Today's 2 Minute Read
Caste
"If you are silent about your pain, they’ll kill you and say you enjoyed it."
- Zora Neale Hurston
Shortly after moving to Buffalo, I was hired to teach an African American History course at the community college. It was an evening class and the demographic mix included recent refugees from Iraq and black, working class men and women from the east side of Buffalo. I am not sure what the topic was that evening, but one young, black woman raised her hand and asked, “Why do they hate us?” This question simply broke my heart. I said, “White people do not hate us; they are just afraid.” It was a kneejerk response. Since then, this question keeps bubbling up in my spirit. At times anti-black racism feels like a deep insecurity and self-hatred on the part of white people and at other times like a misguided longing for connection. I guess I just feel grateful that it wasn’t my child asking that same question. We all grapple with the why. I grappled with the why this week when the Supreme Court gutted the Voting Rights Act. I am so glad John Lewis did not have to see all of his hard work crumble. One point I try to get across in my African American History course is that slavery was considered perpetual. The framers of the constitution had no concept of an integrated America with everyone being given an equal shot, regardless of race. After slavery, several mechanisms were put in place to keep black Americans in a permanent second class status. Isabel Wilkerson describes America as a caste system with African Americans relegated to the lowest caste (regardless of wealth, education or status). The most recent Supreme Court decision is part of a long term commitment to The Lost Cause of the Confederacy. Now, legislators can make sure black people in red states have no representation at all. The other point I try to make in my class is that African Americans have, from the very beginning of our time in this country, resisted limiting and negative images of ourselves. We are a proud people, magnanimous and perhaps a little magical as well. But most importantly we are part of the fabric of this nation. African Americans are not a footnote or an addendum, we are America. We have always challenged this country to become what it claims to be on paper. Our power is threatening and our resilience is confusing to those in power. In my mind, I try to find an answer to my student’s question - Why do they hate us? - I try to find an answer that would bring her some comfort. I guess I would tell her to be aware of anti-black racism, while also understanding that it is not her burden to carry nor is it her problem to fix.
