Category Archives: Racism

Controversy Over Natural Hair in the Military Raises Its Ugly Head Again

The U.S. Military seems to be grappling with regulations surrounding the hairstyles of Black women who choose to wear their hair in its natural state. Natural hair is usually thicker and more voluminous than chemically relaxed or otherwise straightened hair.  Because of the coiled or curly pattern of natural hair, it can be neater and easier to maintain when braided or worn in dreadlocks.  But the U.S. Military hasn’t figured out where to draw the line between accommodating nature and standardizing appearances.  This week, a female sailor was actually honorably discharged for wearing her hair in dreadlocks.

 

 

7 Facts about the Ferguson Uprising – The Black Perspective

There are reasons why people are uprising against the police department in Ferguson, Missouri.  Some of the underlying reasons are known by the majority of Black people in America. Other facts are known to those of us who have studied the law. I thought I would lay out these facts in case someone was wondering why so many Black people are so mad, so loud, and for so long.

Fact 1: Ferguson seems to have a gang problem – Angry men marauding through the streets in matching outfits, brandishing guns at defenseless neighbors. Oh wait…those are the cops.

Fact 2: Some thugs wear badges.

Fact 3: Innocent, law-abiding and even exemplary Black people are sometimes harassed, intimidated, assaulted, and even killed by police in America. No level of fame, education, or innocence protects us from these violations of our constitutional rights.

Fact 4: We are angry because of what we have seen with our own eyes and experienced in our own flesh. Our boogeymen are not imaginary.

Fact 5: All eyewitness accounts in the Mike Brown case are consistent: he was killed while unarmed, at a distance, and posing no imminent threat to the officer.

Fact 6: Officer Darren Wilson’s friend’s friend, “Josie ” is NOT an eyewitness. Her statements are hearsay that would never be admitted in any court of law because she didn’t personally witness anything.

Fact 7: A judge would probably not allow the video of Mike Brown’s alleged robbery in the convenience store to be shown at trial because it would be too prejudicial and it’s irrelevant to his murder. So, in releasing the video to the public, the government successfully tainted the jury pool in a way that would be never be permitted in a fair trial. This was a sneaky way to violate the ethical rules of evidence.

Finally, let me say this: While the some of the most passionate anger has come from the Black community, I recognize that there are many well-informed non-Blacks who are equally disgusted with the recent injustices in Ferguson.  These non-Blacks are marching, protesting, getting tear-gassed and arrested like everyone else.  Others aren’t able to march, but they are voicing their discontent in other ways. I commend everyone who stands against injustice and everyone who upholds the constitution of the United States of America. As the Reverence Martin Luther King, Jr. said, “Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.”  And  “A house divided against itself can’t stand.”  (Mark 3:25) So, let’s keep up the fight until we get it right. Together.

This Week’s State of the Union

The State of the Union is the Only Afro in the Room’s weekly line-up of news related to race relations and diversity. Stories are organized by their relative impact on these issues: the good, the bad, and the downright ugly.

How Unified Was the Human Race During the Week of August 12-16, 2013?

THE GOOD

In the United States, a Court Holds That NYC’s Racist Implementation of Stop-And-Frisk Is Unconstitutional, and a Real Discussion on Racism Occurs in Philadelphia.

While, in Israel, a Teacher’s Conference Discusses How to Improve Anti-Racism Education in Schools.

THE BAD

In contrast, Most U.S. Public Schools Are Failing to Teach the Civil Rights Movement, which would explain why, Smart Whites Are Just As Racist As Dumb Whites, According to a Scientific Study and a New Poll Reveals Racially Segregated Friendships.

Meanwhile, people are experiencing racial intolerance all over the globe, including in Ireland where Eye Witnesses Report Recent Incidents of Racism (25% Committed Against Blacks), and Even Americans and Brits Wonder Why Australia is So Racist. Sounds to me like the teapot and coffeepot are calling the little Outback kettle black?

Finally, I can’t overlook the irony that Racism Still Exists in the Fashion Industry.

THE UGLY

Racism Is Really Bad For Your Health. Scientific Studies Link Racism to high blood pressure and adult onset asthma in African Americans

It’s Also Really Bad For Your Mind, as evidenced by the racially defeated Wendy Williams who commented that “Natural is for personalities, not hair,” in conjunction with her launching a new line of wigs because, you know, that’s what Black women really need: access to more fake hair. Just…Wow.

Obama Was Targeted by Racists Across the United States. I admit that this isn’t really news as racists have targeted him throughout his presidency, but I did find some of this week’s taunts to be particularly low-brow. It’s as though all the racists got together and decided to stop the coded speech and veiled references, and instead let it all hang out like their Confederate flags.

To confirm my suspicions, Texas Openly Defended Its Racially Discriminatory Redistricting.

Lastly, you’ve already heard about this, but for the sake of posterity, I had to share that Oprah Was Snubbed By A Snooty Shopgirl Who Wouldn’t Let the Billionare Hold a Bag Because It Was “Too Expensive.”

“Big Mistake. Big. Huuuuge!”

Pretty Woman (1990)

Missourians Show Utmost Disrespect to Obama, The Only Afro in the Whitehouse

During a rodeo at the Missouri State Fair, crowds cheered enthusiastically when an announcer asked if they should have bulls run down a clown wearing an Obama mask.  They also displayed an Obama dummy during bull run.  A disturbed spectator said, “It was feeling like some kind of Klan rally you’d see on TV.” Read Yahoo News coverage here.

Personally, I am grateful for events like this because they expose the living, breathing racism that still exists in America. Obama’s presidency, perhaps more than any event in modern history, has unveiled the darkness that still dwells in the hearts of many Americans. No one can deny that the country has made amazing progress in the past 60 years since the height of the civil rights movement. However, to believe that we are in a post-racial society is to be deliberately blind to reality.

Is “white pride” inherently racist?

According to the AJC, a white student has started an informal White Student Union at Georgia State.  The student claims that whites are a “minority” at the school, and he wants to organize around issues that effect white people “like immigration and affirmative action.”  The student says that he “wants to celebrate white identity” and realizes that some will think that he is forming a racist organization. This story makes me ask the question, is white pride inherently racist?  And I want to distinguish between “white pride,” and pride in one’s individual ethnicity, such as Italian, Irish, German, Swedish, etc.  When someone expresses “white pride,” could they just be proud of the collective identity, culture and achievements of people of European descent or should we soon expect to see them parade around in a white hood and cloak? Take the poll and please share your comments.

Honoring Jackie Robinson, The Only Afro on the Field

Last night, I learned that vandals scribbled racial epithets on Jackie Robinson’s statue. (CNN’s coverage of the story) That prompted me to revisit his life and career. What I encountered was the story of a man whose mental strength was even more remarkable than his extraordinary physical talent. Though known for his achievements in baseball, did you know that Jackie Robinson was actually gifted in four sports:  football, basketball, track, and baseball? He was the first UCLA student to earn varsity letters in all four sports, and he played semi-pro football in Hawaii. Did you know that he had the guts to call the Yankees racist for refusing to integrate their team, and then dealt the final blow by leading the Dodgers to defeat the Yankees in the 1955 World Series? Did you know that he was court martialed while serving in the Army World War II (and later exonerated) for refusing to sit in the back of the bus at boot camp?

In his lifetime, he was a world-renowned athlete, civil rights champion and businessman. His archetypal career can serve as a beacon to the would-be A-Rods and Armstrongs of the world.  He deserves our utmost respect and our gratitude for shattering the racial barrier to this “all American” sport. To learn more about Jackie’s athletic career, visit http://www.jackierobinson.com/about/facts.html. To read about his life on and off the field, check out http://www.biography.com/people/jackie-robinson-9460813?page=1.

Better yet, let’s teach those racist vandals a lesson by donating money to the Jackie Robinson Foundation.  Jackie Robinson was the youngest son of a single mother.  Due to financial hardship, he had to drop out of college.  Donations to the Jackie Robinson foundation will help send a disadvantaged youth to college and pay honor to his great legacy.

(Note: TheOnlyAfrointheRoom is not employed by or otherwise affiliated with the Jackie Robinson Foundation, and the opinions expressed here are those of TheOnlyAfrointheRoom’s primary author)

Race is Neither Black, Nor White, but Shades of Grey

Woman with Afro and Laptop iStock_000020304108_Large

I recall the day I first found out I wasn’t Black.  I was in middle school hanging out with my White friend “Kristin.”  I had come over to spend the weekend at Kristin’s house, a beautiful home just a few miles from the beach in South Florida.  We were sitting on her bedroom floor playing cards and talking with effervescent, pre-teen abandon.  I don’t recall the precise topic of conversation.  We may have been comparing our circle of friends—uber-nerdy math wizzes in a magnet program for gifted kids—with the “regular” kids who were geographically assigned to our school.  We may just as well have been discussing hair styles or music.  Strangely, there is a dark void where my contextual memory should be, but I remember as plain as day when Kristin uttered these five words, “You’re not Black.  You’re smart.”

In the very brief conversation that followed, Kristin outlined further reasons why I wasn’t Black while my 12 year old self fell into a haze of shock and bewilderment.  You see, I have never been confused about my racial identity. Though I have often been the only Black friend, the only Black neighbor or one of the only Black students or employees, I never lost my sense of self in the sea of whiteness. Somehow I have managed to be comfortable in my black skin and to think of my achievements as merely incidental to—not in spite of—my race.  So her words were very hurtful, though undoubtedly meant as a compliment, At this tender age, I was confronting the reality that my good friend was actually a racist.  Sure, she wasn’t a Confederate flag toting, Dixie whistling, white robe wearing racist.  But she was a racist nonetheless, and I’d had no idea up until that very moment.

At my current age of thirty-something, I now understand that the racist mind tends to views things in sharp, qualitative dichotomies: white v. black, smart v. dumb, citizen v. criminal, etc.  It was easier for Kristin to believe that I wasn’t Black than for her to believe that a real live Black person could be smart.  That being said, racism itself isn’t really black or white.  It is various shades of grey.  Kristin welcomed me into her home, shared food with me, and genuinely valued my friendship.  On the other hand, she believed that Black people couldn’t be smart, own their homes or speak proper English.

This grey area is at the heart of modern racism in America.  It is an area where beliefs of general inferiority can give way to perceived exceptions, where actual friends can be subtle enemies, and intentional acceptance commingles with subconscious rejection.  It’s a condition that most Black people understand inherently, due to their experience, and a reality that most White people find to be completely incredulous.

Let’s say Kristin grew up to be a manager.  In the course of hiring or promoting diverse job applicants, would she remember the smart Black friend of her youth or would she tend to assume that Black applicants aren’t intelligent enough to do the job?  Will she protest (openly or internally) if her only son wants to marry a Black woman?  Will she be suspicious of a 17 year old, unarmed Black teenager walking lawfully through her neighborhood on the way to his father’s house?

Therein lies the rub.

There are millions of “Kristins” in America subconsciously carrying around notions of racial superiority, notions that have been carefully cultivated by centuries of deliberate policy and a few decades of arguably benign neglect. And sometimes they make decisions that directly impact my life.  It’s not their fault, really. They live in a world that has been constructed to affirm and celebrate them while vilifying and devaluing others.  Some of that is certainly changing, but just because we’re past the era of lynchings and color-coded water fountains doesn’t mean that we are in a post-racial society. The more that we can bring these grey areas into the forefront, the closer we will be to true equality.