A Nation Of Cowards?

Many of the pundit class in the media have been “appalled” by the comments of Attorney General Eric Holder, the first black Attorney General. In a speech that he gave at the Justice Department for Black History Month the AG stated that in effect when it comes to matters of race we have been a “nation of cowards”. As I observed the many black talking heads run for cover over the AG’s “controversial” remarks it reminded me of the “Jeremiah Wright” incident and many other times when a black person has spoken out in ways that were considered too confrontational. As a defense against the topic many focus on the tone of the speaker and not the message of the speaker. In this way we can continue to avoid the topic because we are so busy debating the messenger. What this allows us to do is to avoid the dreadful facts that in many ways our society and our social interactions have not changed much in the last fifty years.

What I think AG Holder was trying to do was to not allow many of us to fall into the trap that is Obamania. Now that Obama has been elected President many have begin to declare that our racial problems are over, that his election is evidence that we now live in a post-racial society. We are constantly being told that now we have nothing left to complain about – we elected a black man didn’t we? Let’s be clear electing Obama President is a historical and monumental achievement in America and is worthy of praise, but are any of us so naïve to believe that a black man that had to run by not discussing the problems and plight of black people suddenly removed the racial disparity that has for so long divided this nation? Think about this as an example; how many of us took part in the election by doing voter registration, attending rallies, and other volunteer activities and when they were over went back to our insulated enclaves feeling good that we had “made a difference”? For those of you who believe that we live in a transformed America let me present to you some facts that may alter those beliefs.

· In 2004, a typical black family had an income that was 58 percent of a typical white family's. In 1974, median black incomes were 63 percent of those of whites.

[1]

· Unemployment among blacks is more than double that for whites, 10.8 percent versus 5.2 percent in 2003 -- a wider gap than in 1972.[2]

· In 2000, the median net worth of a household headed by a non-Hispanic white adult was $79,400. The median net worth of a household run by a black adult was $7,500.[3]

· According to the 2000 U.S. census, an estimated 14.3% of the Black/African American population 25 years and older has a baccalaureate degree, 42.5% has some college education, and 72.3% completed high school. In contrast, 26.1% of the White population 25 years and older has a baccalaureate degree, 54.1% has some college education, and 83.6% completed high school (Bauman & Graf, 2003)[4]

· Only about 5 percent of the nation's churches are racially integrated[5]

So as one can easily deduce from the statistics electing one man to one office does not dramatically change what is happening on the ground with blacks. As I listened to the white pundits I couldn’t help but notice that their take – like so many other whites – was markedly different than the black pundits. They tend to believe that things are better for blacks than the blacks believe. Whether we like it or not at some point we have to begin to address and confront our racial history. For too long we have brushed it under the rug thinking it will just go away and granted that may happen, but at the rate we are going that could take a couple of centuries. In the mean time we continue to live in fear and mistrust of each other choosing to live in separate worlds that only collide when we are forced to by circumstance or emergency. The statistic that sticks out the most to me is the church integration, how are we going to live together when the one place where all are suppose to be equal under God remains so divided?

What many whites don’t understand is that in order for any minority to be successful they have to become experts in the culture of whites. They have to learn the music, the art, and the history of the white society. They have to learn and understand the psychology of whites. So minorities know whites, they have to. By the same token whites can be successful and don’t have to learn about any culture other than their own unless they choose to. You see integration has always been a bottom up proposition minorities integrating up into white schools, white neighborhoods, and white social circles. Rarely do whites integrate into black neighborhoods, black schools, or black social circles. Whites for the most part can still go through their daily lives without any significant interaction with a black person other than service personnel. In the meaningful areas of our lives many of us are still very segregated with the near future looking bleak.

Until we are able to have a free and open exchange of ideas we can never expect to overcome the centuries of mistrust that continue to plague us. Until whites are able to express their concerns about black societal ills without fear of hostility and calls of racism and until blacks are able to confront whites about their role in slavery, Jim Crow, and segregation without whites becoming defensive and blaming past generations we will be unable to bridge the divide that separates us. Are we a nation of cowards? Maybe, but in the past we have been and unless we overcome our fears instead of denying them we will remain stuck in the quagmire that has become race in America.

[1] http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=16293332
[2] http://newstandardnews.net/content/?action=show_item&itemid=116
[3] http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/statements/2008/jan/22/john-edwards/black-and-white-family-net-worth-disparity-true/
[4] http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0JAX/is_3_55/ai_n18791411
[5] http://www.cnn.com/2008/LIVING/wayoflife/08/04/segregated.sundays/index.html?eref=ib_topstories

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They Don’t Feel Your Pain

In what I can only describe as just another indication of the subtle racism has become embedded in our modern society, a study was released that found that there is a large discrepancy in the dispensing of narcotic pain relievers between blacks and whites in our nations emergency rooms. Are we to understand that there are two types of pain, black pain and white pain? The sad part about this study is the majority of doctors if asked would say they prescribe medication equally between patients, however the study proves otherwise.

CHICAGO -- Emergency room doctors are prescribing strong narcotics more often to patients who complain of pain, but minorities are less likely to get them than whites, a new study finds. Even for the severe pain of kidney stones, minorities were prescribed narcotics such as oxycodone and morphine less frequently than whites.

Minorities were slightly more likely than whites to get aspirin, ibuprofen and similar drugs for pain.

In more than 2,000 visits for kidney stones, whites got narcotics 72 percent of the time, Hispanics 68 percent, Asians 67 percent and blacks 56 percent.[1]

The results of this study are frightening and insulting to me as a black man. What the study indicates is that doctors have an innate belief in some very biased ideas concerning black people and pain. All of these ideas are entrenched in racist attitudes of the worse kind. The worse type of racism is not the belligerent in your face type, because with that at least you know where it is coming from. The worse type of racism is the type that goes unnoticed, undetected even by its perpetrator. The type that knows no political or ideological boundaries, it affects liberals and conservatives; Republicans, Democrats, and Independents.

I think the thing that troubles me the most about the study is what it reveals about both blacks and whites and the stereotypical roles we are still cast in. On the one hand you have the white doctors who view the black patient more as a potential drug abuser or as being more capable of handling greater amounts of pain than whites. On the other you have the black patient who accepts the stereotypical role of bearing more pain and less willing to complain. The problem with racism in America is that because we don’t confront it unless it involves nooses, inequitable justice, or police brutality; many whites believe that it no longer exists, especially in them. Because we have not had a national conversation on this subject in decades the subtler forms of race and privilege continue to go unabated. Racism is like a cancer in the soul of America and ignoring it will not cause it to go away. Just like the cancer of the body, it requires aggressive treatment and confrontation.

Whenever the presence of racism, especially in its subtler forms is encountered it must be confronted and exposed for what it is. It is my hope that someday this country will be able to confront the truth about our racist heritage and our current racial ambiguities in a national conversation that will allow us to once and for all confront the prejudice that has for too long been just under the surface. This will never happen as long as we continue to deny its existence in each of us and pretend it only affects “other” people. Being a multi-racial and multi-cultural society doesn’t mean we ignore our differences, it means we celebrate and accept our differences. We will never be a color-blind society and I for one don’t want us to be. My hope is that equality of education and opportunity will be offered to all regardless of their race, creed, or national origin. This can never happen if we continue to ignore the beast that lives in all of us.

Those doctors prescribing the medication didn’t consider themselves racist; on the contrary many of them are probably involved in many worthwhile endeavors benefiting poor and minority patients. The issue arises when we refuse to expose and acknowledge our innate prejudices, by doing so we allow them to continue unchallenged and in the end we all suffer from them. It is like the teacher who in some misguided sense of guilt may hold minority students to lower standards, believing that they are innately incapable of attaining the higher standard or the millions of white Americans who are surprised by how “articulate” Senator Obama is. Then of course who could forget the infamous restaurant scene with Bill O’Reilly where black people actually ordered and ate their food like other races, Mr. O’Reilly spoke for a lot of whites if they would only be honest.

The thing that is sorely missing from our discussions about race and privilege is honesty, honesty with each other and with ourselves. We must be able to sit down together and discuss and debate the causes of our continued division and prejudice. Of course this will never happen because currently the one thing that America has in abundance is dishonesty. Why is it that after 300 years we still think this thing is just going to “work itself out”? Hell, we’re still getting aspirin for kidney stones. I’m just glad I don’t need surgery anytime soon, I can’t imagine what they give us for gall bladder or prostate surgery; maybe some Tylenol PM.

[1] http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/01/01/AR2008010101202_2.html?hpid=sec-health

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