Final part of thoughts about USAToday.com opinion piece - 2.21.2007.4

Continued from part 2...

Racism and injustice cannot be noticed if a light is not shed upon them. That is what Black History Month is for. With respect to Mr. Kluger’s point, it’s not the time to hype that finally African American coaches made it to the Super Bowl, but to notice that not one Black American has ever owned a football team. Matter of fact, to my knowledge, no African American has owned more than part (less than half) of ANY major professional sports team. It’s not time to notice that a African American is being talked about as a Presidential candidate, but what is being said about this candidate [see my post Senator Biden and Senator Obama - 2.1.2007.1].

This is what our children need to learn. To see the whole picture. To understand that inequality exists, and that some choose to overlook it or reword it. They need to look beyond the surface and understand what is really happening.

“What kind of responsibility do we parents have in educating our children about the sad legacy of racism that has run through our nation's life like a persistent electrical current? Do we bequeath that shame to our kids out of a sense of obligation, charging them with the task of carrying the long, hard fight of our troubled heritage into a new era? Or do we quietly give thanks for their blissful naiveté- their lucky late-century birth - and hope that the deeper sense of fairness that is already evident in their new generation may take root in America's future? Do we leave well enough alone?”

The responsibility of adults today is to educate the youth that the electric current is still on. The obligation is that we still have to have the hard fight in this new era, and that is a shame. There is no naiveté, unless we choose to look away and pretend it exists, and many have no choice but to see its reality. The hope of fairness, which exists in some aspects of the youth must be balanced with the reality that ‘ghetto’ parties at our colleges and institutions of higher learning are the new degradation du jour. That to leave well enough alone has been the systemic poison that we have followed for decades now, and it has led to regression more than improvement.

Black History Month is about action, in all forms. This is what needs to be passed on. I’m grateful that I will never have to be confronted with a situation that Mr. Kluger’s babysitter Elizabeth encountered. I am not confident that my nephew, or his children, will never have that same conviction. This month and all months are a time to ask why America has made reparations to Native American Indians and Japanese Americans, but not even an apology has been offered to Black Americans ever.

So again I say, I do agree in part with Mr. Kluger but I respectfully disagree as well. In almost 40 years, having lived in various parts of the nation and the world, I do not see the same improvements. I live through many troubles that have not changed. And I see the potential for regression.

This is what I think, what do you think?

Response to Bruce Kluger at USAToday.com - 2.21.2007.2

I’m not sure how many read the piece by Mr. Bruce Kluger, but I hope many did. The opinion found on USAToday.com today was a well-balanced view of America. Very well-balanced from the view of a White American. I say that with no disrespect intended, rather with the emphasis that while there have been many improvements in the nation when it comes to race, they are just superficial. I do not fault Mr. Kluger or his opinion, I think it is accurate to a degree. I just feel it needs to be expanded on from a different view point.

When I was in elementary school, some 30 years ago, I recall that I was definitively told that I could not speak to Rosemarie because she was white, by her older brother. I recall how this public scolding made me feel, especially as every parent and older kid there said and did nothing to stop him. Not even a cross look. That was in the later 1970’s.

Let’s fast forward to 2006. I have spoken several times on experiences I’ve had and quite a few I haven’t. I recall in late October – November how I was confronted by a man for speaking to his girlfriend’s friend. Both women were white. The one I was speaking with was a friend, and I knew both women previous to this encounter. I was given a clear understanding of what the man’s problem was. I was, in his eyes, a Black American. [I in fact am a Black Puerto Rican and proud of it]

Another situation in 2006, I detailed in a previous post. You can read it at What is a Black African Hispanic American supposed to think?. Given 3 decades there has been no change in some opinions. It’s not nearly as uncommon as some believe, especially as you travel farther from major cities into the ‘heartland’ of the nation.

But there is little change in business as well. If I had $5 for every time a client of mine did a double take upon meeting me I’d be far wealthier. As a stockbroker I have won bets and stunned colleagues by the reactions clients had upon meeting their broker for the first time, in some cases after having been their broker for 5 years. Luckily I was either an exceptional broker [which I was and many former clients to this day will still attest to] or highly charismatic - or perhaps a combination of both – because I never lost a client due to my color I am aware of. I did have some clients stop sending new funds and taking fewer of my calls, counter to their prior trend, though.

I cannot count how many times I have been told that I am ‘articulate’ or ‘speak really well’. That is virtually never a compliment, it is a comment that is used almost exclusively for non-whites. It is meant to convey a back-handed compliment. It implies that, excluding the individual getting the compliment, all others of that group are incapable or generally without the ability to speak or comprehend English. That rational though, as conveyed by language, is beyond this group. For those that question the thought I suggest you think back to the last time you heard or spoke such a comment. Visualize who the comment was made to. Then recount the last time you have ever heard the comment given to someone that is white. Then speak to a white person you have never met, and give them this ‘compliment’, I am sure the perplexed look they give you back will make my point.

Continued in part 2 ...