As black people we tend to perceive inclusion into white spaces as a victory and a symbol of progress. Some tend to think of being the first black person to get an award in sports or acting as a sign that humanity is getting closer to this colorblind utopia. Well, I personally have never felt that way I feel that by celebrating small, superficial victories we are being gullible and not looking at the real issues. We seem to be blinded by the symbolism of actions rather than accomplishing real progress.Some months back after we heard that Dylan Roof, opened fire on the church in South Carolina we blamed the confederate flag. After Bree was arrested for taking it down we rallied and protested after she was released we were relieved and when the flag came down we saw it as a victory that our country no longer upheld a flag that was the symbol of the Confederate Army that fought to keep blacks in slavery which makes it inherently racist and makes most black people leery of the white southerners who hang it outside their homes and businesses and look down upon the blacks who have one. And while the Confederate flag has been modified over hundreds of years I can still understand why many feel it is racist especially since the KKK tends to march with it. But ask yourself this, Did racism go away? Did police brutality stop? Did all the laws that are made specifically to harm the welfare of blacks suddenly vanish? No, so it was a false symbol of change without any real effect. The latest news that Viola Davis's won the Emmy Award for an outstanding actress in a drama series for her role in How to Get Away with Murder had everyone rejoicing at the fact that she was the first black woman to receive this award after about 65 white women had received one year after year. I do appreciate this because I think Viola is a great actress but again. What happened after that? A white woman went to Twitter trying to silence her speech that spoke about the lack of opportunity in Hollywood for black women by saying the Emmy's was not a place for that. Even with this small victory others around Viola didn't want to acknowledge problems in Hollywood such as colorism, stereotypical roles for black women like prostitutes, maids, ghetto queens or single mothers. An Emmy nor a flag gets to the root of the problem it changes nothing it actually allows some whites to silence you more by saying things like "if racism is so bad why do we have a black president?" People will ignorantly site the symbol without the reality that Obama receives the most death threats than any other president or that he is constantly called the n-word or depicted as a monkey. Let's shy away from being tricked and do things like change the structure of rap music which promotes colorism by showing mostly mixed women or depicting black women as promiscuous who allow men to call them the b-word. Why don't we boycott networks that perpetuate negative stereotypes? Why don't we support activist who do more than marching? Until we do nothing will change. We will have a wall full of symbols and still be in chains.
larry
10/20/2015 01:47:19 pm
excelente , muy buen articulo Comments are closed.
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AuthorMy name is Kiara and writing is the way I express myself. Archives
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