Former presidential candidate and newly re-elected Senator from Vermont, Bernie Sanders said last week, “I think you know there are a lot of white folks out there who are not necessarily racist who felt uncomfortable for the first time in their lives about whether or not they wanted to vote for an African-American,”
Mr. Sanders black candidates do not need the unenlightened validation of white voters.
There is a misconception in America about what equality means for people of color. At the risk of sounding myopic, the problem is not about equality it is about how White America defines it or misdefines the real problem. No person of color is searching for equality that is an artificial hurdle created by a group fighting to maintain control. No one is born less than equal; the real problem is inequity. Neither my color nor race, creed or religion makes me unequal to any other man. Racial, ethnic and religious bigotry is born of fear and a thirst for power. The stories and myths attached to Dr. Charles Drew’s death on April 1, 1950, in North Carolina is a testament to that confusion. Dare I say the real story was the loss of one of America’s smartest men but it became a tale of equality. Not one of America’s smartestblack men because he needed no qualifiers, that is the essence of equity.
Lest there be some confusion about that last sentence, do not fall into the trap of using the worn-out trope of, “I don’t see color.” Part of the problems with racial animus, especially in America, is this idea that if I ignore it, it is not happening. Not seeing the stop sign does not spare you from the crash;people of color are not invisible. That only leads to the specious idea of reverse racism to appease the reasons for the “uncomfortable” feeling Senator Sanders talked about. Bigots in this country were not afraid Barack Obama was stupid, on the contrary, his intelligence was a threat to the status quo of their beliefs, they were not afraid he was immoral; he has led and raised an exemplary family. The attacks were always jabbing at either his color, background or mischaracterizations of his religious beliefs. The central theme was always his blackness.
I hear the term “identity politics” thrown around like a pillow at midnight in a sorority house, even when it smacks you in the face it is cushioned with a meaningless explanation. The purposelessness of its’ use comes again from its inequity of application. Ask yourself the question, why are black women, the LGBTQ community and single and married white women an identity, but white working-class men are the norm to be panned like gold? Funny the same people who rail against identity politics, talk about the importance of the working white male, barely taking a breath to come up for grievance.
One of my friends a stately professional black woman, living in the south, was once scolded by one of her white friends, “stop blaming me for slavery, I was not there.” I wonder what would happen if that indignation was expressed as compassion?
All the shifting and shaking cannot change or lessen the equality we are all born to display. Bernie Sanders was right in one respect you do have the right to be uncomfortable around anyone, but you do not have the right to determine humanity.
Vote in 2020 for Change.