Getting Whiter?

Getting Whiter?

This above all: to thine own self be true, And it must follow, as the night the day,
Thou canst not then be false to any man.

Polonius in Hamlet Act 1, scene 3, 78–82

At the apartment that I am staying in here in Rome, there are several books on the bookshelf. One of them happens to be the book by Christian Lander, “Stuff White People Like”. It was a NY Times Bestseller and it is pretty funny. It started out as a blog with a list of stuff white people like and poked fun at the white culture. As I sat there and read through the list of stuff, I started to get alarmed because it seemed as though I liked a lot of the same stuff. I started to wonder how white I actually am. I mean stuff like Hummus, The Wire, and Asian Fusion food was on the list and I started to get alarmed. Then it got to stuff like Barak Obama, Hardwood Floors, and Brunch and I was like, whoa! Wait a minute. So decided to take the quiz in the back to find out just how white I am. Turns out I am 20% white according to the scale. Not too bad I guess. But it did get me to thinking about the social challenges of being an educated African-American in today's culture. There is a certain tension that exists between attempting to progress in society and maintaining cultural identity.

At first it was kind of funny. People would say stuff to me all the time about how I was a “special” kind of black person. In all fairness, I grew up in the “hood” but went to diverse schools. I learned how to have friends of multiple races and even got introduced to things that I wouldn’t have if I had all black friends. And it seemed to be the right thing to do. Why should we ever limit ourselves to experiencing one culture. I know the names of things that apparently some black people don’t. I use words to describe things that some people have asked me to define. I like learning about history and going to museums. I’ve studied abroad. I like hummus. I watch Cougar Town, and like it. I like irony. I don’t watch much TV and prefer to read. I like having conversations with other intelligent people. I like eating outside. I have a sort of “preppy” style about me. I even like some country music. But does any of that take away from my “blackness”? Most of my friends are black, but many may argue that they are like me. Most of us went to college. Most of us have interacted at some level with races other than black consistently. Most of us enjoy some of the same things.

It has seemed to get worse as I have gone further and further in my education. It seems to get even worse when you combine education and financial advancement. And here is the tension. As we advance in our educational and economic pursuits do we run the risk of alienating ourselves from our culture? And how much of it is our own fault for seeing our people in a negative light? Do we as educated African American men and women cause an intentional or unintentional rift between those of us with formal education and those without? The gap seems to get wider and wider. Furthermore, how do we hold onto a cultural identity in a world where our culture does not dominate? What does it mean to be an educated African-American today?

I see many dangers in this discussion. But nonetheless, I think it is a discussion worth having. I saw that after the “Stuff White People Like” book came out, there were responses by educated African Americans showing the stuff “we” like. There is a certain level of truth to some of it, but it seemed like the discussion stopped. I think it should continue. I think that I do have a responsibility as an educated African American woman to bring the valuable elements of my culture with me wherever I go. I think that I also have a responsibility to become as successful as God allows and never to let the worry of losing my heritage get in my way. My history as an African-American didn’t begin with slavery or being oppressed. There was a time before. If being exposed to and adopting the things that are a part of white culture come automatically with advancement, then we have to also become aware of what we are bringing to the table. There is such richness in our history as African-Americans that we must be mindful not to discard it in favor of majority opinion. At the same time, we must not also simply cling to the things that are stereotypical and are based on socio-economic status alone. But I am talking about the true things that we bring to the American culture. The community consciousness; our intellect; the strength of our families; the beauty of our artistic expression; our holistic spirituality and so much more.

The more we focus on getting away from some of what makes us African-American, the further we actually get away from uniting as a people. But we have to unite under the truth. Not only the things that makes people tell you that you “keep it real”. I mean the things that would be true if you were rich or poor. I think that what we would find if we parse out the economics of the story is that we are probably not that different. What was life like in Africa before institutionalized slavery in the Americas? Before we had to make due with what we were given? Maybe what we would find is that an increase in our financial condition or education as a people does not make us "whiter", but makes us "blacker" in some ways. Maybe it gets us closer to being what we were before we were slaves. Maybe that actually gets us closer to the truth of who we are as opposed to adopting a culture that is not our own. And maybe we can stop teaching our children that to speak properly in their native language of English is the equivalent of “talking white”. Maybe we can show them that to excel in life is not a “white thing” but is the expectation of a people who had the capacity to create the pyramids. And maybe we can stop trying to be something we are not and just be who we are. I don’t think I have to really worry about not being black. I can’t help it. There is stuff in me that makes me "black" that I can’t even control. But I don’t also have to be ashamed of learning something new and adopting it into my “blackness” either. In any event, I just wanted to put that out there because we seem to have a need to keep this on the table of discussion.