I was driving in my car, thinking about how diverse society
has become. There is no common ground. It’s not about “our people” now. It’s
about cultures of people: Hispanic Americans, Native Americans, African
Americans…We have forgotten about “the melting pot.”
I’m told that the color of my skin—white—has given me unfair
advantage over others who do not have white skin. It’s even been suggested to
me that I need to experience the disadvantage of being lesser on the Great
Chain of Being, as if I don’t already know about segregation.
When I was in about sixth grade, a new family moved to town.
One of the children was assigned to my class. She missed school one day because
she was ill. I took her homework to her door. I wasn’t allowed to talk to her.
Her mother politely thanked me. We were never allowed to be friends. I suspect
it was because I was the daughter of a laborer who had only an eighth grade
education. My family wasn’t “good enough” for that family. I made the leap from
that point to, “So I must not be good enough.”
My mother must have experienced something similar. She was
at church with the other ladies. They were talking about the refreshments they
would serve at Vacation Bible School. Mom told them what she would provide.
Frances thanked her for the offer, “But I was talking to the ‘regular’ women.” My mother thought she was one of them until that day, that moment, when she
learned she was not.
It’s not about the differences in color, unless it’s the
color of the individual’s glasses. It’s about the “haves” and the “have-nots.”
The sting of rejection because you “aren’t good enough” can happen to anyone.
The burden of being the “ass of society” is not on black women. It’s on poor
women. It doesn’t matter what color she is. If she is poor, she is burdened
with everything that is wrong because she has no way, no resources, to change
anything, including her status in this world.
It is SUPPOSED TO BE about “we, the people,” not “we, the
white/black/red/purple/green people. “ It’s not about “we, the
English/Irish/Italian/Hispanic/Chinese/Indian” people. It’s SUPPOSED TO BE “We, the People,” the “melting
pot” known as the United States of America.
© 2013 Cathy Thomas Brownfield ~ ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
Very thoughtful..and so true.
ReplyDeleteLove your post ! Blacks think that whites have an advantage because of the color of their skin, and we really do, but not for the reason blacks think. We have an advantage because our ancestors got off their collective asses and moved out of Africa and into Europe and Asia where the climate was harsher, so, they had to work harder, invent, innovate, improve, discover new ways of thinking, doing things just to survive. Skin color evolved simply because of latitude that affects the amount of ultraviolet radiation that penetrates the skin.Today, blacks have the advantage simply because the government is so fixated on diversity that blacks are hired for government jobs, ahead of more qualified people, just because of race.
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