"Promote Racial Equality, Don't Delay It"

"Promote Racial Equality, Don't Delay It"

This column by Greg Jones echoes the similar piece by Claxton Graham entitled "Racism Not Just White Against Black." Like Graham, Jones is an African-American student who thinks that historic inequalities have little bearing on the lives of African Americans today because of the success of the civil rights movement. Jones believes that racism is a thing of the past and that African Americans now lean on arguments about historic inequalities and past injustices as a crutch to gain unfair benefits. Jones is also uncomfortable with overt expressions of black pride, including the wearing of black pride/black power t-shirts that others have expressed discomfort with in the Technician. He feels that black Americans need to stop identifying themselves as such and just identify themselves as American. Like Graham, Jones expresses a popular view of middle class, African American families who did benefit from the civil rights movement and found themselves enjoying many of the benefits of white, middle-class families. For Graham and Jones, the civil rights movement did succeed. However, these same middle-class, African American families often failed to see the continued suffering and discrimination against African-Americans living in situations of poverty or in the working class.

Greg Jones

Greg Jones, "Promote Racial Equality, Don't Delay It," The Technician vol. LXXIII no. 57 (February 10, 1992): 6.

1992-02-10

Cheryl Dong

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In January, we celebrated Martin Luther King's birthday, and it's fitting because he wanted everyone to live in peace and harmony and work together to get rid of such diseases as bigotry and hatred toward people due to race, religion, sex, age and national origin.

Unfortunately, when I think of Martin Luther King's birthday, I feel that some members of my own race don't understand what he was trying to say when he spoke in Washington, D.C.

Some black people like to blame white people (no offense intended) for everything from slavery to the invention of the AIDS virus. Now I'll admit that my ancestors were brought to Europe by the ancestors of white people. But first of all, I myself was born and raised in America, and second of all, white people in 1862 might have been responsible for slavery, but the white people in 1992 are not.

Some black people use the term racism as a crutch to cover up their own inadequacies. A case in point: A black person goes for a job interview and doesn't quite meet all the qualifications. The employer calls him back, tells him why he didn't qualify, assures him it had nothing to do with him personally and he still hollers "racism."

Another thing that upsets me is that some black people consider themselves an authority on "Blackness" and like to tell those of us who are not, and don't ever hope to be, how to be "Blacker," if you will. A case in point: A lady asked me if I had any black friends, and I immediately got upset, but I told her yes, and she said she was just concerned about my mixture to which I said to myself, "What the hell am I doing here, making a drink?" We then talked on the phone and she said to me, "I have a lot of white friends too, but I still like my fried chicken, collard greens and corn bread," to which I said, "You wanna put watermelon in there, too?" I know I shouldn't let things like that get to me, and I usually don't, except the lady was black.

One thing that really bothers me is to see a black man or woman be labeled a sellout. Reasons for this labeling vary. The black person in question may not listen to the right music, wear the right clothes, have the right friends, or act the right way. In my book, that's OK because each person is an individual, and no one has the right to tell anyone how to look, dress, think, decide music tastes, or choose friends.

Another thing that aggravates me is to see shirts with sayings such as "Black With an Attitude," "It's a Black Thing You Wouldn't Understand" or "Black by Popular Demand." I'm not saying they have no right to wear them, and according to the First Amendment of the Constitution, they do. All I'm saying is that these slogans convey a negative response and could raise the ire of someone to the point of fighting and I don't want that to happen. The idea is to promote equality, not delay it, and in these sloge slogans will delay equality [cut off scan] anything.

Some black people feel we should [cut off] to our roots and the ways of Mother Africa. These people don't realize that if they went back to Africa, they would be [cut off] because they weren't born there and they don't know the customs that are [cut off]. Now I'm all for being taught black history in school, because many [cut off] contributions have been given to [cut off] and I believe in giving credit where credit is due.

As for the term "African American," I was not born in Africa and brought here when I was a kid. I'm American-born and American-bred, and I'll be American when I'm dead. And just for the record I'm not a Black American. I'm an American, foremost, always, period.

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