So it finally happened. I had been teaching at this southern rural college for 3 and a half years. I was the only black tenure track professor. There were only dozens of black students out of the population of 1000. But there they were last Friday at my door ready to change things...We had a Martin Luther King Jr. celebration on campus and that provided the spark. The spark wasn't unusual. MLK day celebrations definitely will (and should) do that. But this time it seems like it's going to turn into a wildfire.
"I really think we need a group as men of color on campus," one of them said. I was stunned. Of course they would ask me to be the adviser for this newly formed group. But this wasn't about me. I continued to listen and ask questions:
"What do you want his group to be?"
"What are you hoping to accomplish?"
"Why do you feel you NEED a group?"
The last question is the the real issue. I have struggled (and continue to struggle) with it for most of my life as most men of color should. Why do we feel we NEED to be around people who look like us? It may seem natural. Indeed, when I asked them to explain exactly why they needed the group, they stumbled over their words in trying to explain. It's not an easy question. Being trained as a mathematician, I clearly have been influenced by and surrounded by peers who were not black. Moreover, I have never had the need to be around people of my own race. I have always enjoyed it, but never NEEDED it. That may have to do with my background; being a graduate of Howard University and a native of DC may have something to do with that. Maybe I am just used to it.
Intuition however, would argue in the opposing direction. Why don't I feel a need to be around my own people when my past has me being around them all of the time? Why am I not struggling having the problems that people thought I would have in adjusting down here in a rural area? Why don't I have a problem with it? If I don't have a problem then why am I thinking about it? Is there something that I am missing?
I pose the questions to you; Explain your need to be around people like you. Would you go crazy if you couldn't hang around black people? Why? I haven't heard an eloquent explanation, but I am looking for one. We'll be talking about this issue on the show this Tuesday. Feel free to call in to show and express how you deal with this situation. We should be talking about this topic around 9:30pm. You can get info about the show at dcsouth.com under the radio show tab. Look forward to hearing from you.
Peace and Love,
Winger
1 comment:
I am a 54 year old white man. I grew up in East St. Louis, Illinois. It was the sixties and a very turbulent time, especially for black people, and especially in a city like East St. Louis.
It took a while, but eventually I was accepted by the black community. I absorbed much of the black culture, much of which has stayed with me throughout my life.
At the age of 16 I went to live in a rural area with my mother. The high school there was at that time, all white. Because of the mannerisms I had been exposed to I was known as the first black student, (only in racial terms) at that high school. In the year I attended it I was ostracized by my "peers". I dropped out of school and joined the army in 1970.
The military, especially in boot camp, seemed to be color blind. None of us were white, Hispanic, black or Asian. We were ALL olive drab green. As I tripped and stumbled my way through my enlistment I did see that there were racists in the ranks but to openly be so was generally not tolerated. In all it was at that point in my life the best example of blacks and whites working and living together. That was over 30 years ago.
I've been involved with martial arts since I ETS'd out of the army.
What I discovered there was that there were many races well represented there. I mingled with Koreans, Japanese, Chinese, Hispanics and black people. Since martial arts is very disciplined, the atmosphere was conducive to making friends.
My life in the martial arts has been greatly enhanced by the lifelong friendships I have enjoyed .
I live on some acres in a rural area. Everyone around me are white. But because of my involvement with martial arts I continue to meet and become friends with people of all colors.
It would be great,(in my opinion)if I could have the best of both worlds at all times. That of course would be a rural community, (The cities don't attract me, nature does)of which everyone was NOT of the same race. I believe we could all learn from each other and enrich all our lives if we could achieve a "color blind" rural community. One that is small enough that the local citizens would have to interact with each other. I believe many race issues would be understood more clearly by all involved and make our nation a truly united nation. However, I don't think I will ever see such diversity in the rural areas.
Fortunately I get to see all my friends of all races at the 9 or 10 tournaments I support. I am not claiming that martial arts does not contain bigots and racists as well as sexists. But open intolerance is not acceptable in martial arts so there is an air of togetherness I have not seen since my boot camp days.
I realize of course, that by my not being black, that I have not really been persecuted as blacks have been in this country. So I can understand why many, if not most, black people are distrustful of (especially) white people so far as ascertaining the sincerity of friendships. I wish we could tear down the barriers that have been built over the last two centuries and really truly become a nation that both celebrates and is enriched by it's diversity.
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