Wisecanvas

  After a prolonged business meeting that went into the early hours of the evening, my boss, whom I had not spoken to since the election results, asked me about my sentiments regarding the Obama presidency. My response was immediate – I believed this was a symbolic event whose pulse was being felt on a global scale. One which all cultures, faiths, races, and nationalities felt and will continue to feel, but each group or sub-group interpreting it through its prism of understanding. After some conversation back and forth, which all in essence was a consensus on the significance of the event, my boss shared an anecdote, which he had heard over the radio earlier that day.  The story went more or less like this: A black radio commentator shared his view that, far from asserting that advancing on the socio-economic ladder while “being black” was now accepted on a wider mainstream scale , the Obama presidency’s lesson was that blending in was the true ticket to acceptance. Obama, in the commentators assessment, was a blend (Kenyan father, White American mother), who only by blending in with the white mainstream and its ideas was able to ascend to such heights. Obama’s deliberate distancing from personas such as Rev. Wright or organizations such as the NAACP were statements that being, behaving/acting or associating with “truly” black institutions or public personas are way too risky and should be avoided. Thus, the argument went, being “truly black” would still result in society ostracizing you, regardless of an Obama presidency. Obama, the black commentator seemed to conclude, was a sell-out who palled around with the white man and deserted his true brothers.

When I heard this account coming from my boss and respected colleague I was pleased. I was seeing, first hand, one of what I believe would be many areas of transformation and dialogue that a black US presidency would stimulate and more importantly bring to the forefront of the mainstream debate.

This argument, though not old and one that the African-American community knows well, was only for the first time heard by my white boss. The protagonists may be different, but the reasoning and patterns are the same. Finger pointing by fellow black colleagues that advancement in the workplace by a black peer was only possible by fawning to white bosses and a distancing from fellow black peers are rampant. Accusations by peers that a black kid is trying to be “white” because he/she finds pleasure or intellectual curiosity in study or experimenting and discovering new vocabulary are widespread. Even more concerning is when parental figures, who traditionally should fan the flames of encouragement on a child’s journey in education do the very opposite by stifling or sowing seeds of doubt into the black child’s psyche. When a black child questions a norm or proudly reads a newspaper, most parental figures encourage, praise and reward such a child. However, I believe that still too many black parental figures, burdened with personal complexes and negative experiences in society retort with intellectual dousing comments like: “who do you think you are, you think you are smarter than us?”, “You ain’t gonna be nothing, this is a white man’s world.” etc. One might at first assume that what appears to be such self-destructive behavior from the context of a larger racial or society group should be obvious to the perpetrators. However, as Tim Harford so succinctly depicted in his book The Logic of Life, there is a logical train of thought at play here.  The idea Mssr. Harford put forth was that those kids or adults who achieved in school or professionally and were able to climb the socio-economic ladder rarely ever continued to stay in the ghettos where they grew up. The immediate response and sometimes sole motivation was to move out of the “hood” into more affluent areas once such growth had resulted in tangible/material rewards. As a group, the under-privileged who continue to reside in the “hood” would lose their brightest stars and reduce in number making the group as a whole weaker.

One of the powerful things the Obama presidency has done is to create a climate that readily yanks such discussions out of the contained realms of the hood and into the public spotlight of awareness. In essence, ignorance to the presence of the wound can no longer be pleaded. Its also important to note that this is not a phenomenon unique to African-Americans, off-mark comments and stereotypes will crawl out of the woodwork across various nationalities and/or races. However, by gaining publicity the best minds and better angels of humanity now have a chance to begin healing these wounds or continue to let them fester with all people, black and white, contributing and listening to the entire process as it unfolds. How has our history shaped the powerful idea that being “White” means education, wealth and high social standing/opportunities? Conversely, how has our history created and fuelled the stereotype that being “black” means the very opposite?  Why are these labels being tied to universal human achievements or failures on such a binary level? While history can aid us in answering these questions, and interpretations and explanations are abound with an Obama presidency and the macro-sociological climate of racial and equality query it creates, we can once again begin to seek the solutions, in earnest and true honesty to both ourselves and our fellow human beings, be they black or white. There will be scrapes and burns in this process as, to stretch a metaphor even further, the treatment of a wound often starts with cleaning and disinfection, both of which though not pleasant are needed before healing can begin.