My Monthly Sports Minute: Racism Never Stopped for Me
To survive in a racist society, as African Americans, we learn to think and act in many subconscious ways. At a young age, we learn to always “adjust” to our surroundings. Our guardians may not overtly teach us how to do so and plainly express that lesson to us. But, by watching and seeing how they always “adjust” to their surroundings, we soon learn to do the same.
For instance, I quickly learned when to “code switch” or “switch it up,” as I call it. I still find myself subconsciously “switching it up” when I’m around White vs Black people. I’m not only talking about my decision to communicate through slang or proper English. I’m talking about how I learned to make sure the tone of my voice changes or how it’s best if I all of sudden go in my “bag of vocabulary,” to appear as highly educated to White people as possible.
Why?
From my elders and my lived experience, I’ve learned we always have to go above and beyond as Black people to “prove ourselves” or to show our worth to White people. Those survival skills are instilled in us as a “rights of passage.” Ultimately, as Black people, we act this way to justify our presence and to convey that we are not who White people inaccurately perceive us to be. We do not have to do anything but exist for White people to feel uncomfortable. Yet, we still go out of our way to make them feel comfortable.
I do not think racism has ever stopped or ended. Mentally, we are still enslaved due to trauma caused by the ongoing cycle of seeing innocent Black people killed by White people. Incidents like the murders of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, and Trayvon Martin have brought things to light in recent years. It amplifies our situation. It exposes White society’s dehumanization and devaluation of Black lives, which mainly “flies under the radar.”
Black Lives DO Matter.
1 Peter 2: 9
9 But you are not like that, for you are a chosen people. You are royal priests, a holy nation, God’s very own possession. As a result, you can show others the goodness of God, for he called you out of the darkness into his wonderful light.
— Raigyne Louis
