You've probably heard the following rule a million times. Old folks used to say it everyday. I call it the "profane assumption." It is the Rule of Black Progress and it goes like this: "If you are Black, you have to run twice as hard to get half as far," or "You know you have to be twice as good as a white man/woman to be considered as good."
In mathematical terms this means you have to perform at two or four times the level of your white counterparts to be considered their equal. But this ain't about math. It's about race. It's about a double standard that is as real in 2011 as it was in 1911 or a hundred years before that.
What makes the above quote so utterly "profane" is that today, in 2011, we still ACCEPT this rule as a way of life. Our acceptance and repetition of this rule are the only things that give it power. It's popular today to claim that racism is like a UFO sighting, probably a figment of our collective imaginations. But it's real and even if you "don't want to say anything" we see it every day, when we are looking for it and when we are not.
We see it in the white media who, like maggots, seek and feed off of every rotten thing they can find in our communities, usually ignoring the vast body of healthy material that is available and worthy to be exposed.
We see it in schools where Black children get expelled for doing the same things that white children get "counseled" about. Or when white children get better grades or awards for doing the same quality of work as Black kids. The statistics show the high rate of expulsion of Black males, particularly in Louisiana. Our children are not blind, they see it. They also see our inaction.
We see it in the streets, where studies show that Black people get arrested for things that white people get "scolded" for. Even being a good kid or an honor student is not enough to keep you from getting roughed up, falsely arrested or shot dead by a bad cop. Then the entire system will fight to protect that cop from facing real justice.
We see it in the courts and prisons where justice statistics have shown for decades that whites make up more than 75 percent of all people arrested (all categories) but fill up less than half the prisons. It has been known for years that Blacks get convicted with less (or no) evidence, then get more time for the same charges, even with the same history as their white counterparts. Then we see it again when you look at the granting and denial of parole.
We see it in the business sector, where study after study has exposed the racism in denying both home loans and business loans to Blacks who meet or exceed the qualifications. We see it in the colleges, where qualified Black professors are required to do more to get tenure than their less accomplished white counterparts. This parallels what happens in the rest of the world of employment. And yes, when you get that position your successes are ignored and your every mistake is amplified. Why? Because we submit to the Game.
We see it in health care, entertainment, religion, in politics and in every other area of life. Even when we try to ignore it or avoid it, it comes by, every now and then, to pay us a visit. And there are those among us who virtually live to justify the Game. These Black defenders of racism somehow feel 'smarter' because they can explain how "the Game" is always right. There's always something more or something less we should have done. "Marsa wouldn't mistreat us for no reason," they say.
The rules say, "You have to accept it. That's just the way it is." And we tell our children this. We let them know that we lack the backbone to stand for truth and oppose evil. We show them how tough we can be with other Black folks and how limp we get when facing whites. Then we wonder why this generation refuses to respect its elders.
They see the fear. They see the pain. They watch their parents come home day after day griping about how they were mistreated at work, getting drunk (or high) to relieve the stress and humiliation. Then they hear us tell them to accept this same way of life…and they hate it.
They sag their pants, pierce their flesh, tattoo their skin or get weird hair as evidence of their refusal to accept the same miserable existence they have watched their parents suffer willingly. In rejecting the paths of their parents, they do and say that which is dangerous, inappropriate and unacceptable.
And they are not wrong.
Their methods may be off, but the desire to live and breathe free is as holy a thing as any human being can desire. If we won't show them a path toward that goal they will create their own. They know the truth: That every time we admit, "It was wrong, but I didn't say anything," we give up some of our manhood/womanhood and give more strength to the evil which stands against us.
This is not living. This, my friend, is a parody of what life was meant to be. To accept it is to accept being a 21st-century slave.
Posted By: Siebra Muhammad
Monday, March 7th 2011 at 6:56PM
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