The Rubin Stacy Story: A Meditation on lynching in a Post-Racial America
“The faintest ink is better than the best memory” was said to me by a friend’s uncle at Christmas lunch in Barbados. If ink beats memory, then pictures beat the self-induce fantasy of a nation, right? For this black history month, I question the existence of a post-racial America.
Yesterday, I began to stare at the photos of Rubin Stacy, a man born between 1899-1907 in Georgia. He left Georgia to go to Florida where there were more opportunities. Unfortunately, he was murdered July 19, 1935 in Fort Lauderdale. He was murdered because he was falsely accused of trying to harm Marion Jones, a white woman. She later reported that he came to her door begging for food.
In the foreground of the photo, you see—the bloodied body of—our Rubin hanging from a tree. In the background, you see a group of whites milling about looking on with glee at the STRANGE FRUIT. In the group of children, you can see this little white girl smiling angelically up at the beaten, swollen and patently dead face of Rubin Stacy. In addition to the pain endured by Rubin, I want to focus on this white girl, her angelic smile, her Sunday’s best wears, and her clan of ‘law-abiding’ white folks. This iconic image captures what we collaboratively seek to forget in order to embrace this color-blind, post-racial and multi-culti society.
We seek to forget what James Allen and Philip Dray captured in their respective works Without Sanctuary and At the Hands of Persons Unknown that the story of lynching is “a tale of ordinary White Americans perpetrating, in ritualized installments, the mass murder of Black Americans.”
Yeah, that’s right, ‘the white family next door’ was responsible for Rubin’s hanging not the Klan. What’s more horrifying to note is that in these lynching rituals the town’s people protected each other and often in the police and coroner’s records these crimes are often cited as killed “at the hands of persons unknown.” So how would you explain the little white girl’s smile when we can presume that she is not a child of a Klan member?
For the sake of irony, let’s call the white girl, who has the chillingly-sweet grin on her face, Angelica. Look closely at our Angelica’s smiling face, don’t you wonder what morbid thoughts are going through her mind; what particularly is she enjoying about the grotesque gore of Rubin Stacy’s murder; how she, the embodiment of everything that must be protected, is capable of such merriment at the torture and murder of a black person? In addition to those questions, I find myself asking if our Angelica is still alive; is she one of the old great-great-grandmothers who socially transmits hatred into her children’s and their descendents? We must remember that her smile is more than glee. It is more than a reaction to victory. Her smile is inextricably linked to each grotesque act that caused Rubin Stacy—the black body – pain, fear, horror, and for his—our –blood to spill.
Imagine as Rubin was marched, like Jesus, to that tree being jeered by onlookers, kicked, spat on, hit, and disfigured. But unlike Jesus, our Rubin hasn’t risen from death an iconic figured worshipped by white, brown, yellow and black folks. Instead he has been all but forgotten and again denied his humanity, because his murderers’ were protected by the law, the government and ‘law abiding’ citizens.
To be totally alone, and staring (while your eyes are intact) into the eyes of your enemies/murderers, this was Rubin’s fate. Do you see our Angelica smiling and possibly collecting her souvenir (e.g., eyes, genitals, fingers, bloodied clothing, and etc)? With such a glee-filled grin on her face, I am sure she collected herself a nice souvenir that she, if alive, probably kept as a keepsake that rivals the way Rose kept the heart of the ocean in Titanic. Captured in our Rubin’s American story and the photograph are the greatest forms of violence and marginality.
Each cut, tear, bruise, struggled breath, and possible plea for his life was a resounding slap at this imagined idea of who needs to be protected in the USA. Our Rubin Stacy, the imagined other, was and still today is often more in need of protecting than our sweet Angelica or Marion Jones, the white lady who cried-wolf (read: black) which lead to Rubin’s death. This trope, of the white women who cry-black, has continued: Bonnie Sweeten, Mary Turcotte, Susan Smith, Bethany Storro, Amy Fox and Ashley Todd. Even when some white women aren’t crying-black, some white men are right there to continue in their stead: Charles Stuart, Brian Wells, and Robert Ralston.
The silent truth is that our Rubin never got his day in court.
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dGrXCOIx6QQ
I’ve been staring at this picture, in one way or another, for years; we all have. Like Whitman who hears and Hughes who sings, I too hear and sing America. I bear witness to the duality that is America. I sing of the maddeningly schizophrenic reality of the country we, the descendents of Rubin and Angelica share. I sing of the ‘high tech lynchings’ that are happening across America in class rooms, in the job market, and right now in rural, suburban and backwoods areas where Angelica’s brood have been growing silently. I hear America singing the final hymn of the song that started in 1619.
I’m afraid our collective quest for a “post-racial” society entails further forgetting and historical erasure. If going “beyond race” means never coming to terms with this legacy, of continuously failing to take the responsibility for what …has thus far been completely abdicated, then I say “no thanks.”
So what needs to be done in order to come to terms with this? For one thing, we need to come to terms with what it means to be a racial society in the first place. White america (myself and my family included) needs to begin taking responsibility for the fact that we have benefited (if only indirectly, but I’m not even sure about this) from this enduring legacy. I’m afraid most white americans would balk at this, saying something like “Oh, well, I wasn’t there, and I didn’t lynch Rubin Stacy, so I’m not responsible.” Indeed, most white Americans tend to think of racism in personal, dispositional terms; that is, if they never say the n-word then that means they aren’t racist. This neglects the fact that racism is intrinsically structural and institutional, that it goes beyond the personal disposition of an individual. It is in this arena that we have benefited from white privilege, ie those unspoken advantages that give us the edge in housing, education, criminal justice, etc.
We also need to come to terms with the FEAR that underpins racism of all sorts. Racism, I think, is built upon fear. This is counter-intuitive, as racism explicates a sense of superiority and domination. But really its just a smokescreen for the underlying fear. And fear of what? Why have most white people been afraid of African Americans?
I have some ideas as to why, but I need to think on them for a bit. I’ll be back with another response later. Hopefully we can get some more comments from others, maybe get a little discourse going on this…
I’m afraid our collective quest for a “post-racial” society entails further forgetting and historical erasure. If going “beyond race” means never coming to terms with this legacy, of continuously failing to take the responsibility for what …has thus far been completely abdicated, then I say “no thanks.”
So what needs to be done in order to come to terms with this? For one thing, we need to come to terms with what it means to be a racial society in the first place. White america (myself and my family included) needs to begin taking responsibility for the fact that we have benefited (if only indirectly, but I’m not even sure about this) from this enduring legacy. I’m afraid most white americans would balk at this, saying something like “Oh, well, I wasn’t there, and I didn’t lynch Rubin Stacy, so I’m not responsible.” Indeed, most white Americans tend to think of racism in personal, dispositional terms; that is, if they never say the n-word then that means they aren’t racist. This neglects the fact that racism is intrinsically structural and institutional, that it goes beyond the personal disposition of an individual. It is in this arena that we have benefited from white privilege, ie those unspoken advantages that give us the edge in housing, education, criminal justice, etc.
We also need to come to terms with the FEAR that underpins racism of all sorts. Racism, I think, is built upon fear. This is counter-intuitive, as racism explicates a sense of superiority and domination. But really its just a smokescreen for the underlying fear. And fear of what? Why have most white people been afraid of African Americans?
I have some ideas as to why, but I need to think on them for a bit. I’ll be back with another response later. Hopefully we can get some more comments from others, maybe get a little discourse going on this…
I think the media portrayals of blacks (particularly men who were the primary victims of lynching) contributed immensely to the “fear” that Jeff, you speak about. There are so many reasons why blacks became/become the scapegoats for white frustration at times of uncertainty. As we grow, so does violence increase. Jackie Goldsby’s debut work “A Spectacular Secret: Lynching in American Life and Literature,” although rooted in written accounts and criticism of the practice, actually illuminates a lot of what is hidden. I think the “secret” to which Goldsby (a University of Chicago professor!) refers is predicated on this notion of fear of the unknown. How many whites interacted daily with blacks? Better yet, how many educated (or non) whites interacted with educated blacks? Science told us that blacks were subhuman to a certain extent, literally at several different points in history this was considered “fact.” The entire Eugenics Movement subscribed to that notion. Even with very little evidence. To this day, scientists are still searching for the “black gene” if you will… I just recently read Rebecca Skloot’s scientific biography of Henrietta Lacks (The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks), a mixed race black woman who unknowingly had samples of her cervical cancerous cells removed and replicated billions of times over by white scientists, primarily at Johns Hopkins. As recently as the 1950s (and even later), blacks who were primarily poor were considered fair game for unethical (by today’s standards at least) practices akin to the Tuskegee Experiments, such as being injected with cancer and observed as tumors spread. All of this primarily because they were given free treatment, yet they never gave consent.
I find the American lynching issue to be a representation of power dynamics that have not subsided since that time. A good friend said to me recently, “Nothing in the world changes, just your conception of it becomes clearer as you age.” Things are the way they’ve always been; history doesn’t so much repeat itself, so much as it is a cycle. It looks differently at each stage of our lives.
The story above is characteristic certainly of many others that lurk in the shadows, all akin to the quite overexposed (and exploited to a certain extent) Emmitt Till case. What I find fascinating is that although practice and laws have changed to reflect the modernity in which we live, the consciousness of the people is still the same. Whites are lynching literally, but there is evidence that they are figuratively.
Obama becomes an all too easy representation of this figurative lynching phenomenon. The fact that there were rallies of hundreds upon thousands in this nation chanting that he is not an American and that he’s an immigrant. The “immigrant” statements have opened up other issues of prejudice, ignorance, and fear. “The more we let in, the more we lose.” There is a feeling of threat.
The fear is from ignorance. The fear I believe is from inexperience. What do we do when we see the cockroach on the floor or the mouse in the basement? We stomp it’s guts out or lay down horrible poisons. What did whites do when the primitive Africans came over to America? Well, they first worked then (to death) and then finally stepped on them (lynchings) when they no longer could get away with enslavement. Now, they strip them of funding for their schools, good teachers and leaders, supermarkets with fresh produce, etc… I suppose the literal is simply out of fashion…
These issues don’t lend themselves to easy answers. This isn’t simple math. One theory says it’s fear and the next will prove the first wrong. It’s a cycle of ideas. Some might even blame religion and God. But as I recall, God doesn’t mettle in human matters…
I think the media portrayals of blacks (particularly men who were the primary victims of lynching) contributed immensely to the “fear” that Jeff, you speak about. There are so many reasons why blacks became/become the scapegoats for white frustration at times of uncertainty. As we grow, so does violence increase. Jackie Goldsby’s debut work “A Spectacular Secret: Lynching in American Life and Literature,” although rooted in written accounts and criticism of the practice, actually illuminates a lot of what is hidden. I think the “secret” to which Goldsby (a University of Chicago professor!) refers is predicated on this notion of fear of the unknown. How many whites interacted daily with blacks? Better yet, how many educated (or non) whites interacted with educated blacks? Science told us that blacks were subhuman to a certain extent, literally at several different points in history this was considered “fact.” The entire Eugenics Movement subscribed to that notion. Even with very little evidence. To this day, scientists are still searching for the “black gene” if you will… I just recently read Rebecca Skloot’s scientific biography of Henrietta Lacks (The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks), a mixed race black woman who unknowingly had samples of her cervical cancerous cells removed and replicated billions of times over by white scientists, primarily at Johns Hopkins. As recently as the 1950s (and even later), blacks who were primarily poor were considered fair game for unethical (by today’s standards at least) practices akin to the Tuskegee Experiments, such as being injected with cancer and observed as tumors spread. All of this primarily because they were given free treatment, yet they never gave consent.
I find the American lynching issue to be a representation of power dynamics that have not subsided since that time. A good friend said to me recently, “Nothing in the world changes, just your conception of it becomes clearer as you age.” Things are the way they’ve always been; history doesn’t so much repeat itself, so much as it is a cycle. It looks differently at each stage of our lives.
The story above is characteristic certainly of many others that lurk in the shadows, all akin to the quite overexposed (and exploited to a certain extent) Emmitt Till case. What I find fascinating is that although practice and laws have changed to reflect the modernity in which we live, the consciousness of the people is still the same. Whites are lynching literally, but there is evidence that they are figuratively.
Obama becomes an all too easy representation of this figurative lynching phenomenon. The fact that there were rallies of hundreds upon thousands in this nation chanting that he is not an American and that he’s an immigrant. The “immigrant” statements have opened up other issues of prejudice, ignorance, and fear. “The more we let in, the more we lose.” There is a feeling of threat.
The fear is from ignorance. The fear I believe is from inexperience. What do we do when we see the cockroach on the floor or the mouse in the basement? We stomp it’s guts out or lay down horrible poisons. What did whites do when the primitive Africans came over to America? Well, they first worked then (to death) and then finally stepped on them (lynchings) when they no longer could get away with enslavement. Now, they strip them of funding for their schools, good teachers and leaders, supermarkets with fresh produce, etc… I suppose the literal is simply out of fashion…
These issues don’t lend themselves to easy answers. This isn’t simple math. One theory says it’s fear and the next will prove the first wrong. It’s a cycle of ideas. Some might even blame religion and God. But as I recall, God doesn’t mettle in human matters…
I understand that race is socially constructed, and theoretically could therefore be socially deconstructed, but it has not been as of yet. There is no “post-racial” America. Furthermore, not that we should forget the tragic past that we come from, but how do we move past it while still remembering it?
And while I definitely agree that African Americans like Rubin needed more protection at the time than the average white person, I can’t help but feel sorry for the little white girl. She has obviously been fed the fear, and doesn’t know any better than to hate.
I understand that race is socially constructed, and theoretically could therefore be socially deconstructed, but it has not been as of yet. There is no “post-racial” America. Furthermore, not that we should forget the tragic past that we come from, but how do we move past it while still remembering it?
And while I definitely agree that African Americans like Rubin needed more protection at the time than the average white person, I can’t help but feel sorry for the little white girl. She has obviously been fed the fear, and doesn’t know any better than to hate.
Hi Jeff,
I really like what you’re saying about coming to terms with racial privileges, but quiet as it’s kept, I feel there is a yang to that yin. The imagined-other has to come to terms with the violence (macro-violence and the present micro-aggressions) that’s befallen her/him-self. Moreover, I feel that just as Angelica could socially transmits hatred Rubin’s family member could transmit fear, a different kind of countenance, and belief about their place in the world.
As I can’t speak for anyone else, I will speak for myself. From elementary to high school, I was inculcated in cultures, friendships, communities, and networks all of which slowly shaped my outlook. All of that time, though intellectually curious, my favorite writers, actors, movies, intellectuals, teachers, and politicos didn’t, by and large, look like me. They may as well have sprung from the head of Zeus, because I was seduced by their stories. In this seduction, I learned that I was different; I longed for what I was lead to believe couldn’t be found among my phenotypic peers and elders. I was becoming the poster boy for what “historical erasure” could lead too if left untreated.
In and Post-College, I met a slew of writers, politicos, film makers, teachers, intellectuals, actors, art-collectors, artists, foreigners, friends, and CEOs who were my peers and elders. That’s where transformative work began. I think that is what has been missing from the Marx or Hegelian Models of the master slave struggle in the age of modern democracies like the US. The violence can be both intimate and explosively powerful, but it doesn’t need to lead to blood spill in stable democracy for an individual’s awakening. I have been raging “against the dying of the light” (read: my difference), while seeking to expound upon new consciousness.
Hi Jeff,
I really like what you’re saying about coming to terms with racial privileges, but quiet as it’s kept, I feel there is a yang to that yin. The imagined-other has to come to terms with the violence (macro-violence and the present micro-aggressions) that’s befallen her/him-self. Moreover, I feel that just as Angelica could socially transmits hatred Rubin’s family member could transmit fear, a different kind of countenance, and belief about their place in the world.
As I can’t speak for anyone else, I will speak for myself. From elementary to high school, I was inculcated in cultures, friendships, communities, and networks all of which slowly shaped my outlook. All of that time, though intellectually curious, my favorite writers, actors, movies, intellectuals, teachers, and politicos didn’t, by and large, look like me. They may as well have sprung from the head of Zeus, because I was seduced by their stories. In this seduction, I learned that I was different; I longed for what I was lead to believe couldn’t be found among my phenotypic peers and elders. I was becoming the poster boy for what “historical erasure” could lead too if left untreated.
In and Post-College, I met a slew of writers, politicos, film makers, teachers, intellectuals, actors, art-collectors, artists, foreigners, friends, and CEOs who were my peers and elders. That’s where transformative work began. I think that is what has been missing from the Marx or Hegelian Models of the master slave struggle in the age of modern democracies like the US. The violence can be both intimate and explosively powerful, but it doesn’t need to lead to blood spill in stable democracy for an individual’s awakening. I have been raging “against the dying of the light” (read: my difference), while seeking to expound upon new consciousness.
Yes, Justin. It sounds like your speaking of the notion of “decolonization of the mind.” I’m not sure who coined the concept, but certainly Frantz Fanon laid the groundwork with “Black Skin, White Masks.” It speaks to the epistemic violence which internalizes modes of domination upon the oppressed. It implies a standard-bearing reference point as to what it means to be an American, a human, etc.
So, for instance, speaking of “high-tech lynchings,” an example can be found in Clarence Thomas, who grew in a Georgian lowcountry community with deep Gullah roots but eventually chose to study English in college in order to “conquer the language.” We know the rest of the story…
This process of “colonizing the mind” also reflects John’s comment that “Nothing in the world changes, just your conception of it becomes clearer as you age. … the consciousness of the people is still the same.”
The” decolonization of the mind” is necessary in order to throw off the shackles of conformity and homogeneity. It is ironic that our oppressive social structures, once based on rigid racial hierarchies, now seeks to be cloaked in the guise of a color-blind, post-racial and multicultural society.
This aspiration is dangerous in two ways. First, as so eloquently pointed out both in your main entry, Justin, as well as the comment by Rose, it necessitates a process of forgetting and an abdication of historical responsibility. Secondly, a color-blind, post-racial and multicultural society would implicitly be based on the model of the dominator. It would take for granted the Western model of self-determination, sovereignty, and progress, concepts which have long been used as tools of oppression, and it leaves no other alternatives of self- and collective-fulfillment.
So you’re right, Justin, in seeking to expound upon a new consciousness.
Yes, Justin. It sounds like your speaking of the notion of “decolonization of the mind.” I’m not sure who coined the concept, but certainly Frantz Fanon laid the groundwork with “Black Skin, White Masks.” It speaks to the epistemic violence which internalizes modes of domination upon the oppressed. It implies a standard-bearing reference point as to what it means to be an American, a human, etc.
So, for instance, speaking of “high-tech lynchings,” an example can be found in Clarence Thomas, who grew in a Georgian lowcountry community with deep Gullah roots but eventually chose to study English in college in order to “conquer the language.” We know the rest of the story…
This process of “colonizing the mind” also reflects John’s comment that “Nothing in the world changes, just your conception of it becomes clearer as you age. … the consciousness of the people is still the same.”
The” decolonization of the mind” is necessary in order to throw off the shackles of conformity and homogeneity. It is ironic that our oppressive social structures, once based on rigid racial hierarchies, now seeks to be cloaked in the guise of a color-blind, post-racial and multicultural society.
This aspiration is dangerous in two ways. First, as so eloquently pointed out both in your main entry, Justin, as well as the comment by Rose, it necessitates a process of forgetting and an abdication of historical responsibility. Secondly, a color-blind, post-racial and multicultural society would implicitly be based on the model of the dominator. It would take for granted the Western model of self-determination, sovereignty, and progress, concepts which have long been used as tools of oppression, and it leaves no other alternatives of self- and collective-fulfillment.
So you’re right, Justin, in seeking to expound upon a new consciousness.
Hi Jeff,
I agree with you that one of the main problems with the discussion of race in America is the lack collective recognition. In addition, the language to talk about past domestic atrocities or acts of genocide doesn’t exist because these conversations are awkward and would force people to both identify their privilege and collective responsibility.
Part of my problem with the post-race and color blind ways of thinking is that it ties racial incidents that happen presently into the realm of extremist actions rendering it an anathema or an outlier. So take for instance the actions of the Susan Smith, they become isolated and explained away because she is an outlier. This allows as you point out for “most white Americans[ …] to think of racism in personal, dispositional terms…This neglects the fact that racism is intrinsically structural and institutional, that it goes beyond the personal disposition of an individual.” It is only when a person who is socially responsible and willing to piece together the bigger picture that we get a better understanding of how and what these individuals’ actions point to about our country and us.
In my blog post, I tried to use “our” to signify the collective nature of the problem we’ve inherited. In my previous response, I tried to talk about the individual and personal work that has to be done to shirk-off the colonized-mind as you call it, but I was also referencing not just Fanon’s racial take on it, nor just Marxist class-based take on it, but the dialect that Hegel conceptualized. Leaving the theorist alone and moving forward to brainstorm with Rose, John, you and whoever that may join this conversation; I am interested in talking about the problem and trying to think about what a successful unified society would look like.
Hi Jeff,
I agree with you that one of the main problems with the discussion of race in America is the lack collective recognition. In addition, the language to talk about past domestic atrocities or acts of genocide doesn’t exist because these conversations are awkward and would force people to both identify their privilege and collective responsibility.
Part of my problem with the post-race and color blind ways of thinking is that it ties racial incidents that happen presently into the realm of extremist actions rendering it an anathema or an outlier. So take for instance the actions of the Susan Smith, they become isolated and explained away because she is an outlier. This allows as you point out for “most white Americans[ …] to think of racism in personal, dispositional terms…This neglects the fact that racism is intrinsically structural and institutional, that it goes beyond the personal disposition of an individual.” It is only when a person who is socially responsible and willing to piece together the bigger picture that we get a better understanding of how and what these individuals’ actions point to about our country and us.
In my blog post, I tried to use “our” to signify the collective nature of the problem we’ve inherited. In my previous response, I tried to talk about the individual and personal work that has to be done to shirk-off the colonized-mind as you call it, but I was also referencing not just Fanon’s racial take on it, nor just Marxist class-based take on it, but the dialect that Hegel conceptualized. Leaving the theorist alone and moving forward to brainstorm with Rose, John, you and whoever that may join this conversation; I am interested in talking about the problem and trying to think about what a successful unified society would look like.
Great Article:
To fully understand and reflect on Post Racial America, you have to look at racism at a Macro and Micro level.
The Macro level reflects the structural and institutional aspect of racism. And as Jeff succinctly put it: “It is in this arena that (White People) have benefited from white privilege, ie those unspoken advantages that give (White People) the edge in housing, education, criminal justice, etc.” A lot still has to be done on the macro level to correct the ills of the past, since those ills still exist today in the modern system. In that regard, we are nowhere close to a ‘post-racial’ society, nor can I begin to explore the ways to close that gap in this message.
However, although the US has failed miserably on the Macro level, a great amount of stride has been made on the micro (individual) level to achieve a post racial society. Public acts or private acts made public of racism are immediately condemned by society at large. The recent cases of “blame it on the black guy” syndrome were immediately condemned once the facts came out. We should take solace in that fact, since it was not too long ago that ‘Angelica stood smiling under that tree’.
The other reason why we can look at America on the micro level as ‘post racial’ is the change in the aspirations of black people. The fact that a black man holds the highest office in the United States created a cultural shift in aspirations of the youth. I tutor in the inner-city, and I can attest to this. The black students I teach no longer imagine that their aspirations will be to no avail, they no longer see their ‘blackness’ as a sentence to a life of mediocrity and failure. They no longer believe that a ‘white man’ has the power (and uses said power) to prevent them from reaching their goals. There is a drive and sense self-determination in them that I can honestly state was absent before the election of Obama. Why does this make a difference? My personal believe is, besides death, education and wealth is the great leveler of all men. Now when you have a culture of people who believe they cannot have access to education or to wealth and are forever doom to the bottom of society, there is an overall sense of hopelessness and inertia that lends itself to the creation of a lethargic group of people who are not willing to fight for what they want. However, post racial America has now created an entire culture of black youths who are overcoming this inertia and hopelessness endemic to the older generations and are unwilling to accept failure as an option. (NOTE: (note: This is not to parrot the age old line of reasoning of black people refused to pull themselves up by the bootstrap) In this regard, I can confidently state America has reached a post-racial society on the micro level.
However, now back to the Macro-level, until systems are put into place to address and correct the structural and institutional aspect of racism, America can never truly become a post-racial society. Even if racism disappears completely on the micro level, the presence of Macro racism will always place black people at a disadvantage regardless of how much hope and self determination exists within them.
On another note, the insistence that white people should feel guilty for the past is completely counter-productive to fixing the problems. White people are only responsible for the actions and decisions they make today, and unless those present day decisions continue to propagate the structural and institutional aspect of racism, there is no reason to feel guilty about the past. What is needed and more productive is an objective analysis of the present and a focus on eradicating the ills of the past that still thrive in today’s society. As they say, the past is our history (and cannot be changed), the present is our choice (and bends to our wills), and the future is the realization of the choices we made in the present.
Great Article:
To fully understand and reflect on Post Racial America, you have to look at racism at a Macro and Micro level.
The Macro level reflects the structural and institutional aspect of racism. And as Jeff succinctly put it: “It is in this arena that (White People) have benefited from white privilege, ie those unspoken advantages that give (White People) the edge in housing, education, criminal justice, etc.” A lot still has to be done on the macro level to correct the ills of the past, since those ills still exist today in the modern system. In that regard, we are nowhere close to a ‘post-racial’ society, nor can I begin to explore the ways to close that gap in this message.
However, although the US has failed miserably on the Macro level, a great amount of stride has been made on the micro (individual) level to achieve a post racial society. Public acts or private acts made public of racism are immediately condemned by society at large. The recent cases of “blame it on the black guy” syndrome were immediately condemned once the facts came out. We should take solace in that fact, since it was not too long ago that ‘Angelica stood smiling under that tree’.
The other reason why we can look at America on the micro level as ‘post racial’ is the change in the aspirations of black people. The fact that a black man holds the highest office in the United States created a cultural shift in aspirations of the youth. I tutor in the inner-city, and I can attest to this. The black students I teach no longer imagine that their aspirations will be to no avail, they no longer see their ‘blackness’ as a sentence to a life of mediocrity and failure. They no longer believe that a ‘white man’ has the power (and uses said power) to prevent them from reaching their goals. There is a drive and sense self-determination in them that I can honestly state was absent before the election of Obama. Why does this make a difference? My personal believe is, besides death, education and wealth is the great leveler of all men. Now when you have a culture of people who believe they cannot have access to education or to wealth and are forever doom to the bottom of society, there is an overall sense of hopelessness and inertia that lends itself to the creation of a lethargic group of people who are not willing to fight for what they want. However, post racial America has now created an entire culture of black youths who are overcoming this inertia and hopelessness endemic to the older generations and are unwilling to accept failure as an option. (NOTE: (note: This is not to parrot the age old line of reasoning of black people refused to pull themselves up by the bootstrap) In this regard, I can confidently state America has reached a post-racial society on the micro level.
However, now back to the Macro-level, until systems are put into place to address and correct the structural and institutional aspect of racism, America can never truly become a post-racial society. Even if racism disappears completely on the micro level, the presence of Macro racism will always place black people at a disadvantage regardless of how much hope and self determination exists within them.
On another note, the insistence that white people should feel guilty for the past is completely counter-productive to fixing the problems. White people are only responsible for the actions and decisions they make today, and unless those present day decisions continue to propagate the structural and institutional aspect of racism, there is no reason to feel guilty about the past. What is needed and more productive is an objective analysis of the present and a focus on eradicating the ills of the past that still thrive in today’s society. As they say, the past is our history (and cannot be changed), the present is our choice (and bends to our wills), and the future is the realization of the choices we made in the present.
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[…] of the most widely circulated photographs of lynching in America shows the murder by hanging of Rubin Stacy in (no surprises here) Fort Lauderdale, Florida. Stacy was falsely accused and lynched for the […]
[…] of the most widely circulated photographs of lynching in America shows the murder by hanging of Rubin Stacy in (no surprises here) Fort Lauderdale, Florida. Stacy was falsely accused and lynched for the […]
[…] woman. She screamed and her neighbors alerted police, but a mob quickly gathered and Stacy was hung from a post near the Jones residence. His lynching was commemorated witha postcard; a investigation revealed […]
[…] woman. She screamed and her neighbors alerted police, but a mob quickly gathered and Stacy was hung from a post near the Jones residence. His lynching was commemorated witha postcard; a investigation revealed […]
[…] woman. She screamed and her neighbors alerted police, but a mob quickly gathered and Stacy was hung from a post near the Jones residence. His lynching was commemorated with a postcard; an investigation revealed […]
[…] woman. She screamed and her neighbors alerted police, but a mob quickly gathered and Stacy was hung from a post near the Jones residence. His lynching was commemorated with a postcard; an investigation revealed […]