Do you believe there is real racism within the black community (Intra-racism)? If yes, what can we do about? If no, how can we dispel this belief?

Bert’s Response

Color Me Good

Bert Reece

We come in all colors, shades and hues
We even come with our very own points of views.
We can be different in every kind of way
It’s our differences that make us so unique;
Our differences paint pictures of great beauties and diversities.
Blacks and browns, tans and creams
Even whites, yes white we can be.
We can blend into a crowd and you won’t even know that we are there.
We can stand out in a crowd and you can’t help but notice that we are there.
If by all of this we are so special and unique
Then why do we hate one another?
Why do we take away our own strength?
I might be brown and lighter than some,
But in that same brown skin I am darker than another one.
Some call our hate towards one another intra-racism or colorism.
I call it ignorantism
We really don’t know the beauty that we possess.
Because if we did we would criticize it far less.
Some say color me bad
But I say Color Me Good
Because God made black and black is good.

Since the times of slavery, blacks have been pitted against one another; the house slave versus the field slave and the lighter skinned slave versus the darker skinned slave.  It was a very successful tactic used by oppressors of that day.  It was so successful that we still fall prey to it today.  We still have the mindsets of the house slave versus the field slave.  Over the years we have gone from using the brown paper bag test to receive admittance into certain places to attributing the type of person we are to the texture of our hair.  We also have some that hate who they are so much that because of their fare skin are able to “pass.”  These that pass look white even though they are black.  They live under the radar of the white culture pretending to be who they are not. 

This tactic divided a nation; a black nation.  The slave owners knew that if they set slaves up to police their own kind, then slave owners only had to worry about half of the slaves instead of all of the slaves.  Since that time we have been divided.  Members of my family fill the entire color spectrum.  They range from the very dark to the very light.  When I look at us I don’t see color, I see possibility.  That is what we all should see.  We are a people of great strength, talent and brains. 

I remember the Spike Lee movie, School Daze, which dealt with this very topic.  At the end of the movie I remember the person screaming the words “WAKE UP!!!”  I can’t say it any better than that.  

Anthony’s Response 

Yes I do believe there is intra-racism within our own people.  If you look back in time during slavery we had each other’s backs.  There were no differing “social” classes within the slave community.  There was, however, a community of “skin” class; dark skin and light skin.  You could also use the terms house slave and field slave.  Society, over time, has shown and perpetuated the images that white is pure and innocent while black is dark and evil.  Sadly, then and now, many of us have grown to believe this horrible lie.  You have some young people who do not like themselves because they are too dark or too light.  Some of us even go as far as to dislike others simply because they might be lighter skinned or they speak correct English.  We say they are acting white.  Is that right?  No.  On the opposite end of the spectrum, we see a dark skinned person and think they are “ghetto.”  Is that right? No.  We have to learn to support each other as a people. We need to teach our youth that we as BLACK AMERICANS come in many different colors.  This is one of the many things that make our people so unique.  

We must be truthful in answering the following two questions: 1) Do we really support each other? If not, why?  2) Will we help each other?  If not, why?  I have been working since I was 16-years old.  I have seen a lot of racism, including intra-racism, in every job I have held.  I have seen lighter skinned people who did not deserve it, be promoted over darker skinned people who was much more qualified.  To make matters worse, I have also seen those who have been undeservingly elevated, treat those beneath them as if they were meaningless.  It was not until they saw how much THEY needed those that they mistreated that they started to act as if they cared.  At this point it became hard to trust this person because you knew they were only using you to elevate themselves even more.

 

We must learn how to uplift, support, and teach our youth that being black is not a curse.  We need to teach them that they came from Kings and Queens and no matter how dark or how light their skin is we are still BLACK and BLACK is BEAUTIFUL.

Rhonda’s Response 

“One of the prices that we pay for integration was the disintegration of the black community.” Ed Smith

The African Proverb “it takes a village to raise a child” was a saying that represented the foundation and principles of black communities. Prior to integration, black communities supported one another in business, education, community efforts as well as empowered one another to be their best and to strive to reach their desired goals. However, Ed Smith’s quote, “one of the prices that we pay for integration was the disintegration of the black community”, depicts the state of the black community today. The disintegration of the black community, I believe, has created real intra-racism within the black community. The black community has intra racism regarding skin color (light versus black) and progressive blacks versus those who are not. Whether we can do anything to solve this issue is up to the actions of people in the black community. The actions of black people who made the conscience decision to march against Jim Crow to make a better America for blacks as a whole demonstrated how actions can change a community. Personally I believe we won’t see a change until the rights of blacks are threatened again like the times of Jim Crow. 

The skin color (light versus dark) intra racism runs rapid within the black community. This is one of the intra racism’s that is displayed outwardly and inwardly. It is one of the main racisms that will cause some blacks to not interact with one another. I believe this racism was stemmed from the guiles of slavery where light skin blacks were considered “house slaves” and dark skin blacks were “field slaves”. This propaganda from slavery has had a detrimental impact on the black community. The only way to fix this is for blacks to acknowledge that we were mistreated and used as property to build America and make a conscience effort to move forward with gusto in order to make sure that history does not repeat itself. 

The intra racism of progressive blacks versus those who are not is a continuous issue within the black community. Progressive blacks many times may be labeled as those who have furthered their education and work in professional jobs. Those who are considered not to be progressive are many times denoted as those with small town goals to stay where they are and do not desire to move beyond their current circumstance. This ideology is not different from the assertions made by mothers who decide to stay at home versus those who desire to work. Until the black community can learn to respect each other in all facets of their life and success; this issue will continue in the black community. 

All in all, I do believe there is intra racism today. I witness it daily and the attitude of blacks on dealing with intra racism has to change if we as a race want to move forward and be an impact as those who fought during the Civil Rights Movement. We will not solve the racism’s we as blacks face daily from other races if we don’t acknowledge the intra racism and fight to change our actions to mitigate this within the black community. This will enable us to band together as a unit to defeat systems that initially did not include us. We have to get back to creating strong foundations where we exhibit the African proverb “it takes a village to raise a child” because once we do this the black community will be stronger and will enable us to use our strength of numbers to make laws and rules that will work in our favor.

Are the majority of the prejudices experienced in America a black/white issue or a young/old issue?

Bert’s Response

I do not think the majority of prejudices experienced in America are black vs. white or even young vs. old.  I think the majority of prejudices in America are more socio-economic based.  There has and continues to be a constant war of the haves versus the have-nots. 

The reason I say this is because most policies that are put into place have more to do with money than it does race or age.  Please note that I do understand that in making policies that primarily affect money, the groups that are largely affected will be people of color and people of older ages.  I also understand that if you are not a person of color or someone of an older age, but fall into that lower-class to lower-middle class socio- economic status, you too are affected whether you want to accept it or not.  In most cases it is proven that the rich always want to get richer at all costs; even it means sacrificing one of their own.  If you are a rich white person whose life is all about money and nothing else, you won't care that you discriminate against a lower class white person to get richer.  Likewise, if you are a rich black/African-American person who also has allowed money to become your idol, you have no problem taking advantage of another black/African-American person to get richer.  This is evident when you look at the drug situation in the inner city.  Although you have somebody at the top getting mega rich, the middle man out on the street corner is getting his share by exploiting his own kind.  On the flip side, you have a white businessman who sees a piece of property he wants to build on to get richer.  In order for him to get that property, he must invoke a policy like eminent domain to forcibly buy that person's property to build his money making empire.  He doesn't care that the person who loses his/her property is white; he just wants to make more money.

Don't get me wrong, there are a lot of black vs. white issues that are underlying to the socio-economic prejudices.  We must aggressively address those issues as such.  Using my eminent domain example above, if the person wanting the property offers a white person more money for their property than he offers a black person simply because of race, then that is racism underlined to the socio-economic reason that the person is losing his/her property.  Even the slave trade was more about money than it was color.  As well, the Emancipation Proclamation that ended slavery was not solely about slavery being wrong.  It was because the south would not conform to all that the north wanted, so the north took away the south's ability to make more money.  Slavery was ended to financially ruin the south.  It all boils down to "the love of money is the root of all evil."

Anthony’s Response 

The majority of the prejudices in America today are black and white issues. I think racism is at an all time high, especially when you look at the actions of the TEA party who thinks that this country is being run into the ground by President Obama.  Where was the TEA party when BUSH lied to this country and sent sons, daughters, sisters, brothers, and their mothers and fathers to the front line to fight for a lie? He called them weapons of mass destruction.  Did we find any?

The TEA party has become one of the largest groups to protest President Obama and the Democratic Party’s ideas that have been brought to the table.  Are their views fueling the prejudices of today?  The Tea Party does have the right to assemble and protest, but at what point is it enough?  We all can agree that everyone in the world is not going to be happy about everything.  However, when your views bring out the crazy extremist I believe you should take a step back and look at your platform and make the necessary changes that will cause different reactions.

Prejudices do however go beyond black and white.  It can be conflict between young and old, party versus party, state versus state and probably one of the worst prejudices, black versus black.  In MY perspective, it is mainly a color thing.  I work in a building that used to have only 10 % of minority employees of any color.  In this building it was a white man’s world.  The company slowly allowed a few people of colors to become mangers.  Only when the chosen few did well, that others begin to get a chance as well.

America is a country that was built on the backs of slaves and immigrants.  We are one of the strongest countries in the world but yet we struggle to get along with each other.  We have proven to be prejudice of different races, ages and cultures.  If America does not open its eyes and the government doesn’t start working together for the sake of the ones that voted them in office, this country will continue to fall deeper and deeper into a spiral to the point that we won’t be able to recover.

Rhonda’s Response 

“…O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave…” (The Star Spangled Banner, by Attorney Francis Scott Key)

The Star Spangled Banner, the national anthem of the United States of America, ends each stanza with “O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave.” The Star Spangled Banner is sung at the beginning of many important events held in the United States (i.e. Sporting Events). However, as all who place their right hand over their heart and proudly sing the words to this song, the true meaning of why it was written may not always be understood.

The Star Spangled Banner was written in 1814 during the Battle of Fort McHenry. This anthem, originally a poem, was the accounts of the battle witnessed by Attorney Francis Scott Key. Although the soldiers fighting during this time were brave, slavery was still prevalent, prejudices were running rampant within America, and the country was being controlled by a small group of people who supported all of these injustices.

The Emancipation Proclamation was not signed until 1862 and slaves were freed in 1863. In 1931, the song was made the national anthem and during this time there were still forms of slavery going on in America. Jim Crow laws were very prevalent for the freed slaves. Black Americans were being slaughtered, hung, and not given the same opportunities as whites. No matter their social status, education, age, or profession; blacks were blacks and were disrespected constantly by whites.

However, we, Americans sing The Star Spangled Banner and close our eyes and proudly sing the last stanza with great enthusiasm “O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave.” This answers the question, are the majority of the prejudices experienced in America a Black/White issue or a young/old issue? I believe the prejudices experienced in America are a black/white issue. The most animosities reported regarding prejudices in various industries are those between blacks and whites. The foundation of our country started with a black/white issue (slavery) and will continue as we proudly continue to sing songs and recognize writings that were done during times when all Americans were not free and were treated as property.

We have to start anew and place old habits behind us and relish in the new accomplishments we have made as a country. Although we have come a long ways from the 1814’s, we still have a long ways to go which should result in new hymns to sing and new writings to be proud. No longer “O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave,” but the country who continues to thrive past incredulous prejudices and gets to the heart of all matters to make our country a free, safe, and proud place that all citizens (black, white, Latin American, Mexican, African, etc…) can call home.