Many question whether or not Obama's ride to the White House as President Elect will change how Black America feels about itself. Whether or not we will drop Black or African and simply be called 'Americans'. I have my doubts, because race is so prevalent in the U.S.A. Will we as a nation of ignorant yet educated and educated yet ignorant citizens ever find a common ground? Will there always be a bone to pick about something? Will we ever find a common ground, something that makes us so much more alike than we are different? Truth be told we are more alike than we are different, we are all conceived, born, we all eat, sleep and drink to live, we all bleed blood, have emotions and we have all cried, and in the end we will all die someday. We do not come into this world kicking and screaming our racial identity. Society placed labels on us just because of who our parents are and we just continued to check the box as we applied to colleges, for jobs and took part in senseless surveys.
This election proved that there was no 'Bradley Effect'. Forty-four percent of Caucasians, which is more than John Kerry, Al Gore or even Bill Clinton exit polls show, voted based on politics and not color.
I was talking to a friend who is bi-racial today. He was upset that Obama made the 'Mutt' comment and stated that he was disappointed in his choice of words. I too was disappointed in his choice of words, not because it offended me, but because it placed the focus on race. While it was said with an ease and he did not walk on egg shells, it was still again about race. I asked him, "when will we move pass the race issue and start focusing on what we can do to unite the US?" His reply, "I cannot believe he would categorize an entire race of people as mutts!" Look in some shape, form or fashion we are all mutts, there I said it. None of us, not one of us, is 100% anything. And we have America to thank for that! I am proud to be an African American woman, and yes sometimes it can be a obstacle but I cannot change who I am, nor do I want to. My point is does race have to be something that continues to handicap us?
Should we take the boxes off of the applications and just put American? Should Black/African Americans want to be just American now? Should bi-racial people stop straddling the fence and just be American too? How can we end the racism in American if we still want to be called American Indian, African American, or Chinese American? Do we make ourselves more different when we add our race-American? The answer as an article puts it, used to be simple: because a race-obsessed society made the decision for us. But as of November 5th will African Americans be expected to change their identity? Will HBCUs close their doors just because Obama is the 44th President? Will organizations such as the NAACP fight for all Americans and not just African Americans? Will the UNCF support all races in their dream to go to college? Since the dream of having a Black President has now become a reality will Essence, Ebony and Jet still focus on Black America or will it expand its horizons? Before Tuesday, November 4th, black identity and community were largely rooted in the shared experience of the struggle - real or perceived - against a hostile white majority. However, Obama won, and we know that 12-13% of African Americans did not do this alone, so is there still a hostile white majority? These are some of the questions I hear in the grocery store, in the teacher's lounge at school and via text messages and emails.
Certainly racism did not disappear after Obama's white votes were counted. No one is claiming that black culture and pride and community are no longer valuable. Many also dismiss the idea of a "post-racial" America as long as blacks and other minorities are still disproportionately afflicted by disparities in income, education, health, incarceration and . But white groups that once faced discrimination, such as the Italians, Jews and Irish, have moved from the margins to the mainstream. So why not Black America?
Should Black Americans change their identity to become part of the mainstream?
My opinion for what it is worth is that we don't need to somehow change our identity to move past the race issue. I think that we can move past the race issue and still call ourselves Black/African American. I think taking away the race-American makes it seem like we are not proud to be Black/African-American. I wonder do people think that since President-Elect Obama will be our 44th President that racism all of a sudden will just end? It's alarming the conversations that I have had since his being elected.
I also do not believe that a title such as Black/African American defines a whole group of people. Because yes, I look black to most people but I am so much more than that and being Black/African American does not classify who I am. I have Indian, white and AFrican ancestry. I think in terms of race having a title only places us in a group of which others can identify us, because usually we are more than just African American, but do I want to take it away? NO. It's funny because my dad used to say that if someone does not like you because of your race then they truly have not gotten to know you. I was a hard child to deal with, LOL. He said there are so many other reasons why a person could choose to either love or hate a you. I guess he thought that if we got to know one another a little better we would see that race was not a good enough reason not to like someone.
I'm opposed to changing my identity on so many levels. I think we need to continue to work on us as a people. I think Obama's being elected is a great start and provides a visual to the new generation of young minorities that YES WE CAN do anything we set our minds to, but his being elected does not eradicate the problems that we have faced or will face. We have to start with educating ourselves and others.
Link to the article that provided some of the inspiration for this blog. http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20081108/ap_on_re_us/obama_black_future
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