America Still Sees in Black & White
Ironically, one of the largest gaps many Americans overlook is the way in which we include only certain groups of people into the doctrine of equality. In a period in which racial discrimination remains a great social struggle, these conversations seem to often exclude cultures outside Black and White communities. While the movement for civil rights has been a long, enduring battle, it needs to evolve with time and what the term ‘American’ means now.
America consists of more than Blacks and Whites. There are Asian-Americans, Indian-Americans, Hispanics, Middle-Easterners (though we give them attention for all the wrong reasons), etc. In my personal interactions and observations of media and politics, there is a definite exclusion, perhaps subconscious, of other minorities. It seems to be a result of America’s preoccupation with Black rights. Yes, it is about time the Black community sees the same opportunities and treatment of the White community, and it is a real human problem that we are still here. The fight for equal rights still needs to be fought, but at what point is it exclusionary?
It occurs to me that this is a kind of single-mindedness, an inability to multitask or think about more than one specific entity at a time. Someone once told me that this concentration on Black and White equality is due to the centuries of fighting America’s past with slavery and Americans cannot stray from what is now considered the norm. However, is it too difficult to make sure all communities are given the same opportunities and treatment? If someone is going to be a proponent for equality and anti-racism, that person needs to consider all cultures and all people rather than simply Black and White. The battle for fair treatment includes more sides than this binary.
In a recent poetry class, I noticed this one-track-minded thinking, a microcosm for the American public. Many students (twenty-somethings) in my cohort identify as liberals who jump on all the new social movements, the most recent and effective being Black Lives Matter. When I shared a poem that voiced a common Asian-American dilemma regarding the Peter Liang case, my peers were so offended by the thought that another group of people deserves justice. It isn’t an issue of simple yes or no to justice, but one that may involve the lack of justice for the opposing party who is yet another innocent Black man. Unfortunately, this scenario is going to be found unjust regardless of the verdict or sentencing.
My peers could not fathom how Asian-Americans can even think incarcerating Peter Liang would be detrimental to us as a people or be seen as injustice against a minority culture. The goal of our poetry workshop is to critique writing. Many of my classmates were unable to move past the content of my piece in order to critique my writing, which I really wanted as this was only a first draft. They berated my work and labeled it racist and ignorant:
“TBH Courtney this poem feels like a deliberate slap in the face to people I care about, and this makes it hard to feel like I can engage with your work.”
“Not going to engage with commenting on this. There’s so much material out in the world to help you understand why this is so saddening and problematic.”
“Who is the target? I think it should be white supremacy… not Black people and Black Lives Matter Movement.”
These comments were written on my poem without actual attention to the poem as an artwork. Because this poem highlighted a deviation from the one-mindedness of Black rights, several of my peers automatically considered my piece to be anti-Black. The idea that racism crosses boundaries of Blackness is inconceivable to them. To even blame white supremacy for this inequality is lazy to me because white supremacy, though a major problem, is not the root of all evil. I knew my poem would spark friction, but I had more faith in my cohort to grapple with the content and help me create a poem that best expresses these confounding ideas.
The conversation regarding what can be discussed in higher education classes deserves mention in this instance, as my peers could not even address an opposing viewpoint. The mere thought that one existed seemed impossible to them. I was not worth their time and was only assumed to be racist because I voiced a view that conflicted with their mindset. Rather than trying to understand the context of the writing, they were quick to judge and condemn.
Unfortunately, my experience in class is a reflection of the America I have seen for quite some time. It’s important to fight for equality, for all people of all identities. But it’s important to know what that means and who that includes, not excludes. We need to be sure everyone means everyone, not only some. We need to take a look at who we are as a nation and take into account the many faces and cultures that create the diverse America we claim to be.
