When you hear that sentence what comes to mind? The browning of America? The fact that many businesses are reaching out to us? Think about it.
There was a time in our history when we thought that the term "black people" meant only those who resided in the Unites States. The majority thought that blacks only lived in big cities, primarily ghettos. And that "blacks" would NEVER live out in the country, have fewer than two kids, have a pet, or value education. Well, they are wrong.
The fact that our current president is a black man who was born in Hawaii, is Harvard-educated and lived in a gated Chicago community should silence critics. It doesn't.
See, Black people are everywhere. You really can't escape us. We populated TV sets in the late 60s through the 80's for a while. Our fashion, music, speech and many parts of our culture has been borrowed or stolen (depending on your perspective). If you doubt me, think about the Bee Gees, Eminem, and braiding styles. Remember Bo Derek in 10?
Our culture has leapt into the mainstream. Oprah Winfrey is a media mogul and queen of daytime talk. Author Terry McMillan has millions of fans waiting for the release of her new book. Will Smith is one of the highest paid actors. Singer Mariah Carey's music is cherished by mainstream America. People can't get enough of Jay-zee and his wife Beyonce. They are one of the super couples in the entertainment field.
Olympic bronze figure skater Debi Thomas is one of the millions of stories about blacks who grew up in small towns with few or no blacks in sight. So is Emmy-winning actress Alfre Woodard. Actor Idris Elba from England (mostly people think he's an American) shocks people with his accent when the cameras are turned off. And The Roots on the Jimmy Fallon Show are bringing such a funky fresh sound to late night TV: they are amazing.
Then there are people of color in Canada, England, France, Australia, the Caribbean, Mexico, London...I could go on. The point is you really can't escape. You see on the news, movies ( we usually get killed off in sci-fi movies; Remember the red shirts in Star Trek? Do you even remember Samuel Jackson in Jurassic Park?), TV (you hardly see us on Reality TV, but we are there.), awards shows, sporting events, and entertainment programming.
We have men and women fighting overseas for our country defending its honor.Many are seeing places that they never dreamt of our maybe learned about in school. The world is a lot bigger than we thought. We have the internet, Skyype, faxes, and cell phones to thank. Contrary to popular opinion, we are here! We ARE everywhere.
Posted By: Marsha Jones
Thursday, September 9th 2010 at 1:32PM
You can also
click
here to view all posts by this author...
