In my last editorial, I dealtwith the subject of interracial relationships. The article was entitled “I’vegot jungle feeeever…” Here are a few of the many responses I received as aresult of that article.
A.J.,
Apparently the war has donesomething to you. You stated that the white girl listened to you attentively,honey, nine times out of ten, she only listened because she wondered what wasin your pants. Most white girls are like that around brothers, they don’trespect you all. They don’t speak or talk to you all in the day time, but theywant to lick and eat you in the night time. Please wake up brother.
TiffaniiP.
Graduatestudent/office clerk
B.R.
You are weak. If you reallywant an “Erykah Badu” type of sista, then a Brittany Murphy will never satisfy.As I see it, you don’t want an Erykah Badu type. If you were a strong brotha,you would realize that as Black people in America we go through a lot, and youwould be able to negotiate whatever issues a sista may be going through inorder to have a successful relationship with her…
Mark
Attorney
California
When I lived in California, I bought my first car. It was apearl white ’81 El Dorado. I’ll never forget how it’s white exterior used toglisten in the afternoon sun as I rolled onto Mission Beach on Sundays, makingall the female heads turn in my direction. I felt like Goldie the Mack in mywhite Cadillac as the voice of Ronald Isley sang “Groove with You” throughtwelve inch speakers. I floated through the streets of Cali like my name wasJaws because in that El Dog I was a great white shark cruising up and down theblock.
Then came the transmission problems. At stoplights, my whitebeauty started stalling on me. Sometimes, she refused to even start. I took herto the shop to get fixed, and things were cool for a while. Then the problemsresurfaced.
One day while driving on the interstate, I pressed the gaspedal but the car wouldn’t accelerate. Then, something heavy fell from thebottom of the car. Smoke and flames protruded from underneath the hood andbefore I knew it, I was in a rolling inferno. Immediately, I bailed out of theburning vehicle and took off running on the side of the road. How could mybeautiful white car do this to me, I thought as I looked back at the flamingautomobile. It was on that day that I pledged eternal hatred for all whitecars.
To this day, I loathe white cars with a passion. I regretthat I ever owned a white Cadillac and I deeply despise all white cars andtrucks that I see on the road. Had my Cadillac been black, I would not have hadproblems like the ones that I had with my white Caddie. Most white cars arelike that though. They run good for awhile, but just when you think you’re the”Playa of the year” they self destruct on you. I am convinced that white carsare a menace to drivers everywhere and they need to be annihilated at all cost.If you are the owner of a white vehicle, be on the lookout for me because I’mcoming for your ride. My hatred for white cars is that extreme.
Does that sound absolutely retarded to you? I hope it does.It’s just an example of how we formulate broad generalizations and prejudicesabout entire groups of things based upon negative experiences we have withcertain members of that thing. It’s also an example of how we miss the biggerpicture by focusing on the smallest, most insignificant detail. It doesn’t takea genius to know that a car’s color has absolutely nothing to do with its’performance. The color of the car is irrelevant when it comes to getting youfrom point A to point B smoothly. It’s the same way with people. Skin color isirrelevant in comparison to their actions(DUH!).
You can’t touch a color, smell a color, or taste a color.Color won’t hurt, respect or disrespect you. It is a lifeless entity that onlyexists where there is sight and light. One color is not superior or inferior toanother. We as humans give it the power that it has on our perception ofpeople. We categorize andcharacterize people by their skin color. We allow something intangible tocreate a distance between us, which is sad.
For the record, I do realize that we go through a lot asblack people in America because(in case you haven’t noticed) I am a black manin America. Before you call me weak and call into question my strength as abrother, try my shoes on and take a walk through my experience. I havepersonally dealt with racism in subtle forms and its most blatantmanifestations.
I know what it means to be called “nigger” to my face on adaily basis and have my back to the wall getting beat down by white racistclassmates. I dealt with that in seventh grade. I know what it’s like to workfor a Hitler-worshipping, neo Nazi and work with a “good ole boy” klan membernicknamed “the Bull” who bragged about how he used to kill black men in his hometown.I dealt with that in the U.S. Navy.
I’ve also been overseas to places like Australia and met someof the nicest white people who told me and my friends that they thought blackpeople were the most beautiful people in the world. I’ve met black Africans whowill call a black American “nigger” quicker than any white racist. On the otherhand, I’m surrounded everyday by brothers and sisters here at SU who inspireand encourage me all the time.
I’ve seen the good and bad ofboth sides of the fence, and it would be stupid for me to place any group ofpeople in a “bag” based on the color of their skin. If I can go through what Ihave gone through with white folks and understand that they are not all racistdevils who have ulterior motives for black people, then we can all reach thatsame conclusion because it is simply the truth. As black people, we cannotafford to allow ourselves to fall into the pitfall of subscribing to the samebias and hatred that oppressed and enslaved us. When we do that, we are stillslaves to it.
I remember being stuck intraffic one day in my white caddilac just a few days prior to it going up insmoke. It had stalled on me at the light and there were two white ladies in acar behind me. I was noticibly perturbed as I tried desperately to crank it up.The two white ladies emerged from their car and helped me push my car to anearby parking lot. Afterwards, neither of them asked to lick or eat me nor didthey seem too concerned with what was inside of my pants. Before going our separateways, we all gave each other a friendly hug. IN BROAD DAYLIGHT!
