Dispatches From a "Post-Racial" America: Racism Top 20 Audio Countdown

By T.M. Bonner

As Summer has ended, and the days grow shorter and cooler, I take a look back at the Top 20 incidents of racism in what was Summer 2014. 

Join me for this special audio broadcast of a regular feature on this blog: "Dispatches From a "Post-Racial" America." (Disclaimer: As this is a broadcast about racism, some of the language may be offensive).

And as always, "Dispatches From a "Post-Racial" America will continue to regularly feature news from around the country demonstrating why racism is far from dead in America. 

Maya Angelou and the Empowerment of the Oppressed and the Poor

By T.M. Bonner

Maya Angelou (April 4, 1928 - May 28, 2014)

   I usually don’t write about prominent figures when they pass away. But seldom has one person most personified an essential component in social change than Maya Angelou.

   The entire life of this brave, brilliant, and bold woman was a testament to the power of personal empowerment to change the world.

   And personal empowerment is no small matter.

   Though many don’t want to admit this, personal empowerment is covertly and quietly discouraged in the oppressed and the poor in America. It is done through the very systems that operate under the guise of ‘aiding,’ ‘assisting,’ and ‘strengthening,’ but, instead, subtly instill the message that the oppressed and the poor permanently belong outside the circle of power and prosperity.

   These same systems limit mobility options for the oppressed and the poor and close bridges to avenues of possible future prosperity via their narrow-minded rules and regulations, limited knowledge of the diversity of their clients’ pasts and lack of vision for their clients’ future potential. So, the ‘Affordable housing’ provided is neglected public or private housing trapped in poor neighborhoods with zero access to the resources that they will need to survive, as well as succeed. They will be given food stamps so they can eat, but the amount will be systematically so low that only the least nutritious of foods can be bought, resulting in a lack of control over one’s dietary choices and health. Republican-led states with absolutely nothing to lose monetarily block their access to now affordable healthcare, handing down future chronic health conditions, or even death sentences, to them. Their wages are low enough to ensure they only have enough to get them to the next inadequate check – if lucky. Schools will be available – sans the funding, support, and resources to actually properly prepare students for college or the workplace of the 21^st Century and beyond.

   Empowerment is more than a cool-sounding concept. It is a necessity if any social change is to actually happen in this country. But it takes resources, energy, and support. And, yes, it also sometimes takes protection of the right to be empowered from high places. Anyone who has studied history, or who has been breathing for the last 15 years, knows what happens to people who discover their empowerment: they end up shot up by representatives of law enforcement or shut down by racist communities (think Black Wall Street in Oklahoma). Or, the government itself intervenes and shuts it down - lest such empowerment begins to spread (think the Occupy Wall Street Movement in New York City).

   So people like empowerment on paper. But in action, it is an entirely different story.  Sometimes it’s even the idea that systems, communities, people and governments can tolerate this type of empowerment over that type of empowerment because one makes them feel less threatened by only baby cradle-rocking the oppressive boat instead of rightfully kicking it over. Oftentimes, those most afraid of empowerment or who try to put conditions on how far it can go, stand in a position to benefit most by inequality and oppression.

   But Maya Angelou was lucky and clever. She was lucky in that she was blessed with the gifts of intellectual and writing brilliance that were tools for her own personal empowerment. And she was clever in that she didn’t waste those talents. Instead, she used them to give voice to not only her own oppression and subsequent empowerment, but also help generations of others find their own personal empowerment. 

   Angelou was giving voice to what it meant to be an American of African descent long before Rap and Hip-hop came on the scene. In her famous empowerment poem "Still I Rise," she wrote:

"You may write me down in history,

With your bitter, twisted lies,

You may trod me in the very dirt,

But still, like dust, I'll rise."

           (from Angelou’s famous poem “Still I Rise”)

   Angelou was more fierce and raw than any rapper speaking on systemic oppression in those lines. In the same poem, she even schools those who have issues when confronted with a confident, smart, goal-oriented, battered but hopeful African-American (a.k.a: “uppity negro”) in the following lines:

"Does my sassiness upset you?

Why are you beset with gloom?

'Cause I walk like I've got oil wells

Pumping in my living room."

   Her brilliant words stung us for our backward thinking, but also awakened and empowered us all to our own innate strength, beauty, and capabilities – and there was nothing anybody could do about it. No police could kick in this poet’s door in the middle of the night and arrest or harass her. No government or community could demand a shutdown of her brain that produced such brilliance. So continue to empower she did.

   I had the fortune to go see Ms. Angelou perform at the Boston Symphony Orchestra several years back. This day was vivid because during her concert, the strangest thing happened:  a man collapsed in a medical emergency. In the chaos and panic that ensued, two African-American women ran over to the man to assist. As they were doing so, several nearby white audience members strongly advised the women to wait for medical personnel or a doctor to arrive. The two African-American women said in almost perfect unison: “we ARE doctors.” A knowing glint appeared in Ms. Angelou’s eyes. Some of what Ms. Angelou had been telling us moments before about her experiences as a black woman of being labeled, misunderstood and underestimated had been presented as a real-life lesson to us in that one unexpected moment.

   There was nothing else that needed to be said about that moment. Our job was to just let the lesson sink in and learn from it. So in true Maya Angelou fashion, she just calmed everyone until the man was taken away to be treated, and then continued with her wonderful performance.  

   In one part of her show, she began to tell us about various times when she experienced oppression or abuse. She wouldn’t conclude any of the scenarios with how she rose out or above it. Instead, after each story, she would merely sing the lines: “this little light of mine, I’m gonna let it shine…” She was cleverly telling us that no matter what happens to you or against you, never let it defeat you or take away your brilliant, God-given light. Never let it distract you from your God-given purpose on this earth. You always have the power to be a one-person revolution. Always. You just have to realize this fact. And when you do, there is nothing anybody will be able to do shut down your own personal empowerment movement.

   And I'm sure that though Ms. Angelou was called home peacefully in her sleep on May 28, 2014, she would admonish us not to get lost in despair, sadness or pain. Because the gifts she has given us all  - the gift of learning to dare to love ourselves, to go for our dreams, to not let anyone define our limitations, and to always know why the caged bird sings - still shine within us. In fact, she is looking down on us now with a playful, knowing smile borne of a lifetime of hard-won wisdom, and telling us to just sing: "this little light of mine, I'm gonna let it shine…"

Hear Maya Angelou Perform "Still I Rise" Here.

Dispatches from a "Post-Racial" America: When Mental Health Collides with Race

  By T.M. Bonner

       The latest edition of Dispatches from a ‘Post-Racial’ America highlights three incidents in which Mental Health issues collided with race – but not in a healthy, progressive way that would result in knowledge and solutions. 

  Americans of all races and ethnicities are confronted with mental health issues in their lives, whether themselves or a family member or friend. But the way the media mishandled a recent study shows how all is not equal when it comes to mental health issues of white Americans versus African-Americans and other minorities.

     In fact, sometimes the same mental health issue is even given a different name when it afflicts African-Americans and other minorities (thus, ensuring inequality in the recognition of the problem and inequality in research and treatment). So, folks, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) becomes “Hood Disease.” What? Read on…

   

   Apparently, it’s the season to physically assault and racially terrorize a person suffering from mental illness -- if they are of a certain race. And it kinda helps if the victimizer is a judge who could decide that this is, in fact, legal. Read on…

    Lastly, when a serial killer goes, well, serial killer, we in America must ensure that the discussion of his ‘mental health’ should take center stage and remain separate from the discussion of his racist tendencies. Racism and mental health issues can work in tandem in some cases to cause destruction and grief. But we ignored this truth in the now infamous Elliot Rodger case, where racism was the underlying motivator for the killer who goes off the deep end because he just couldn’t understand why being an entitled white male didn’t result in better luck with white women than ‘lesser’ minority beings. 

     But who needs to concern themselves with the fine print, right? Read more about the racism within Elliot Rodger here...

Dispatches from a "Post-Racial" America: The Straight, No Chaser Edition

     By T.M. Bonner

  The "Dispatches from a "Post-Racial" America" series has been highlighting actual events that demonstrate the continued pervasiveness of racism in America. This is necessary because far too many people deny racism's omnipresence, or deny that race even matters anymore. And you can't solve a problem if you don't believe there is a problem.

     This week, the 'dispatches' are uniquely special because well-known people - some notorious, others noble - are telling you how important race is in this country and to themselves.

     You're getting it straight, no chaser.

     I can almost hear the Church Lady from "Saturday Night Live" fame replying to them with her famous retort: "Well isn't that special?"

     So just click on the links beneath the quotes below to be awed (or appalled) by the honesty.

From the now infamous Texas Rancher, Cliven Bundy, who believes African-Americans would be better off as slaves. Read more here!

U.S. Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor gives White High Court majority a lashing on race after controversial decision. Read more here!

A team owner in a predominantly black sport who doesn't like black people all that much - and he's not ashamed to say it! Hear his own words here!

Dispatches From a "Post-Racial" America: The Pet Peeves Edition

…because living in denial is never a good thing.

The latest edition of "Dispatches From a "Post-Racial"America" features racial pet peeves, or things that just make those harboring racial bias crazy in America.

Of course, such a list is potentially infinite with all that hate inside. So, I've narrowed it down to three of the most significant ones to rear their ugly heads in the news over the last few weeks.

Just click on the links above the photos for further enlightenment.

Pet Peeve #1: Smart Black People

Pet Peeve #2: Educating Smart Black People of the Future

Pet Peeve #3: Dark-Skinned Black Women

From blackgirlnerds.com

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T.M. Bonner is a writer, filmmaker, MBA, Social Justice Advocate, and is also a professional in Social Policy/Social Service in New York City.

Anita Hill Documentary Highlights Need to Discard Concept of “Women and Minorities”

By T.M. Bonner

Anita Hill Testifying in October 1991
(YouTube Screenshot from "Anita" Trailer)

By the time I found myself watching a second major milestone take place in Anita Hill’s life, I had long stopped finding the harmlessness in the popular phrase “women and minorities.”

           

      That second time, I was in a movie theatre in New York City. I was watching the documentary “Anita,” released in March 2014. It chronicles the impact of the decision of a young, African-American Hill who dared to speak up about sexual harassment at the hands of then U.S. Supreme Court Nominee Clarence Thomas.

      The first time, I was watching that drama play out live on television as Hill, then a tenured law professor at the University of Oklahoma, testified before Congress in October of 1991 during the now infamous Thomas confirmation hearings.

I was too young and had more limited life experience to really connect all of the complicated dots of this controversy back then. But what didn’t escape my observation was that despite the professional credentials she held, and the poise, confidence and consistency she displayed throughout her lengthy testimony, this was a black woman in trouble as she faced the doubting and accusing eyes of the all-white and all-male Senate Judiciary Committee.

 In fact, Hill’s historic testimony on sexual harassment was less of an Aha! Moment and more of an Oh No! Moment.

Hill was a woman accusing a high-powered man of sexual harassment. Hill was an African-American woman accusing a high-powered man of sexual harassment. Hill was a African-American woman accusing a high-powered African-American man of sexual harassment. And while white women would and have faced maltreatment and credibility challenges when standing up against sexual harassment, it is the intersection of gender and race in the case of African-American women like Hill that presents an unfortunate chasm in a gender-shared experience.

The all-male Senate committee was already having a difficult time understanding sexual harassment. Asking the also all-white Senate Committee to see the deeper implications of race for an African-American woman accuser was a stretch – especially when many in this nation struggle with seeing beyond stereotypes when interacting with African-Americans on any level.

To illustrate my point, in Time Magazine’s coverage of the hearings, an October 21, 1991 headline read:  “Sex, Lies and Politics: He Said, She Said: As the nation looks on, two credible, articulate witnesses present irreconcilable views of what happened nearly a decade ago.” So when the media is still impressed that two Yale-educated African-American attorneys are “articulate” (as the headline read), getting an understanding of the more complicated, really deep stuff would take some work. In case anyone thinks things have changed, remember:  President Barack Obama was described as “articulate, “bright,” and “clean” in 2007 by current Vice-President Joe Biden (who also led the Thomas hearings in 1991, by the way).

So behind the scenes, Hill was pulverized by many African-American men (and even many women) for “trying to bring down a successful black man.” In other words, Hill’s right as a woman to protection from sexual harassment from an African-American man should take a back seat to protection of the ‘race’ and African-American men. Many of these aggravating and disappointing conversations I even remember hearing at the time. A 1992 study of opinion polls on the Hill/Thomas controversy showed that only 33% of white women, 27% of white men, 26% of black men, and 26% of black women believed Hill was telling the truth. Meanwhile, the all-male Senate Judiciary Committee – having to decide between the word of a black woman versus the word of a black man (He said, she said) – the word of the “He Said” came out the victor.  And Thomas was confirmed as the second African-American U.S. Supreme Court Justice after Thurgood Marshall on October 15, 1991.

The Hill/Thomas controversy represents how misguided lumping minority women and men together in a category can be via the concept of “women and minorities.” Because if we want to just be 100 percent real about what that phrase means, it separates African-American women (and other minority women) from white women (“women”) and lumps them all together with minority men (“minorities.”)

It is true that minority women and men do share some important experiences and concerns being minorities in America. But it is also true that minority women also have some very different experiences and issues as result of them carrying the dual burden of racism and sexism. The Thomas hearings illustrate that even in a showdown of two prominent African-Americans who rose up from abject poverty while enduring racism, sexism will always be a factor for the African-American woman. While African-American women like Hill are accused of being a “gold digger” and of “trying to bring a black man down” for bringing sexual harassment complaints, African-American men like Thomas don’t have to worry about being confronted with sexism-based accusations and doubt when they stand up for themselves against injustices they may feel they are facing. They also are not made to feel that it is their responsibility to 'protect the race' and the honor of other African-American men.

There is also the problem of lumping together all minority women – as if all of our histories and life experiences are similar. Many minority women felt more comfortable believing the word of Thomas over the African-American woman Hill – with whom America assumes they are united with in ‘female minorityhood’ through the concept of “women and minorities.” And let's not forget that an all-female jury that included five white women and one woman of Puerto Rican ethnicity acquitted George Zimmerman of the murder of Trayvon Martin despite an assumed understanding of a ‘mother’s pain.’

But a second problem with “women and minorities” is not just the lumping together, but also the separating out of white women from minority women. This has implications of separate priorities for women’s issues – a racial hierarchy of women’s needs, if you will.

And such a racial hierarchy of response to women's needs from white women down to minority women has been playing out in this country since recent memory.  

While President Obama and other special interest groups critique gender pay inequality, it is clear that the issue of pay inequality for women goes deeper than just gender. African-American women earned $610 per week compared to $718 for white women in the second quarter of 2013, according to a study from the Center for American Progress. And while white women only earned 78.1 cents to the dollar compared to a white, non-Hispanic man in 2010, African-American women earned even less - just 64 cents to that same dollar.

On the health front, while white women are more likely to have breast cancer, African-American women have higher overall mortality rates from breast cancer, according to that same study.

And at the time of the study, only 14 out of the total 98 women in Congress were African-American, while only two women of color have ever served in the Senate. There has never been an African-American woman U.S. Supreme Court Justice, while there have been two African-American men appointed.

So, it is time to stop putting women into compartmentalized categories that ignore or perpetuate inequality among women.

 It is time to stop putting minority women into compartmentalized categories with minority men whose self-interests and needs may collide with minority women. It is time to stop feeding African-American women, in particular, the message that standing up against abuse (domestic violence, sexual harassment, etc.), or sexism in the black community will mean being demonized in the black community as a traitor to her 'race.'

It is time to do away with the concept of “women and minorities” and the implications behind it.

Perhaps by the time a third major milestone of Anita Hill crosses my path many years ahead, we will have finally gotten that lesson.

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T.M. Bonner is a writer, filmmaker, MBA, Social Justice Advocate, and is also a professional in Social Policy/Social Service in New York City.