Race Makes a Difference in Identity
It may be a bit like stating the obvious but it's important that it be said. Race does make a difference when trying to identify a person or telling someone what race a person is. It is entirely possible to say someone is of a certain race. Making that statement will cause the listener to conjure up images of the person who is being spoken of. Those images may be accurate. On the other hand, those images may be so far out of the image of what is being described that there is absolutely no communication about the same thing.
Today, I blew a gasket. All control, all form of decorum and civility were lost. I cursed. I swore. I screamed at the top of my lungs as the shower water hit the flames of my psyche and I raged at the slovenliness, the laziness, the uneducated nature, the false sense of entitlement demonstrated by two of my most irresponsible housemates. And the reason for part of my ire was not simply because of their lack of everything that indicates maturity. The rage was because these two are identified as the same type of person as the general public will identify me as being - black. One is African American and one is African. Therefore, the three of us will be seen as the same by any person passing us on the street. Each one of us is a representative of the other to those who do not know or understand things better.
There are some people of every race who seem to blindly pass through Life as though all they need to do in order to participate in the social infrastructure is merely show up for the day. They are oblivious to the fact that they need to be mature and take responsibility for their endeavors. They need to earn opportunities to go places. They are not aware that each stepping stone of a task done today merits them the advantage of gaining a better foothold in what they strive to achieve. But the better observation is whether they strive to achieve anything other than the handout they feel is entitled to them - the one that they do not have to earn.
Instead, these individuals believe that all they need to do is wait to be served and given what they need. In fact, they expect that their government will give them the essentials of money to pay rent for any type of housing, purchase food, cover transportation and laundry expenses, and then cover all the sundry other expenses attenuated with entertainment.
What do they do with their days? Nothing. One shuffles from their room to somewhere outdoors (perhaps the liquor store) and back again. Their day is enduringly pointless and purposeless shuffling to and fro - and staying out all night. The other spends their day pretending to work. Then they return home to watch television until the next morning. No attempt whatsoever is made to contribute to the welfare and orderliness of the house. The theory is that since they didn't go into this or that room, they have no responsibility for its upkeep.
Although there are no requirements put upon these individuals, they can still not take responsibility for the simplest task. They must be almost dragged into standing before someone and have a duty pointed out to them before being motivated to rise to the level of even thinking of doing something about it.
Do they produce anything? No. Do they have dreams and goals? They will manufacture them for you in order to sucker you in and make you believe they are forward thinking and acting. But in reality, they will fall short on taking any steps whatsoever toward achieving or actualizing those goals under their own initiative, those ethereal goals that they are able to articulate during a conversation.
This apathy is not racially confined. It is also part of being the Generation X and Generation Y people. But race begins to have an influence on this identity when employers are looking at those who present their selves as qualified and discern who is and who is not. This is where the Black and Latinos manage to not only, in one fell swoop, get themselves rejected as unqualified in every way, but also as consummately never qualified for anything in any way. Compounding the problem is the attitude that supports it. Thus, anyone with skin that is the same color and features that emulate that particular racial identity go hand in glove with what represents that race. Therefore, the laziness and sloth identified with those who are of the ilk as these two housemates become the hallmarks of those who are of that race. It does not matter that the person who is being examined is the exception to the two examples. It does not matter that the exception has worked so hard that they have harmed their health in some way. They are the same race as the others who have proved they are not qualified; therefore, none of that race are qualified because they all have the same type of drive.
"Well, they're only kids," is the common excuse given for the apathy. But no one steps in to teach the 'kids." No one steps in to explain responsibility one step at a time. No one encourages better, higher standards. So they blithely go into the Future as stupid as the day they were born, except for one thing: They've been taught that it is entirely all right to expect everyone to do their share of the work for them while they wait (like royalty) for things to be handled for them. There is no pressure to do critical thinking nor planning nor devise a means of doing anything productive or positive for themselves. It's simply a matter of wait for someone else to clean up the mess they stepped over or felt was too nasty to them to put their hand to the task and clean. Someone else will put away the food cartons and used product they left behind. Others will stoop to remove the debris what the juveniles dropped (or dripped) in the floor. They've not been trained to do these things for their selves and those with whom they live or work.
Why do we tolerate this lack of ethic, this lack of initiative? Isn't this a drain on our social infrastructure? Yes, it is a drain. But it gives us something to ponder and pretend we tried to remedy the problem. It gives us a scapegoat onto which we may place the blame for not hiring those of a particular race or age or gender. And these individuals very graciously help in this dark comedy by proving at every opportunity that they are not qualified and they want to be considered unqualified.
What is even more depressing about the regression that these individuals force upon all others of their race is the fact that so much work and so many thousands made such tremendous sacrifices in order to empower these non-performers. It doesn't take a lot to conjure up recollections of the images of Civil Rights marchers being attacked by police dogs while simultaneously being hosed down streets by unforgiving pressures of streams of water from fire hoses. All to gain the right to shop wherever a person wanted.
These lackadaisicals have no sense of the Birmingham eight who marched to school under the vigil of armed deputies whose rifles and guns could have just as easily been turned on the students as on the throngs of hecklers who strove to dissuade them from crossing through the doors of the high school. They do not appreciate the fact that the right to vote was won for them so that they could have a better life and likelihood of realizing the American Dream, so that Barack Obama would not be the exception but the reasonable choice of Americans for the candidacy of President of the United States.
No. Drugs, and sloth, and lack of training, and ignorance, and gangs are becoming the basis for existence in the ghetto. The footprint of the ghetto increases with each day that it is accepted as the normal way of life. The measure for a good product drops daily as the standard plummets because we simply step over the trash or push our way through it or wait for someone else to clean it up while we laze away our day.
Please, do not identify me as an African American for any of your statistical tables or indexing. Please do not identify me as Black. I am multi-racial, which means I am as American as you can get. Please identify me by my name because I am an individual. I am one of those who works too hard to produce the very best and most thoroughly checked and proofed product before releasing it. I am one of those who worked long hours and made great sacrifices to earn my grades, learn my lessons, and merit the degrees, certificates, and letters of distinction that I have - just as many others who have done the same and have brown skin. I am consummately qualified for whatever type of work or position for which I've applied and have proved myself several times over. But I cannot get through the front door because I'm seen as another one of those typical blacks who cannot and will not perform. The door to my success is bolted because of those who do not represent me nor my values.
I am one of those who remembers why we fought so hard to achieve the inroads that we did and why it's so urgently important that the victories from those battles not be lost to complacency and apathy.
Yes, race does make a difference. But race makes a difference for a lot of reasons that we hadn't really previously considered meaningful nor why it makes a difference.