his sanity in that precious white pressure cooker and
preserve, my son had to declare his allegiance. He is currently a
sophomore at that prestigious Big 10 university (it was not his first
choice - he wanted to attend North Carolina AT&T but he did not earn a
free ride there) where he is also President of the Black Student Union.
Like my son in his Angela Davis afro and Malcolm X goatee, I suspect
you declare your allegiance to "your" team ("Go Crackers!") by what
you wear, how you wear your hair, your tattoos (if you have any), what
you listen to and how you speak.
I also believe you had the luxury of making your choice naturally and
organically - without a "Saul on the road to Damascus" moment.
Nowadays, unfortunately, for most young black people, it takes getting
"knocked off your ass unto your ass" to declare our most basic and
profound allegiance.
I hope this is helpful.
~rave!
