So, we're only a few days in, and I'm already exhausted by the whole Harry Reid debaucle. I find that I'm one of few out of the black people I know who didn't find his comments offensive and don't find him to be a raging, hood wearing, card carrying, racist (Do they have even have membership cards?). And, while use of the word Negro, is a bit antiquated, I don't find it to be racist either. What Senator Reid did was something most white people seem afraid to do; he acknowledged the fact that there are many white people who judge black people based on skin tone and dialect. In the process, his comments incited fear, embarassment, and rage, most of which I see as misdirected, as usual.
I'm sure many of us have had some experience with a white person who seemed shocked and pleased with the fact that we were able to string some sentences together that made sense. This type of exchange can understandably leave one feeling more than incensed. A little over a year ago in my workplace, I had a meeting with my former director, who upon listening to me talk and reading the words I'd written in an email to him, thought he was doing me a favor by "complimenting" me on my ability to articulate thoughts and write concise prose. He wanted me to believe that he was pleased with my ability to communicate but I knew what he really meant. He was pleasantly surprised that he'd come across a black woman in my lowly position who had a more than proficient command of the English language. He was expressing his delight to find out that I do indeed speak well, read well, write well, and use both a knife and fork while eating. I didn't bother responding to him by saying I felt insulted, disrespected, and stereotyped because it wouldn't have done any good. He, like many other whites, was already deeply entrenched in the thought that black people are relatively simple-minded individuals who are good for little more than dribbling basketballs, making killer tackles, or singing and dancing like nobody's business. So yes, I know this frame of thinking exists, however, I don't believe that is the way Senator Reid was thinking when he made his comments.
Reid was taking a look at the way "his people" often think. He knew how comfortable many whites would feel with then Senator Obama and his white mother, fair skin, ivy league education, and expensive suits. He knew that for some, the closer Obama appeared to be like them, the more they'd be willing to support his campaign. Harry Reid wasn't disparaging candidate Obama. He was speaking the truth to which many whites and unfortunately, many blacks subscribe; fair-skinned black people who have little to no trace of "blackness" in their speech patterns are more palatable for the white world's taste. And, even though what he said wasn't pretty or pleasant, it was true and to me, should be the focus of our angst.
Instead of honing in on his use of the word Negro, we should be focusing our attention and energy towards the fact that in 2010 we are still being judged based on skin tone and the inferred absence of any real "blackness". White people judge us and we continue to judge ourselves within the black community by making the worst possible assumptions about our intellectual capabilities or lack thereof. Though I am not in the business of trying to change racist folks' minds, I believe we can change our own minds and attitudes the more we strive to elevate ourselves to new levels. It is up to us to create our own identity instead of falling prey to the premises of others who don't know a thing about us.
As we take ourselves to greater heights and encourage one another to succeed in more arenas than those of the sport and entertainment fields, we can set our standards high so there will no longer be shock when one comes across a literate "Negro". Instead, the surprise will come when one sees a black person who can't cut the mustard. When we change our expectations of ourselves, we no longer have to be concerned about what someone like Harry Reid has to say. Improvement comes from the inside and not vice versa.
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