breelavie

Looks like a game of race cards is about to get heated. The arrest of Henry Louis Gates Jr., a Harvard University professor, at his own home is  causing up-stir. It is suspected racial profiling is the reason because, after showing identification that he is in fact living at that home the police arrested him. Not to mention, part Two of Black in America CNN is airing tonight, to understand Black people in America? My topic is why do Black people always have to prove something when it comes to living in White America?

Now, before anyone starts whining about me attacking White America, just shut the chatter and read. My family is from all over the place. Some are Asian. Some are Cuban. Some are Native Americans. Some are White.  Some are Black. I do not care who I am stating things to, I’ll be brutally blunt.

It makes no sense that Gates got arrested. I am more than 95 percent sure if Gates was trying to get in the house and was a white man,well dressed, the police would have not walked in the house and followed Gates,without permission, as he searched for some form of identification that would indicate him as the home owner.

I am sure the policeman would have not been mad that a White male  had told him this is my place, this is the proof and you are excused from the premises. I guess it was demeaning to the officer that a Black man was displaying he had no power to do any harm to him.

I find it funny the cop that arrested Gates has told CNN news he will not be apologizing. I find it ridiculous. I also do not trust many cops. I have seen my Black and Brown male friends pulled over for no remote reason by cops. I have seen cops abuse the power they gain as authority figures.

I am not saying all cops are bad,but the few bad apples make cops appear as pigs. This goes with people of various race groups as well. The foolish people in a group make the group look bad.

Now, something I have realized by being part of a group not favored by the majority is that every time I say or do something, I become the unofficial spokes-person for that group. I use to hate it. I am not a spokes-person for my race. I am me.

I notice that my White counterparts( do not worry, I do not dislike you) are defined as individuals. Oh how wonderful it must feel to screw up and not ruin it for everyone else in your racial group. I can not say the same for myself. If I make a bad judgment…it is displayed as “that’s what Black people do, they can not amount to anything.” Stay  away from them. Instead of stay away from her.

I use to hate throughout my teenage years, people thought what they saw of Black America on television was my reality, my entire race reality. So far from the truth!

What joy! What peace! I wonder how it feels to be only average and still be accepted to good schools, good jobs, good neighborhoods, to shop in  great stores without being suspected of being a shop lifter! I guess in another lifetime it could be so!

However, I have been taught I must do 10 times, maybe 20 times better than average just to live an okay life. What stress! What disappointment! What depression! But I am strong!  I can do anything i set my mind to! I am where I am from the sweat and tears of someone before me. No one has quite told our story. No one has figured Black people out!

But the key to success and respect in life is not just about the tone of my skin. I have to own myself and what I do.

Tyler Perry, Black film producer and actor says it best:

“My biggest success is getting over the things that have tried to destroy and take me out of this life.”

Racial discrimination has tried to destroy the people I have been categorized to define me. I am not ashamed of my race. I love my race. And the best advice I can give to the people I define my heritage with, would be to make your environment your product and not be the product of your environment.

Frustration and bitterness will come when we lack communication within  our group  and outside our group. I applaud President Obama for addressing the situation that occurred with Gates. If we ignore these issues, they will always continue to happen. So, I do not care what race you are, bring communication to the world table and start changing things for the good of us all. It will change the world for the better.

If I am tried of the racial crap, within and outside of my racial grouping(s), I know everyone else must be! Make a change! I know it starts inside us all for it to have a chance to change the institutional level. So please, everyone work on yourself! I know I will be…I am far from perfect.

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