Are Blacks Right to Self-Segregate?
Let’s just say it. Integration failed us. All of us. Completely.
It is something that most people haven’t been able to grasp or understand that integration is something that didn’t work. They have fooled themselves into believing that because black people can sit down at a few lunch counters and restaurants that the work we need to do with racism has been done already.
Are some white people so naïve and obtuse that they believed that passing some legislation was going to make things more equal in our society? Every time blacks made a move to make society more integrated, we were rebuffed, sometimes violently. Not sure what I’m talking about? See Boston in the 70s for busing and the lovely things that happened in a non-Southern state.
I’m sure the Southern racists smiled and laughed at the so-called enlightened Northerners, who had been sticking their noses in the air since the start of the Civil War. They’ve always thought of themselves as better than those animals in the South. However, the South chuckled at the sights of Bostonians screaming “Nigger”, and spitting at the blacks entering their schools.
“They don’t want them either,” said the Southerners with great amusement in their voices.
What could the North say then? The North and the South joined in with lawsuit after lawsuit challenging every step that the federal and some state governments made to try and shorten the gap of inequality between black and white. Affirmative action, busing, schools, workplace, and public spaces were all legislated during this time. Affirmative action is still on the chopping block today, despite the fact that it has truly helped some blacks and other minority groups, such as white women, achieve so much. We never speak about the benefits that white women have received from Affirmative action, as they are the largest beneficiaries of the Federal program, but I’ve yet to find many whites that have that tidbit of information locked in their minds.
The truth? Whites have resisted integration and they continue to do so today. White spaces have mostly remained white spaces, with very little integration. Why?
We see integration continue to fail with every news story of a black child being shot at because he dared to stop and ask for directions. He had lost his way, after waking up late as most children do. Some of the comments that I found on website after website made it clear that many white Americans didn’t see a black child who simply asked for directions. They put themselves in the shoes of the homeowner who picked up a shotgun and aimed it at him. White America agreed that this child deserved to die for simply asking a question.
“I would’ve done the same thing. That’s what they do. He knew where he was going. He was looking for houses to rob.” White America was so sure this was the case.
Meanwhile, this child’s father was fighting for his country in Afghanistan. He is what many people in this country’s vernacular call, a “hero”. However, being a hero almost didn’t save his son while going to school in his own country. Hiding behind a tree saved his life, as he would have surely been shot to death.
Then the lie would commence, manufacturing evidence and tears as they worked to convince law enforcement who resembled themselves, while nodding, “What would you have done officer? You know these people better than I do. You know what he was here to do!”
I imagine law enforcement would have nodded in agreement, setting the homeowner free to commit the gristly deed again.
So, do Blacks need to self-segregate?
Why is it when Blacks ask for Black only spaces, they are ridiculed? They are told that they are racist and looking to be treated special. However, these taunters never look back at themselves and ask the same question. Why do you have a need to self-segregate? Why do you live in all White spaces? Why do you work in nearly all White spaces? Why do nearly all of the people you associate with, look like yourself? IF I’m racist for asking for a safe space, then what are you for making sure your spaces stay all white?
When I walk into your neighborhoods at night, doing nothing but keeping my hands in my pockets, shielding them from the cold, you call the police and tell them I’m acting suspicious. It’s certainly not because I’m hiding my hands from you on a cold, winters’ night. It’s because my entire being is suspicious in your segregated spaces. It’s because I don’t belong and you know that right away due to a biological detail that I simply can’t control.
The police lie and stammer, stating that it has nothing to do with the biological process of genetics. It has everything to do with my actions, the way I looked or didn’t look at you. The way I spoke or didn’t speak to you. The way I ran down the street or simply walked like I didn’t have a care in the world. That was the pretext. The things you have to tell yourself to hide the ugly truth.
You want white spaces too.
America is a white space. This country was not meant for people of color. The people of color that showed up at the shores was merely accidental. America was caught with her pants down, as they advertised for years the same message on television, in print newspapers, and on the silver screen….” Bring me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to be free….” Those huddled masses were okay when they came from Germany, Holland, and France. The Irish and the Italians weren’t at that point yet. They were not considered white. They had to work for whiteness, which they finally achieved as many of them lied and cheated their way into the American dream.
The American Dream itself was a complete lie, and the dreamers were liars as well. They did whatever they could to distance themselves from their pasts, created the myths they needed to create to succeed, and it worked. It worked very well. The Irish and Italians were now white within a generation.
But I wasn’t. There was nothing I could ever do to gain that designation. They continue the lies and myths. Many stopped being who they truly were and totally recreated new identities for themselves. They didn’t have to be Polish, Catholic, or from some small European country in the east. They came to America to be whatever they wanted to be. Most white people are finding that out with the advent of genealogy kits. Spit in them and in six weeks, you learn your grandmother is a profound liar. So are her famous cookies. That French blood that you were told flowed through your veins was the blood of a country you’ve never heard of. Oh, and you’re Jewish. Surprise!
These new creations were able to walk off the ships from Ireland and Italy and marry into upwardly mobile families or just start new lives in parts of the country where no one knew their true origin. They could simply just be whatever they wanted and this worked. This became the American Dream. That these people could come from backwater places and become great men and women. They changed their names and invented things, created Hollywood, they entertained, they built skyscrapers, they made their fortunes and created lasting legacies.
That was the true American Dream. Your families were able to create such lovely, segregated spaces for themselves. Spaces that have been passed down from generation to generation, down to you.
But people of color had it quite different. There was no Dream. Just the American Nightmare. America dangled the carrot in front of us, and kept a tight hold on the stick. You could change your name to Rockefeller or Carnegie and it wouldn’t have made much of a difference. Everyone knew where you came from and who you were. A nobody. Black people made the best of this life and still achieved great things during this difficult time. However, this was not a testament to America’s greatness. This was a testament to the greatness of Black Americans. They knew they didn’t become great because of America, but in spite of America.
Today, Republican politicians state that Blacks haven’t assimilated to this country completely. That’s true. We refuse to lose our culture. The same culture that White America makes fun of but continue to make millions and millions of dollars emulating the same thing.
Oh, why can’t I have a space?
You’ve made a space for everyone else. Everyone else seems to have a space in America. Even when I walk in my own neighborhoods, I’m still always out of place. I’m a refugee in my own land. I have a passport. I haven a ID. I have a legitimate birth certificate and a social security number. But yet, I’m a stateless person. My country doesn’t count me as one of them.
It’s my genetics, I’ve been told.
Now, the immigrants coming over today have realized that the Statue of Liberty is a lying bitch. She lies to all whose face she sees. She is the symbol of America. She gives faith to those who come, and tells them that if they work hard enough, and work long enough, they could be Americans. But she lies to those who aren’t White and sells them the very same dream. America offers a quick, and sobering lesson to them.
You can never be a true American. You’ll always be stateless. You’ll always be from somewhere else. This is the lesson that many Black Americans have to swallow, along with the bitter taste of racism and inequality. They swallow this, knowing that the vast majority of us have been here longer than the ones who claim they are White, or those who have claimed whiteness.
I want this claim to whiteness. Why? Does this mean that I’m ashamed of my Blackness? No. It means that Whiteness is not just a description. It’s a key to the American dream. Whiteness and American-ness are one in the same. They are the very same thing. You can’t be one without the other.
So, why can’t I have my space America? Why can’t I have a small place where I’m deemed okay? Where can I go to be accepted? Where do I go where I won’t be subject to violence or endless questions like, “Where do you belong?” “Where are you going?” Those aren’t the questions asked to citizens in a democracy. Those are questions asked to those living in a police state. We get to live in a place where the police have admitted that they don’t serve and protect.
They occupy and collect.
They are an occupying force in our communities whose other function is to ensure their survival by making sure they lock us up, fine us, fine us, and fine us as many times as it takes to ensure their own survival. They are parasites by feeding off our already tapped communities, and pushing us in a never-ending cycle of debt and peonage, worse than what we saw erupt after the end of slavery.
Where can I go America? What corner of this country can I occupy? Can I have a broom closet without you screaming that I’m a racist for self-segregating myself? But the difference is, once you’re done mocking me, you will go to your segregated communities, protected by the police in your neighborhoods who will make sure that while you sleep, no one who looks like I do will disturb you. I won’t offend you with my presence when you go outside to walk your children or take your dogs to school. I’m not really sure what it is you do in these self-segregated spaces. When we go to find out, some of us don’t make it out of your neighborhoods alive.
You claim that you’re too afraid to walk around my neighborhoods at night, but the truth is, you’re probably safer in my neighborhood than I am in yours. At least you know that I won’t call on you and say that you’re suspicious. At least you know, if the occupying force in my neighborhood sees you, they will be alarmed and will ask you if you need a ride.
“Don’t you know where you are? Gotta be more careful!” they say with a smile on their faces as they give you a complimentary ride away from my world. The occupying force gives people who look like me free rides also, but our destinations will be very different.
Come on America. Give me a small corner. I won’t take up too much space. I just need a place to chill. To unwind. Just to be me. To remain unmolested. To set my own rules to this game and live by those. You should know what I’m talking about America. You’ve done the exact same thing in your world, right?
NOTE: As the author of this piece, I feel I must tell you, as the reader, that I’ve yet to take a position on this issue. I’ve only presented a side of the argument. I honestly don’t know what I think about self-segregation and if it would be an appropriate thing in America. I think as Americans, everything should be up for discussion.
