tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2569200156065234506.post5031003880046775956..comments2023-06-02T01:26:26.500-07:00Comments on The Note: Leveling the fieldAnonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04217263100811863552noreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2569200156065234506.post-52160890222900323552012-04-01T10:08:26.485-07:002012-04-01T10:08:26.485-07:00Imagine being marked because your skin isn’t the p...<b><i>Imagine being marked because your skin isn’t the preferred or valued tint. Unless you are ethnic and a shade of brown you cannot know and it isn’t easy for non-ethnic people to grasp even my most diverse friends who have many hues in their friendship pool they cannot imagine it."</i></b><br /><br />Growing up a black female in a predominantly white upper middle class neighborhood, I often struggled trying to 'play nice' and not be one of those 'angry black women' you see on TV or in films. I didn't know when I was allowed to be angry because I didn't have another ally (who was white) who understood me. Bottling up that distress was debilitating. Communicating it became a daily challenge.<br /><br />This made the dating landscape very difficult and strained, especially if the suitor was white. How could he ever understand the madness in my head or the pain in my heart? At one point, I had given up all together--<i>a very easy route to take</i>.<br /><br />Now, I'm hopeful. And writing has been therapeutic. Being a comedian at heart, I've been able to pen several screenplays (Rom Coms) on the subject, which has helped greatly when it comes to healing.<br /><br />After all, I’m not sure how else to quell the feeling...<br /><br /><b><i>"So now awake to the fact that my race is and is not going away and it has been in many moments of my career and life a liability. So, I can breathe a sigh of sadness for all of the above.”</i></b><br /><br />This is my biggest fear: that my race will hold me back from what I'm 'allowed' to achieve. I attended the best schools in the US. I made the ‘cut’ for many positions I’ve applied to. But yet, I still have a hard time finding myself and my place in society. I still question where I’m supposed to be. A white male never has to question his success. He receives it through contacts (perhaps nepotism), or he achieved the right GPA, or he worked hard. Either way, it’s never questioned. He has it. He’s white. End of story.<br /><br />But me? A black female. Am I being accepted because I'm a cute female (a question I often posed to myself while navigating the standup comedy landscape.)<br /><br />Am I only here because I ‘played the game?’ I acted in the part -- the role that society asks me to play.<br /><br />Does my worth only go as far as my skin color?<br /><br />These questions resurface every time I have an encounter with someone outside of my race and they ask, “So what do you do?” I cringe at those words.<br /><br />Suffice to say, the barometer does not use the same units of measure for whites as it does for blacks. It's a completely different rubric -- kilometres v. miles... litres v. gallons...<br /><br /><br /><b><i>"How do we balance life in this society when there are giant gaps and injustices and plain straight up forces of suppression?"</i></b><br /><br />I think the only way is to continue the conversation. Write about it. Tell stories. Create TV and movies. Don’t let it fade. Make it known. Make it so that you can no longer ignore it. And as you say, “Level the playing field.”Lucy Deehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14221491508556265095noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2569200156065234506.post-26557586773055568802012-04-01T09:57:23.237-07:002012-04-01T09:57:23.237-07:00This comment has been removed by the author.Lucy Deehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14221491508556265095noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2569200156065234506.post-36609510205112975672012-03-31T10:40:36.587-07:002012-03-31T10:40:36.587-07:00The thing that hurts most in instances where there...The thing that hurts most in instances where there is a Trayvon Martin type of issue, is that while it brings the hurt to the surface, it also brings the hate to the surface. Rae, you said:<br /><br />"It is a white man who is given all of the opportunities in our society and so much so it is hard not to think there is an unspoken conspiracy to keep the non-white people down."<br /><br />And because of that, you will be considered racist against White men by White men who don't see themselves as having opportunities. Their reference point for Black people are the rich actors and athletes they see on their specialized shows, the poor criminals they see on the news, and the angry people they see yelling about justice for... somebody who needs justice. They're not rich like the athletes, so they don't see any "White Privilege they have. They work for a living, so they aren't like the crooks and welfare recipients who live off of other people, and they don't have anyone fighting for "White Rights", so they feel like they are the ignored population. The feel like they are unfairly targeted. They feel like everyone is ganging up on them. And to an extent, they are right.<br /><br />They are right because most White men don't do anything directly to Black people to hurt them. They may vote for a candidate that agrees with them that Black people get all the breaks. they may make negative comments about them in front of their children. They don't tell their children to hate Black people, but it doesn't matter because children are going to believe what their parents believe until the world teaches them otherwise. <br /><br />They are victims... just like Black. Just like the majority of Black men are neither rich athletes and actors, nor poor and on welfare and/or criminal, the Majority of White men are not shooting Black people or denying them jobs. But they get blamed like Black men do. The difference is, our legal system does not allow the average White man who isn't rich, and isn't a criminal to get punished for stereotypes, while it does allow the average Black man who isn't rich and isn't a criminal to get punished for them. Those who defend Zimmerman's actions as valid, have trouble doing the same thing when the situation is reversed. If Black Trayvon was a 250lb 28 year old man following a 140lb, 17 year old Zimmerman, and the older Black man shot the White kid, they never say he is justified. They always add something, or ask questions. But they never say, "same circumstances, same result". For those who can't say it would be the same thing, they need to recognize that they are part of the unspoken conspiracy.Dwane T.https://www.blogger.com/profile/16218649785614098860noreply@blogger.com