The Resurgence of Racism

I have never been one to say that the plight of racism in America is over. I believe great leaps have been made in bridging cultural gaps, but I still know that we have a great ways left to go. Growing up in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, I experienced most of my childhood racism when attended Germantown Friends School. The student body was mainly of Jewish decent, and every once in a while someone would place swastikas or other anti-Jewish paraphernalia on the walls of the school which would cause us to have a day of reflection and initiate tolerance discussions.

Post-secondary education, I wanted to see the world and receive what I called life education. Traveling to various countries as a person of color was a hit or miss experience. Thanks to the media, the only images people of certain countries see that represent black people are either the television show Cops, where we are being arrested or Black Entertainment Television where our pants are around our knees and we rap as some "video hoe" shakes her behind in the background. These images and the stereotypes they breed don't pave the way for a very happy cultural experience all of the time.

When I returned home and started seeing "America the Beautiful", I began having some of my most heartbreaking experiences with racism. I was surprised that such racist sentiment could exist within a country that has recently elected its first President of Color. I would soon have my eyes opened. I guess you could say the sleeper has awakened.

Earlier this year, I had the pleasure of visiting Center Line, Michigan. I have an adorable godson who was living there with his mother while his father is deployed. While I never received anything but love from my friend "J", its interesting the sentiment my visit garnered from some of her childhood friends. I was naïve enough to think that with Center Line in such close proximity to Detroit, Michigan there wouldn't be this elephant in the room when it came to being around black people.

While in Center Line, I met the acquaintance of someone who I will just call "C". After my buddy managed to be our go between, "C" and I spent quite a bit of time texting each other before I made the trek to Michigan. "J" told me before hand that "C" has never known a black woman in a carnal way and was being hyper aggressive because be wanted to finish another task on his to-do list. The movie date "C" and I had didn't lead us to the bedroom and after this tidbit was shared among friends of "C", the reply was "Well, you know how those nigger girls are. Nothing but gold digging skanks." Wow...all because I didn't put out for wine, cheese and a movie? After looking over the Facebook page of "C", I realized that a lot of his friends who were also from Center Line, used very derogatory ethnic jokes, and weren't afraid to share them. Needless to say, I never talked to "C" again.

Later, as I adjusted to life in El Paso, Texas, some of the same issues I dealt with previously came up again. I have never discriminated based on race and take pleasure in admitting I have dated someone of almost every race. I can credit that to having traveled so much. However, I quickly became aware that everyone did not share my sentiment of "love all, serve all." There are guys here that are quick to voice their displeasure at dating anyone outside their race. Black women in particular are at the bottom of the peaking order. Black women are described as "loud, annoying and obnoxious." Black hair is too nappy and black bottoms too wide to fit the aesthetic pleasures of men who have never known women outside their hometowns. The ironic part is that many of the guys that feel that way the same men who stop at nothing to acquire the arm candy of choice in El Paso, Mexican women. It definitely hurts to hear men speak on how they cant find a good woman, but then pass on hard working, decent women because they happen to be black. I just don't get it.

There are men right now that would choose an average looking white woman over an attractive black woman solely based on her race. There was a posting I read where someone stated they didn't know why black women wanted to date white men because all white men wanted from black women was sex. Wow. Somehow there is this mentality that black women should settle because they are black. Who decided this? This chain of thought makes me feel like I have stepped about 1000 years back in time. But then I remember the saying "different strokes for different folks" and soldier on.

2010 has been somewhat of a slap in the face. I guess up until this point I never realized just how much racism still exists in the world. I will say that while I have found pleasant people who I love and respect everywhere, it's the negatives that are always hard to forget. At times, experiences have been hurtful and sometimes I second guess myself. But at the end of the day, I realize I cant let the ignorance of others weigh me down.