Essay No. 1: Race, Romance, Religion, and Reaganomics
June 2015. I’ll never forget. I was living in Philadelphia at the time, and I had graduated from the University of Pittsburgh spring of the following year. I had received a promotion a few months prior, and it was the summertime in sunny Philadelphia. Life was dope. Today would prove to be a special day, for the wrong reasons. I went to Facebook and saw a few statuses referencing (yet another) violent shooting. Instinctively, I went to Google to figure out what was going on. One Dylann Roof entered a historically black church in Charleston, South Carolina and went on a shooting spree, after praying with them for an hour. I’ll never forget what I saw in article after article: Before opening fire, Roof told his victims, “I’m here to shoot black people.” I feel like I’ve never been the same ever since.
I grew up in Georgia, the heart and soul of the confederacy. Even so, in my 12 years in Georgia, I would say I’ve had mostly positive experiences concerning race relations, with some minor exceptions. So much in fact, I would say my experiences made me a bit naïve to how broken and depraved the world really is. Things would happen, maybe to me or other people, and I would always rationalize away any possibility of racism. In some ways, I still think that’s a good thing to do, but I think the biggest problem was I would always dismiss any possibility of racism because, at the time, I thought these claims were somewhat subjective and fairly difficult to prove. While that is true in some ways, I still believe I was just a naïve young man. Like I said before, I feel like since the Dylann Roof shooting in Charleston, I haven’t been the same. By that, I don’t mean I wake up every day thinking about church shootings or race related violence. No, that’s way too deep. Rather, I think in my mind, there was an important paradigm shift. I realized that up until Charleston, I used my own life experiences to create universal truths about the world. “I’ve had positive experiences with race relations, therefore that must mean we live in a Post-Racial America.” Maybe now you understand why I called myself young and naïve. I really did want to believe that, but Dylann Roof taught me otherwise. I couldn’t rationalize it away. If nothing else, at least he was honest about what he was there to do: “I’m here to shoot black people.” I just haven’t been the same ever since.
Here’s what I think we fail to realize about Dylann Roof type situations. He’s one guy… sure. I agree. But really, is he so different from people like you and I? Grew up going to school, just like us. Had friends, just like us. Had hobbies, just like us. Probably liked to have a good time, just like us. I think the biggest difference between a guy like Dylann Roof and you and I is that he went to a church to kill black people and we didn’t. But what led up to that? Again, Dylann Roof was honest enough to share his thoughts: “You guys are raping our women and taking over our country.” Sure, maybe that led him to a mass shooting, but you would be silly to say he’s the only one who feels that way. In fact, I feel like Donald Trump has made very similar comments (PLOT TWIST)… hmmmm, now things start to get complicated. When you compare the language used by your president to the language used by a white supremacist terrorist. He does it to himself though. This is the guy who retweets comparisons to Benito Mussolini, not to mention all the propaganda from Neo Nazi groups, so yeah, I think my comparison is probably somewhere in the middle. I digress.
I think America has (present tense, has) a very complicated and strained history of race relations. I think to say anything more positive than that would grossly misrepresent where America is as a country. You guys know already about the Transatlantic Slave Trade. You know already about Jim Crow. Those are a given, so I’m skipping all that. I’ll talk about Colin Kaepernick instead, because I feel I only briefly mentioned him, in passing, in a previous post I did. I’ll be honest: I think a lot of white people are absolutely terrified of an intelligent and outspoken black man/woman (you can be outspoken without being intelligent. You can also be intelligent without being outspoken. But if you’re both, that’s when there’s a problem). Absolutely terrified. Seriously. I don’t doubt there are people who legitimately feel his protest is disrespectful to our nation, but the response is highly disproportionate to the deed itself, and the racial undertones are without question.
Let’s be honest, this really isn’t about patriotism. Half of you guys only say the national anthem every two years, when the Olympics or World Cup is on television. And the other half of you guys only say the anthem the 3 or 4 times a year when you’re at a sporting event. Seriously, like when was the last time you REALLY said the anthem, because of your patriotism and burning pride in American values? Isn’t it somewhat embarrassing that we need sporting events to remind us to take pride in our country to start with? If anything, saying the national anthem at work makes much more sense to me, because certainly capitalism and competitive markets are a much better reflection of American values than a sporting event. I digress. Is this about patriotism? I don’t think so. Not primarily, anyway, although I’ll acknowledge that as an element. I think this is about silencing a very outspoken and opinionated black man.
Colin Kaepernick is guilty of criticizing the pride and joy of so many of the white people of America: American values. America prides itself on being the land of the free and the land of opportunity. Internationally, people praise America for just that, and people come from all around the world to America for that exact reason. To challenge that is to challenge the very idea of America. And Colin Kaepernick did just that. In essence, his statement said, “America is only the land of the free for certain kinds of people. And it’s only the land of opportunity for certain kinds of people. And I’m not one of those people, so I’m not standing for the anthem until something changes.” No, this wasn’t about patriotism at all. This was about an ungrateful black boy who had everything and still wasn’t satisfied. The nerve of him!
Unfortunately, it can feel like the church, too, is more interested in silencing the outspoken black man or woman. I think there’s a chief misunderstanding though, and I find it’s pretty prevalent with a lot of white people, too. I think far too often, the church can mistaken silence for harmony, unity, and peace, and see someone who’s outspoken as a threat to that. White people, too. “Everything was fine, and then this Colin character had to start rocking the boat with all his protest!!” I’ll use a metaphor as a rebuttal. If a husband has a disagreement with his wife, and she just decides she’s going to go 5 or 10 minutes without speaking to him (or being very short with him), is everything fine? Any husband would say, “No!” Of course not! It’s pretty easy to put 2 and 2 together and realize that simply because his wife isn’t confronting him, it doesn’t mean she’s feeling resolved about the situation. In fact, most men know in general that if a woman isn’t speaking to you, she’s probably very upset! Far too often though, I can feel the church takes the position that to be outspoken is to be disruptive, divisive, and take away from the unity. The reality though is the spoken statement is simply the manifestation of what’s already in people’s minds and hearts. Speaking provides the opportunity for resolution and reconciliation. In the absence of that, the church is disunified, and that’s completely been missed, because the disunity is masked in silence… and somehow, that silence seems to be what’s preferred. The world at large does something very similar, assuming everything is fine in America, unless there are protests and marches in the streets. Again, I’m of the school of thought that America has been battling these issues for decades… Colin taking a knee is simply a manifestation of what people already think and feel. I feel like the response of a lot of white people is troubling, too. Instead of a dialogue on how to rectify or address some of his possible concerns, instead, the response is, “You need to end your protest and there will be no dialogue.” Well that stinks. I’m sure you see the parallels to the Civil Rights Movement already… if not, you should visit my article on MLK.
The aftermath of Colin’s protest is almost perfectly scripted. Like a martyr for his cause (that’s sarcasm, by the way, if you didn’t catch it), Colin Kaepernick wasn’t picked up following free agency, so he’s effectively been unemployed for the 2017-2018 football season. And I feel like a story like this is important for a lot of professionals of color and minority populations. As you champion various issues that are important to you in the workplace: improved representation of people of color, more opportunities for women, getting rid of the bamboo ceiling (that’s the prejudice against Asians in upper management, if you weren’t aware), LGBT friendly workspaces, etc., you always run the risk of being too outspoken as you look for change. While I’m sure there are a number of reasons why Colin didn’t get picked up, we’d be naïve to say his protests had nothing to do with it. The struggle of being a minority. You have to walk this constant tightrope: showing satisfaction with the status quo, while also expressing interest in making progressive changes… but not too progressive. Don’t want to be out of a job! Maybe that one hit a little too close to home. I’m sorry.
Colin is just one example. I think it’s clear politically as well that America isn’t fond of outspoken black people. I’ll step beyond that though for a second, just to talk about Trump’s Tax Bill. I couldn’t help but feel that Trump’s Tax Bill, was an attack on higher education. Increasing taxes on grad students, literally, by like 400%. It was so bad, that most grad students would have to take out loans to pay their TAXES. Not loans for school… loans for their TAXES. My gosh. Anyway, those items were removed, but I remember discussing with a family member, and we both reached the conclusion that the President is interested in silencing intelligent people. Scientists. Researchers. Grad students. All this nonsense about alternative facts… or “nobody knows more about the economy than me”. Or “Nobody knows more about Iraq than me.” Or “Nobody knows more about trade than me.” Literally, any reasonably intelligent person who may feel inclined to share something at odds with the President’s views… they all need to be silenced. You know, if you’re not particularly bright, you just have to trust people, even when they’re telling you things that don’t make sense (He’s said more than a few things that don’t make any sense). When you’re intelligent, you don’t let people feed you crap… you tell them it’s crap and then you tell them why it’s crap. So, I know he prides himself on this tax plan, and maybe there are people who aren’t particularly bright who will believe anything he says, even if it doesn’t make sense, but there are people who are actually experts at this, ie. economists, saying this plan is no bueno… and it’s very exploitive, particularly of the middle class. But again, it doesn’t appear he gets along particularly well with bright people… at least the ones who disagree with him.
It’s our new age Reaganomics. At least Reagan was presidential though. Irrespective of what you thought of his administration, he carried himself with a certain level of poise, tact, and integrity. This guy wants to get into Twitter wars with Miss America, and then tweet about policy 5 minutes later… that’s not Presidential at all… we’ve come a long way from Reaganomics. BTW, I would never EVER call someone more or less intelligent because of their political affiliations. Democrat, Republican, Green, Libertarian… heck, be communist for all I care. That’s between you, God, and whoever you chose to vote for. But when you’re President and you can’t hold an intelligible discussion, or your approach to an intelligible discussion is to be the loudest person in the room, to convince people how right you are, even when what’s coming out of your mouth isn’t true… I’ll admit, I take issue with that. I think it’s a problem. Who knows, maybe I’m the one with the problem. But personally, I think it’s an insult to the intelligence of the American people… so it makes sense to me that Trump has an issue with higher education: they would probably be his biggest critic.
Although the tax bill effected majority and underrepresented students of color, I can feel the same general principle applies: I feel like a lot of white people feel very threatened by intelligent, outspoken men/women of color. Once upon a time, you could tell a slave anything. Like I said, when you’re not particularly bright, you just have to trust people, even when what they’re saying doesn’t actually make sense. But it’s 2018 now. It’s the Information Era. And the Digital Age. Don’t sit up here and try and misrepresent race relations in America. Don’t sit up here and try and misrepresent the plight or the history of African Americans in this country. You’ll get called on your crap. Especially if you’re on a university campus. People, of all races, are literally going to school for this. Four, five, six, seven years of advanced study in these fields, so if you’re not well read, and you walk up in here with some “alternative facts”, you’ll get called out in a hurry. That’s part of the reason why slaves weren’t allowed to go to school, you know. If we let this negro get an education, we’re not going to be able to feed him crap anymore. He (or she) is going to start thinking… and who knows what will happen after that. Education is kind of great in that regard. Irrespective of race, gender, sexual orientation, religion, physical appearance, etc., everyone gets put on an equal playing field.
Hmmm, I’m already (well) over 2000 words, and I haven’t talked about romance at all. I was getting to know somebody. It didn’t work out. The end. I’m actually very interested in doing a post about how graduate school effects romantic relationships, but I’ll have to save that for another day.
Essay No. 1: Race, Romance, Religion, and Reaganomics
Nnamdi