Sometime ago I wrote on my Facebook page that I am comfortable in my skin, but I wish it was just one shade of brown. I still wish it was just one brown. Parts of me are like black coffee with a hint of creamer while others are like the chocolate chip cookies I make with dark brown sugar, and still others are more like caramel. There's a little patch under my lower lip that is quite light. Chalk that up to my stereotypical Negroid lips providing that little patch with shade 24/365 . (I wonder if the Afrocentrists among us will protest my use of the adjective Negroid.) Years ago, my mom was as fair as any one of the paler nation.* And while quite brown, my father's legs were as light as my mom's face. I often wonder how they bore this chocolate bunny and her two siblings. And we are truly their children in every sense of the word. And, as usual, I digress. Moving right along . . .
One might ask why bring this issue to the forefront at all? I ask, why not? To go from one day to the next, pretending that all is well, is like living at the base of a volcano. Things have a way of heating up. And erupting. And spreading. And leaving death and devastation all around. And that is not to have anyone in fear of his life; we all have the capacity for many deaths other than physical: mental, psychological, emotional, aspirational, spiritual (the big one), etc. So much for shotgunning;** let's get to the point.
The point is this: for all of my different hues, and there are many, my skin does not define me.
The problem is this: for all of my different hues, and there are many, there are folks (lots, in fact) who not only define me (and people like me) by my skin, they also indict, try, condemn, sentence and execute me (and people like me) before I have flashed them a smile with time-worn but twinkling eyes, or opened my mouth to use tongue, teeth and lips to demonstrate my command of my native language (English), which is generally as good as most and better than others.
And why is this a problem? Well, I'm glad you asked. This problem affects every facet of my life (and the lives of people like me). People of the darker nation, while going about their daily tasks, often mentally absorbed in the same cares that haunt the thoughts of everyone else (you know, the mortgage, the environment, marketing strategies, business development, lesson plans, causes of action, the kids -- stuff like that), are often blindsided by some overt or covert act that reminds them of the singular distinction of their dark skin. It is that singularity that for many of the rest of the world indicates we are unintelligent, unambitious, foul-speaking, unqualified, less studious, dishonest, untrustworthy, belligerent, lawless, and lest I start shotgunning again, any other negatively descriptive word one might want to assign. (However, I simply must add "undeserving", as no matter how qualified we are, often we do not get the job, the promotion, the bonus, or even the recognition or credit for doing well that we have rightfully earned.) For purposes of discussion, consider these two examples:
1. In the past I have spent considerable time searching for a job in my field. I have not had a viable job offer in more than a decade. First it was because even though I had the right experience I didn't have a college degree. After I ticked that minor inconvenience off my "to-do" list, the reason morphed into my having too much experience. Duh --- how can one have too much experience? Does that mean that after 10 years or so one should change professions -- or retire -- lie about it -- or just die and get life over with??? Solution to problem: nix the job search. (Still, if anyone is interested in a seasoned paralegal, I am not opposed to being contacted.)
2. Even in volunteer situations the black thing is problematic. As a member of a non-profit organization, I once expressed a desire to volunteer my time and skills for a particular project and was asked for a resume. I walked away wondering if the Toms, Dicks and Harrys of the group were ever asked for their resumes. Solution to problem: don't volunteer. I now share what time, talent and skills I can with those who ask for my help.
Another aspect of the problem: Have you ever been told that you (or something about you) are "too white for black and too black for white?" If so, welcome to my world. My interests and proclivities span broadly spaced points on most spectra. I am open to listening to most music except rap, heavy metal, and meaningless gospel. To this writer rap and heavy metal are not valid forms of music, and meaningless gospel may have good rhythm, structure, harmonies and all of the elements of music, but its message (a snippet of the "Good News") is either Scripturally invalid or just plain, well, meaningless. I love singing Handel's Messiah and Glen Burleigh's Order My Steps. In years past I've had season tickets for the opera but not any team sport. For the record, I grew up on Mozart, The Supremes, Dorothy Norwood, Beethoven, James Cleveland, The Righteous Brothers, Haydn, Debussy, The Temptations, Bach, Aretha Franklin, Art Blakey, Roy Head, Cannonball Adderly, Lou Rawls, Gene Chandler, Gladys Knight and James Cleveland. My reading (or most often now, my listening) includes Josephus, Shakespeare, Patterson, Sheen, Gibran, Millay, the Brownings, and my all time favorites, David, John and the Apostle Paul. I dare you to not see some diversity here.
So what am I saying? Simply this: my skin, like everyone's, is the largest organ of my body. It is a network of portals to my body and protects the inner works as only God created it to work. However, other than its physiological functioning, it has no bearing on how I live, except to the extent that others make it a factor.
The bright side to this dilemma is there is a solution. The drawback is that the solution is about as effective as Nancy Reagan's "JUST SAY NO" mantra. Historically we have been conditioned to make skin a factor. JUST IGNORE IT is just not that easy. How about being mindful that it could be a factor, and making a decision for it not to be.
And finally, there are people on both sides of the equation who tend to stigmatize others thusly. Darker nation folks look at paler nation folks and do to them what paler nation folks do to darker nation folks: they prejudge. We all have something to work on.
The last word: What happened to Henry Gates is an abominable bastardization of authority by the police. I pity the darker nation police who stood in support of their coworker. It is sad to be so beholden to a job, and to so desperately fear the loss of that job, or worse, to be brainwashed into thinking that James Crowley was right, that one would stand in support of Crowley's behavior. How pathetic is that? I cannot help but wonder: how would that officer, a person of the darker nation, feel if police arrested him in his own home as they did Professor Gates?
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Footnotes ...
*Again I thank Stephen Carter for the terms darker nation and paler nation, which I find more palatable, and more accurate, than black person or white person, as none of us is either. Carter is the author of a work of fiction [The Emperor of Ocean Park, commended to me by a wonderful woman of the paler nation, and which I recommend to whomever reads this footnote] and truly substantial works of nonfiction [including Integrity, which I am now reading on occasions of my sitting down to dinner]. Evidently folks who tend to prejudge on the basis of skin color have not read The Emperor of Ocean Park. And, sadly, some elected officials and rabbis in New Jersey no nothing of Integrity.
**shotgunning -- in paralegal school this is something I was warned to avoid -- and something lawyers do all the time -- the stringing along of words ad nauseum when one or two will do. For example: instead of saying produce all the documents (pretty concise, don't you agree?), another way of saying that would be produce any and all documents of every kind and character, whether handwritten, typewritten, printed, engraved, mimeographed, photographed, photocopied or by any other means created. That's shotgunning.
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