THE OTHER AMERICA
44 President Barack Hussein Obama and FLOTUS Michelle Obama
When I was a young man, my father would harp on the importance on how we carried our selves. “Don’t wear your du rag out of house”! "Do your hair in the house before you step out”! “Don’t sag your pants”! “Don’t walk into a store with your hands in your pockets”! These are admonishments my father made to my brother and I as we grew up. I vaguely remember a conversation my brother and I had. We were both down from home and at home . As we discussed our time at school, my brother made a reference to a workout the basketball ball had put the team through. After completing the afternoon workout, He capped off this evening of physical exertion with a night run. A little cardio before he hit the sack . Our father when he heard this was beside himself. What if the cops saw him? What if they tried to stop him and with his headphones on, they misperceived his inability to hear them with noncompliance? What if they tried to arrest him? Who would be there to support him? This conversation ensued for a while . I forgot how it ended , but in this current time , the sentiment is all the more prevalent: Implicit bias can paint a black man in America as a liability/threat before there is time to question could he be an asset. Our blackness is perceived as a weapon . To act a way that steps outside of the confines of what our bodies are perceived to operate is to brandish said weapon and threaten the status quo. There is a quote that I have on my wall in my apartment, “The pursuit of integration should never supplant the pursuit for self-determination.” We are at a very tenuous point in American history. Explicit racism, bias and bigotry are on full display and is encouraged by the executive branch of government. We have seen a proliferation of racist sentiment and actions all over the internet. This has further increased chasm that divides America into two. Two ideologies framed from different views of the same constitution. If there exist such two vastly different paradigms of American and its citizenry , the logic of the aforementioned quote begins to crystalize. In order to see real change in Black America, the onus to create wealth and opportunity for ourselves becomes all the more dire. There is a seat at the table for us as a people. We must learn collectively how to it .
Attain. Advance. Together.