I recently received a comment (which has since been deleted by the poster) stating something to the effect of (and I'm paraphrasing) "The black man is becoming extinct.  Black people make up 13% of America.  50% of blacks are men and 50% of those men are in jail."  Then it went on to urge black men to be aware and do something to make change against this new American "lynching". 

I looked at this piece of writing with utter confusion.  First off, why the hell was this thing on my page if it's a letter addressed to the black community?  Secondly, were these real statistics or just some made-up bullshit?  Is 25% of the black community actually in jail?!  So I did about ten minutes of google research and found out that it was just as I suspected and was, in fact, just some made-up bullshit.  According to my research, less than 1/3 of African-American men are in prison—still a really high number—but not 50%.  I felt pretty relieved that things weren't THAT bad.  But what the hell happened here?  Why was this made-up crap thrown into my lap? 

So I clicked on the page of the sender, only to find an African-American filmmaker who was looking to self-promote by playing the race card and posting this comment on his entire friend list.  That's a shameful enough practice even if you do happen to fact-check your rants, but it's downright disgraceful if you don't! 

As I looked around on this guy's page, I expected to see outraged citizens, both black and white, explaining to this guy that you don't throw bullshit facts out there to support a very real cause, and you certainly don't do so in a shameless attempt to peddle a product.  However, I found no outrage whatsoever.  Instead, I found praise!  There were tons of comments praising this guy for his "depth, poetry, truth, and awareness."  In fact, only three of the 19 response comments on his page even questioned this guy: one from a white man that went a little off-topic and started discussing Jesus and the Jews; the second from an African-American who asked, "50% of black men are in jail? you sure about that stat?"; and the third was from yours truly (I told him that I agree in principle, but he needs to check his facts.  Also, I took issue with the word "lynching," for institutional racism is not a conscious conspiracy to undermine the rights of a racial group, but is covert racism that has been indoctrinated into the heads of white judges since a very young age.  The use of the buzzword "lynching" will only inflame the issue further.)    

This lack of outrage was pretty troublesome to me.  Are white Americans all this squeamish about race that they won't even bother to question a black man making vitriolic statements backed by bogus, imaginary facts?  If so, I personally find this lack of balls to be rather startling! 

But much more startling was another comment on the guy's site from an African-American gentleman that read: "I came to that conclusion a while ago. Its crazy isn't it? Then you gotta throw in the aids and gang violence on top of the things you mentioned and you got a systematic plan to destroy blacks.."  AIDS? Gang violence?  A systematic plan to destroy blacks?  I'm sorry, but this was just too much!  I have to call BULLSHIT when I see it! 

I wrote a message to this guy immediately, pointing out that this kind of ridiculous rhetoric, which is not backed by a shred of solid evidence or even the remotest common sense, is exactly what widens the gap between people and makes logical communication between groups impossible to even exist.  Well, he wrote back and more or less cited every blanket statement you've ever heard about racism in America, much of which I actually agreed with.  But he did nothing to actually state any kind of case to defend his ridiculous comments about AIDS and gang violence being part of some kind of conspiracy to undermine African-Americans.  When I pressed him further, he condescendingly told me I didn't "know enough" to argue with him and subsequently stopped reading my replies.  I guess he just couldn't be bothered to discuss an issue that affects him on a daily basis with someone who disagrees with him. 

A lot went through my mind after these exchanges.  Why can't people talk about race in America?  Why can't people intelligently debate facts without fear?  Why do people think they can get away with throwing out utterly stupid sentiments without being challenged at all?  Why the hell are people so shameless that they will use divisive issues to promote their products?  Well, I don't have the answers to all these questions (especially that last one—that's a blog for another day).  But I do have my own suggestions about a few that I will share with you all now.  Any suggestions that you may have are also welcome.

THE SOLUTION

Well, this is actually not so much of a "solution".  I certainly don't have the answers to "solve" this problem.  Nobody does.  But here are a few of my own helpful hints to start off with.  (Now, bear in mind that I will be generalizing in my next few statements.  So don't take this to mean that ALL white or black people act in a certain manner, but that these are cultural observations which I have made over the years that seem to be generally true.  Also, bear in mind that this entire blog is very simple and doesn't even attempt to get into the nitty-gritty of all the issues. >This is just meant as a start toward a discussion.)

These are just a few helpful hints to start this discussion off on the right foot. 

First off, EVERYONE needs to realize that the issue of race is extremely tumultuous and should be treated with an honest effort toward sensitivity.  White people tend to be exceedingly oversensitive of the issue of racism in America for fear of being labeled "racist"—that is why they tend to shy away from it.  But they simply need to get over that, for fear-induced paralysis doesn't solve a damn thing and only exacerbates the problem.  Besides, if you're sensitive in the way you phrase things, there should be no reason for any reasonable person to label you a racist anyway.  African-Americans, conversely, often tend to be much less sensitive when discussing this issue, and can tend to make statements that whites find egregious, (such as my dealings with the factual errors, blanket statements, and "white conspiracy" theories) which can only damage the line of communication.  Remember, the true goal of any discussion is to keep things flowing toward a logical harmony, not for either party to chase the other away.  Be aware of this fact and be sensitive.  If my friend's father died, I wouldn't go to him and say, "Hey man, I heard your fucking dad croaked!"  Why?  Because it's a sensitive issue!

And that's not to say that we should never use a light-hearted approach to issues regarding race.  Laughter can be a pretty uniting phenomenon, and playing around with racism as fodder for humor isn't always a bad thing—look at Chris Rock or South Park, for example.  (Michael Richards…uh, not so much.)  And look, the sooner we come to realization that we ALL do it, the better.  ALL people crack racist jokes or laugh at racist jokes from time to time…and you know it damn well!  (Unless you have a real stick up your ass.)  Blacks do it, whites do it, Indians do it, Christians do it, Muslims do it, Sunnis do it to Shiites, Shiites do it Sunnis, and you know there has to be at least a few "how many Kurds does it take to screw in a light bulb?" jokes floating around Iraq (at least, there may have been there was actually electricity in Iraq).  So humor can be a good thing and should not be frowned upon, but there is also a time for serious discussion and sensitivity.    

Second, white people need to realize that four hundred years of oppression and slavery will do something to a culture.  Simply put, African-Americans have a pretty good reason to be pissed off!  It was only about 40 years ago that African-Americans were even granted equal treatment under United States law.  That's not even a full lifetime!  Only 40 years ago, there were still actual lynchings and church-burnings being carried out with some regularity.  Historically speaking, 40 years is not long at all.  So everyone needs to be aware that these wounds are still wide open.  Further, white people need to recognize that there is still a whole lot of leftover institutional racism from generations past.  One look at the prison system can clue you in to that. 

On the other hand, African-Americans need to realize that there is an incredible double-standard regarding what is acceptable for white people to say and what is acceptable for black people to say.  They need to realize that taking advantage of this only further exacerbates the problem as well.  If a white man makes a racist joke on public airwaves, there is public outcry a thousand times over.  Yet, there is little or no outrage when even black leaders make blatantly racist or racially insensitive remarks.  It is unfair to take advantage of double-standards for one's own personal gain, and it only serves to aggravate the problem.  Further, while African-Americans do have the right to be pissed off about a great many things, they don't have the right to be pissed about EVERYTHING.  To blame every single social dilemma of the black community on white people is outrageous and unacceptable.  Personal accountability has to enter the picture at some point.  If a gang member shoots another gang member, that event is not related to some "white conspiracy".  Nobody pulled the trigger but the gang member, and as hard as the choice to not join a gang may be in certain areas of the country, the gang member must be held personally accountable for his poor judgment.  To use racism as a scapegoat cause for every problem only widens the gap.

Finally, I think we all must realize that this situation is slowly but surely getting better.  It may not be improving fast enough for some people (and like I said, people certainly have a right to be upset about that), but it is a simple fact that things are improving.  Speaking personally as a white male, I can see a sharp contrast between the racial insensitivity of older generations of white people and the outright anti-racist sentiment of younger generations.  This is due to the fact that just as racism had been indoctrinated into white culture in generations past, anti-racism is now being indoctrinated into young people.  Civil rights leaders like Martin Luther King, Jr. are heroes to young white kids these days.  Also, black culture has been assimilated through America to the extent that it basically is American culture in many respects.  One look at music alone can illustrate this: Jazz, Blues, Rock 'n Roll, R&B, Hip-Hop, Rap—they are all African-American art forms that have become definitive of American culture!  This notion surely helps things to move forward and may even be one contributing factor to explain why, in only 40 years, the black community has gone from being segregated and politically unrepresented to being represented throughout the world of politics, including Presidential cabinets and Presidential candidacy.  Things are slow to progress in the course of history, but things are surely better now than years passed.

I'm sure there are thousands of additional sentiments that people can throw into the pot.  These three are just the first that came to my mind.  Anyone who has anything to add, please throw it out there. 

---Don