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It is Black History Month, and with that it is inevitable that some conversations pertaining to black people and black culture are going to take place. In the past I have seen, and participated in, my fair share of those conversations. And through them all I have noticed that they all seem to suffer from 5 major flaws. The flaws are committed by both sides of the discussion (blacks and whites), and present in nearly every discussion I have ever heard. With that in mind, my intention is to bring them to light, determine why they occur, and help individuals avoid committing them in the future.

1. [The problem with blacks is they have no good black leaders.]
This comment is offered frequently as the reason why blacks still struggle. It is also typically followed by statements about either Jesse Jackson or Al Sharpton as examples of poor black leaders. This is all arguably true, but should not be accepted without first realizing why there are currently no strong black leaders.

Positive black leaders get silenced. There are no influential (aka positive) black leaders in America because so far in history all influential black men have been killed or imprisoned. All of them. Malcolm X, Martin Luther King, Huey P. Newton, Tupac Shakur, etc, etc. All of them were jailed and/or killed, and all of them were positive black leaders. Now whether or not the previous mentioned is defined as a positive black leader is up for debate, but all of the above mentioned were about mobilizing blacks into doing for self, which in my opinion makes them positive. In addition , they all had the means to speak to masses. They had their individual approaches, but their messages were all fairly similar. And as stated, they have all been silenced.

2. [… well look at how they dress.]
These statements, supported by both blacks and whites, are usually an effort to justify someone (often police) mistreating a perfectly law-abiding black citizen. In essence, the perception is that if the individual didn’t want to be treated like a criminal, then they shouldn’t dress like a criminal. Therefore, the individual is asking for the negative attention and asking to be profiled.

The flaw in this argument is that historically blacks are not discriminated against because of their appearance, they are discriminated against because they are black. The generation prior to the current one did not wear baggy clothes, yet they were still discriminated against just like the generation prior to theirs, who also did not wear baggy clothes. Therefore, to think that if all black men started to wear suits they would be discriminated against less, is to think a bit unrealistic. Instead, the likely outcome of such a mass change would be for a new stereotype to arise in its place.

3. […one of my good friends is black. He doesn’t act like a thug.]
I have found that statements such as these are often the pleas of whites in an attempt to illustrate that they are not racist, and/or separate themselves from the potentially racist. They are typically well-meaning statements, in that they do not serve to do harm or discredit someone’s feelings. Unfortunately, these statements are actually counter-productive to their intentions.

In short, the statement in and of itself has a touch of racism. As an example, a white person stating how their black friend is a great shining example of how blacks should be because he is not like ‘those’ blacks, is the equivalent of old white slave masters decrying all blacks, except for the one that he let live indoors, as lazy and ignorant. Sure the wording may be different, but it still splits blacks into two groups; good ones and bad ones. The good ones being the few who get approval and are befriended by a white male, and the bad ones being the ones who don’t.

4. [Slavery ended over a hundred years ago, when are they going to get over it?]
This argument is used to silence the black communities voice about current day struggles. It is often followed by the “race-card” and “reverse-racism” labels that everyone loves these days.

The problem, is that slavery is not the only issue. If discussing things such as reparations, then yes, slavery can be the only issue. For things such as equality, employment, and education however, racism and segregation play a much larger part than slavery in and of itself. So yes, slavery ended over a hundred years ago. The blacks struggle however, did not end with slavery.

In fact, government sanctioned racism (aka Segregation), was only outlawed in 1964. 1964! That means that a good portion of the people reading this have parents or grandparents who were born into segregation and are still alive today. In addition, the segregation generation is also the one currently holding the majority of the CEO titles at top companies. And remember, it was outlawed at the federal level in 1964. That means that de -segregation didn’t really hit the local communities and start to be OK until late 60s early 70s. That’s a big BIG difference from a hundred years.

5. […racism doesn’t exist like it used too.]
You hear this frequently when someone is attempting to highlight how things are drastically better today than they were yesterday. The thought, therefore, is that blacks should be quiet, not complain, and feel lucky that they live in America. In essence, they should ignore any wrong doings because hey, things are better than they were. I have heard this numerous times, and it is an absolutely absurd thought.

In short, Racism is Racism. What racism was 50 years ago, racism is today. Just like murder 50 years ago is still murder today. The definitions have not changed. Maybe it is dressed up differently, and maybe it is called something different (profiling, stereotypes, insecurities, etc.), but racism is still racism and it is still prevalent in todays society. It could be argued that crimes based on racism do not happen as frequently as they used to, but that argument would prove that race based crimes do still occur, which therefore would prove that the blacks continued struggle/uproar is not only justified, but necessary.

Thoughts?