What is color prejudice? Well to quote Sir Alan Burns “It is nothing more than the unreasoning hatred, one for another, the contempt of the stronger and richer people for those whom they consider inferior to themselves and the bitter resentment of those who are kept in subjection and are so frequently insulted. As color is the most outward manifestation of race, it has been made the criterion by which people are judged irrespective of their social or educational attainments.”
I had a conversation with a fellow blogger a while back about skin color and socialization in the black gay community. I mentioned my and noel thinking about moving to the states and I was told that since both noel and I are light skinned, it would be frowned upon if we socialize with persons whose skin is darker in color. @ First I thought it was a joke, but soon realized that it wasn’t. He then tried to make me understand why a majority of black people take pleasure in their narrow-mindedness. For them there is only one way out and it leads into a world where those that have the same skin color “play” together.
Now as this crazy notion seeped into my mind, I concluded that self-hate makes black persons in America akin to an obsessive neurotic type, or to put it another way, they put themselves into complete situational obsession. There is this constant effort to run away from their individuality by annihilating all logic and reason, which ultimately have them confused. Doesn’t self-rejection invariably bring painful and obsessive feelings of exclusion? Moreover, is this the main reason why SO many blacks have a problem with interracial relationships?
One of the most common criticisms lobbed @ the black community in America is, “Why do you have to be SO angry?” Is their anger valid, valuable, and necessary? AND why it's completely fucked-up to try to take away their anger? And NOTHING angers black Americans like seeing one ‘their own’ date/marry someone of a white persuasion. I remember a blog entry I did and how it sparked comments, e-mail messages AND had a few chat sessions from persons that objected to a photo of black and white man kissing. There was such ANGER from black folks that I thought I was in a twilight zone! They were saying that while the white guy is cute, they couldn’t date him NO MATTER HOW ATTRACTED THEY WERE TO HIM! Suffice to say, I didn’t get the anger because in my opinion an attraction is an attraction and who can say where it will show up for us?
Why do black Americans act as if dating someone that is white means that they HAVE to forget about what their ancestors went through during the years of slavery? How do you reason with someone that says, “a man is man as long as it isn’t a white man” in their conversations? It is SO obvious that persons that think like this lack an understanding of themselves and are simply making an excuse for their “blackness”. Talk about the legacy of cultural genocide…the cause of color prejudices.
The poison of color prejudices must be eradicated through education, as these pathological disorders affects all sides. People need to learn about themselves in order to raise self-esteem. All other ways are temporal. This lack of esteem of self as an object worthy of love has great consequences, for one thing it keeps the person in a profound inner insecurity, as a result of which it inhibits or falsifies every relation with others. And anyone who is not working to restore racial harmony contributes to the injustices that persist…
No comments:
Post a Comment