Jun 13, 2020
Un(der)represented.
“As long as I can sow seeds, that will bear fruit, under whose shade I may never sit, my life is not in vain.” — Rev. Jesse Jackson
If you had asked me 15 years ago if racism was real, my naive five-year-old self would probably say, “no.” I could not even fathom the idea of anyone hating me because of my skin color. My classmates were white, my teachers were white, and it just did not seem possible. I was in a class of around 20 students, but only myself and one other student were Black. In those times, I still had the level of innocence and love that allowed me to think that everyone was my friend. The sad truth is, that five-year old kid had to grow up and realize that racism is real and for a black man, this world I was born into is everything but my friend.
My first experiences with racism did not come from my peers. Instead they came from a teacher that always seemed to find something wrong with the actions of Black students. In that classroom, I was one of 5 Black students out of 30. It was hard for me to grasp why my behavior was always met with harsher consequences than other students, even though we were seemingly all doing the same things. It escalated to the point where my teacher had to be changed, because my ability to learn was being hindered.
It was not long after that situation that I had a sleepover with one of my white friends for the first time. I was confused why my friend’s younger sister was asking, “Why is he Black?” I was made uncomfortable in a way that, at my age, I couldn’t explain and yet my innocent heart didn’t change. I didn’t realize that I was experiencing something that may never go away.
I began to wonder, what did I do to bring this treatment on myself? Am I being treated differently because I am Black? If there had been more students like me, would my educational experience have been different? I thought about if my friend’s sister had been exposed to more people that looked like me, would she understand that even though we looked different, we could still interact with each other.
It wasn’t until the sixth grade that I had my first Black teacher, who also happened to be my first male teacher. I never realized how the lack of diversity of educators in Laurens, SC impacted me until I was under the guidance of a minority teacher. Simply having someone who looked like me, and understood my experiences, in a position to guide and help me grow was monumental.
When President Barack Obama was inaugurated in January of 2009, my mother made me stay home, and watch it from beginning to end. At 9 years old, I didn’t understand the depth of what had happened. I hardly understood the role of the president, and I definitely didn’t know anything about what policies were. I didn’t grasp that President Obama was the confirmation of the hard work of generations of people before him. All I knew was, there was a president, the most important person in the country, and that he looked just like me. For me, it meant “Anything is possible!” from that point on.
There is immense power in diversity and still, black people are underrepresented.
Growing up, the images of Black success revolved around professions like actors, musicians, talk-show hosts, comedians, and athletes. That is not to say that the ONLY successful black people are in those spaces, but that was all I saw. It was hard for me to develop aspirations outside of what I saw was “making it out.” Representation in politics, corporations, education, law enforcement and countless more areas are foundational in creating not only positive images, but opportunities for other Black people.
Studies show that, in America, 80% of jobs are acquired through networking. America is also the place where Black men hold only 3.2% of leadership roles at large companies, but 12% of the general population. It is fair to assume that a black man in America would have a much harder time obtaining a job, regardless of how impressive his resume is, based solely on the amount of people he is connected to in his network. Those numbers are worse in the perspective of Black women. We also live in a country where Black people make up around 34% of the country’s prisoners — a rate five times higher than whites. This country is broken with systems and policies that keep Black people on route to prisons rather than to better education and jobs. With Black lawyers only making up 5% of the country’s lawyer population, there is a lack of people available to represent and defend us. Likewise, there is a significant difference in the percentage of Black police officers in comparison to whites. These factors contribute to an ongoing system where Black people are being mistreated.
I write these words to say that we must begin to create avenues for the growth of Black communities. However, these changes can not happen unless we begin to see Black people move into spaces that allow us to make changes. Our cries for help and our protests will remain empty until we take the initiative to take over these systems that continuously oppress us. We need to see more Black educators that can connect to students of this upcoming generation and encourage their development. These same teachers will be important in making sure that the history that is told is true to our experiences. We need to see more Black business owners that can distribute wealth and opportunity in our communities. We must take the initiative to support Black businesses rather than chains that do not create products for us. We need to see more Black elected officials that can act on behalf of our interests. We must recognize that our participation in the democratic process is essential. We must know that every one of our votes matter and Black politicians do too. We must stop being preyed upon by a broken American establishment and begin to construct a new America that truly is for all people. As Malcolm X would agree, the knives of oppression have not been taken from our backs, so we must continue to fight until we achieve our goal.
This change will be reached through our increased investment in ourselves. It starts in our own communities and it starts with having conversations about the world we live in and what different paths to success look like. These conversations will be about college, entrepreneurship, trade schools, and countless other opportunities for advancement. Regardless, we must realize that there is no “one-way” to be successful in this country but any of them are achievable. Whether it be through formal education, or learned from home, we must begin to teach our communities these systems, so that they can never be used against us and so that we can use it to our favor. When we know the system, we can become participants in that system, and be the decision-makers of the system. When we collectively accept that OUR REPRESENTATION MATTERS in all areas, and support each other, our resolutions will be found.
