Audio from my segment about race on the Mike Signorile Show

Obama's message is resonating

It has been one week today since Senator Obama give that inspiring speech and the transcript of the speech has made the top 10 list of emailed articles every day since.  Every day enough people email that article to others that it stays in the top 10.  That is simply amazing.

---

by: Paul In SF @ Tue Mar 25, 2008 at 10:38:59 AM CDT

Oops

That should have read "made the New York Times top 10..."

---

by: Paul In SF @ Tue Mar 25, 2008 at 12:03:25 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

Thanks for posting this

I missed it before.  Very enlightening.  Look forward to hearing more from you and Signorile on this important subject.  

---

by: Dunkindonuts @ Tue Mar 25, 2008 at 11:29:52 AM CDT

My Perspective...

     I'll start from early on in my evolution... I am a biracial man whose father is African-American and mother is Caucasian. My parents met in 1959 when my un-wed mother was in a nursing school where my father was employed as a nurses aide... my mother was engaged to a white man who was attending engineering school. My father had an African-American wife and (5) children at the time of his extra-marital relationship with my mother. At some early point of my mothers pregnancy with me she made the decision to marry her fiance, and to lie to everyone about who the father of her un-born child was... she achieved this by claiming that I had been afflicted with a skin-disease called "melanism".                                                                                            

     My mother and step-father had four more children together in the space of nine years after I was born, and we grew up together in a middle-class household in white america where the subject of "race" was never discussed. My earliest recollections of having to be aware of race was when I was asked questions about the color of my skin by other classmates in first grade... "Why was my skin dark?", "Was I adopted?" race was certainly a hot-button  issue in 1965-66 when I began school ,  but any awareness that my mother and step-father had achieved from growing up in their white neighborhoods in the 40's and 50's was insufficient in preparing them for raising a biracial child... and to complicate things, they were both in complete denial of their complicity in my mis-education. When I came  home from school after having been asked questions by fellow students from my all-white school district, my mother then explained "the skin-disease story" to me... "other kids with this disease usually have dark blotches all over their bodies, so you should feel fortunate". When I would tell my mother about other boys and girls who would call me names or act aggressively for no apparent reason, I began to understand that I would get no further assistance from her to explain this rationale... my step-father was even more removed from the conversation and would only add, "You know what your mother said".

     By the time that my step-father transferred jobs and our family of (7) had moved from the all-white Cleveland, Ohio suburb  of Stow to the all-white school district of Portville in Western up-state N.Y. it was the spring of 1970 and I was in fourth grade, and already the veteran of many racial incidents and altercations between myself, classmates, and even some adults. My four younger siblings had also been told the same story, and had to explain the same things to their friends when asked why they had a brother  who was black... "Hey, did your mother fool around a little bit??" I remember how much that hurt me when I heard it, and I'm sure that they felt just as badly when they did... nonetheless, this was a "subject" that we never discussed as a family, not once, at least in my presence.                                                                                                  

     I was taught through my observations of my mother and step-father to keep quiet about things that I wasn't sure about, and I was also taught to ignore the obvious.

    As I matured into my teen-aged years and began to experience societies issues and insecurities in coming to terms with this countries racial in-equalities during the 70's, I felt an increasing need to rationalize and then codify the information that my mother had given me, regardless of what I was beginning to realize inside... I felt a growing discomfort/conflict, yet there was no one in my life to offer any other perspective... I had learned that black people were a part of society that we didn't talk about. ( There was a black family in my small town, and they were poor and lived in a run-down house near the river...I never had any opportunity or reason to associate with them)

    I was a "B" student and also began taking an interest in sports where I was above average. Meeting other schools and student athletes were opportunities to then be exposed to populations that had not been inured by my story yet...I was just another black kid to them.

   Communicating my experiences to my mother and step-father was difficult because they had no experience with racial prejudice, therefore when I had problems with other children it would be looked at as an issue that "I" had in getting along with others(as well as intra-family sibling issues).  
    Because "race" was being ruled-out entirely, by my mothers denial of my father, she could not logically use that rationale to explain any conflicts that I  would have. My step-fathers complicity in this was to blindly support my mothers viewpoint.

    The "white" viewpoint has always been that blacks(black society) were pretty well cared for, and what contact they did have would be polite and careful... What, with the Voting Rights and Civil Rights Acts being passed, the playing field had been leveled.(re: my mother and step-father's generation)
    The feelings and comfort of my mother were apparently what was important, and her inculcation had to have been partly comprised of the idea that white society acted as the gate-keepers and care-takers of an infantilized black population.

     questions:

                    How has black society formed its identity?

                    What role models have been used, and how does white society react to positive
                    black role models today? (Are they held to a more critical prism??)

                    Is there enough information readily available for black people to easily form a        
                    positive racial identity?

                    Is it important that black society is able to connect accurately the dots of its social
                    evolution in America? and is it also important that white society can connect those
                     same dots??

                    What is White Privilege?

                    What is White awareness?

                     What is Whiteness?

                    What about Affirmative Action?

                    Is" Race" a social construct?

                    How do we improve our society in America?

                    Is there any other way(besides the attrition of the old guard) to achieve this??

                    ...**  These questions are not rhetorical... I'd like to hear from those of you that have  
                    courage... and the wherewithall, to provide feedback.

                    Dave Myers
                    www.discussrace.com

Dave Myers

---

by: davemyers @ Tue Mar 25, 2008 at 13:50:02 PM CDT

Great stuff

A few (among many possible) reactions:

1.  I want to be still more aware of the privilege bestowed upon me, arbitrarily, as a white person.  I've thought about it at times, but I want to increase the frequency with which I think about it.  I can reflect on several instances where I felt welcomed (in a neighborhood, in a park, at a store, out of town somewhere, etc.), or at least didn't notice hostility, when that might not have been the case had I been of another race.  This is no small issue.

2.  I wonder if there can be such a thing as a discussion about features of a racial, religious, or sexual orientation-culture -- while understanding that "culture" itself is a generality -- that could truly be free from racism or prejudice, and that could be about making a better world, together.  Maybe this is in the realm of matters that Pam and Mike cited as things people are afraid to talk about.  I'll make my own attempt right now:  I think there are aspects to the culture in black ghettos that contribute to the perpetuation of the ghettos (that is, the segregation itself) and the misery therein.  The reasons for these phenomena -- I'm thinking guns, gangs, neglect, drugs, and, crucially, a lack of value placed on education -- are multiple and complicated, but I wish there were more self-respect in the black community, starting with a cultural shift relative to education.  Just like the "Harry Potter" books got millions of elementary school kids interested in reading, I wish there were some salutary social epidemic that would greatly increase the value placed on education within America's poor black ghettoes.  I know it's not entirely fair to compare, but there have been other oppressed races or ethnic groups that have lived in poverty and disadvantage, but then took the education thing and ran with it.  (By the way, if Obama is elected, he could, himself, cause that epidemic.  But if he's not elected, I still hope it happens, through some other means.)

3.  It would be reasonable to pursue similar, open discussions about the LGBT community.  For example, the gay male (mostly) bar culture in my community has features (e.g., smoking, and inspiring 21-year olds to take up smoking) that I wish were different.

4.  Once, before I came out, I was talking with two straight male friends, and the term "c*cksucker" was used.  One of them, who was fairly enlightened, said, "You know, they could call us 'c*ntf*ckers.'"  The other guy said that that wouldn't bother him in the least.  He said it like he was proud of being heterosexual (which of course, is something he pick for himself out of a set of choices).  I perceive him now as not pondering his privilege.

5.  I think we'd do well to generalize the concept of "trying to understand, rather than just dismiss it" to people who hold aggressive contempt for LGBT people, like Peter LaBarbera or Sally Kern.  Like, make a serious attempt to understand their world view.  None of those folks says what they say without causes.  I think their causes are entirely about personal emotions (that are ultimately not about LGBT people, but about personal pain they've experienced), but I think we'd do well to try to understand those emotions, and human emotion generally.

---

by: KC @ Tue Mar 25, 2008 at 13:58:41 PM CDT

correction

(which, of course, isn't something he picked for himself out of a set of choices)

---

by: KC @ Tue Mar 25, 2008 at 14:03:12 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

indeed great stuff

KC you do bring up some good points. I would say that on the first point about "privilege bestowed upon" you. I'd honestly say that you don't have to think about it. That is the privilege. It may not sound like one but believe me it is, I'm a black male in the south(others experiences will of course vary) and I am honestly constantly thinking about making sure that I look a certain way when I walk into places, making sure I don't seem like I'm going to take something, or in bars and other service places I have to make sure they know I'm all right to serve because I'm going to leave them a tip. It doesn't make much sense but when you grow up having people follow you around a lot and otherwise don't serve you respectfully, you kind of learn to play this game.

Believe me KC,you aren't the only one seeing the problems in the ghetto and other lower income "hoods", black folks really  do. Honestly, just seeing it and not talking about is a problem from my point of view. It's like the world doesn't really care.  If we are ever really going to get over this stuff, it should be out in the open and talked about by everyone. The question that always comes up with black folks is when you are talking about the ghetto, make sure you are specific to the problems you see there, it's not some attempt to demonize everyone there. Most people are actually just trying to live their life, help and light I think should always be welcome. I wish more of true ghetto life was on the mainstream news. It would actually open up the eyes of everyone.

---

by: jstrick @ Tue Mar 25, 2008 at 17:29:02 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

You're right, even thinking about it

is something I have to consciously choose to do, vs. having no choice.  I know it's not quite the same, but I can perhaps relate in that, in certain crowds, "the gay thing" is continuously on my mind, and makes me conscious of what I say or might allude to.  I have to at times act as though I'm not attracted to someone, when I am.

Someone once followed me around in a clothing store.  It was bizarre.  I pointed it out to him, and he said that they have to watch against shoplifting.  I left without buying anything.  I would absolutely hate for that to happen to me regularly.  If it did, I'd probably have to, every time, put on an extra coat of "I am not a shoplifter" appearance and demeanor.  Yet, if I were black, the following around would probably still happen just because I was black, and it would simply hurt like hell.

I agree that it's unfair to demonize everyone in the ghetto.  I think it's often the case that troublemakers bring things down for everybody, including the non-troublemakers (and, unfortunately, non-troublemakers don't get on the news as often).  I'd like to add another theory:  It's just gotta be safe.  If it's not safe, businesses won't move in, no matter how many tax incentives or whatever are offered.  Many people would be happy to buy or rent a home in a present ghetto neighborhood, because it's affordable, sometimes very affordable, but they don't because it's not safe.  The cheapest house in the world isn't worth it if it's not safe.  The safety thing just has to happen.

---

by: KC @ Tue Mar 25, 2008 at 19:25:02 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

you were looking

for something that black folks say to each other that we don't say around whites? How about we know that a lot of these black politicians are as crooked as they come. See Bill Campbell down here in Atlanta, William Jefferson, or Kwame K.

---

by: jstrick @ Tue Mar 25, 2008 at 17:32:23 PM CDT

Deep Freeze Jefferson

Of course we know that. It's also mistakenly assumed that all blacks were happy when O.J. was found "not guilty."

---

by: Pam Spaulding @ Tue Mar 25, 2008 at 19:16:49 PM CDT

[ Parent ]