You see a crime story on the television, newspaper, or via the Internet:
Brutal beating caught on tape; gay teen says assault was a hate crime
And, if you’re black, many times you immediately think, “I hope they aren’t black”. Not the victim but rather the perpetrators of the crime. Then you find out that they are black and then you wince. In countless households, barber shops, churches, parks, etc, many black people deal with “I Hope… The Wince”. It’s almost instinctive and runs deep. Law-abiding black folks hate being lumped into a black criminal stereotype, and rightly so. Sure enough, watching that video of those black teenagers viciously attacking that white teen conjured up every stereotype about black youth (especially males): thugs, brutes, ignorant, uneducated, gangsters, violent. Doing a search of the Internet, you see plenty of comments to this story saying just that and worse about black people in general.
What is even more hurtful to many black folks is that the “I Hope… The Wince” is infinitely more powerful with President Barack Obama, our first black president. The “I Hope…” doesn’t really apply as much as “The Wince” does. My barber is a mid-60s black man whose entire barber shop looks like a museum of civil rights icons with The First Family featured prominently. These days, he looks like a beaten man compared to his euphoria when President Obama was elected. Whenever a pundit or politician criticizes President Obama, my barber winces hard. I remember vividly what he said the last time I was in his shop:
Why did things have to be so bad when the first black president got elected? Probably be the last time white folks support a black person for President.
I can write an entire other piece on those two sentences but that will derail my point here. But those words show the “I Hope… The Wince” in effect except it reads “I hope President Obama does something great in America”. When it doesn’t happen, along with associated criticism, “The Wince” commences. Black folks shouldn’t have to deal with the “I Hope… The Wince”. Many of us are constantly looking to distance ourselves from negative stereotypes and negative criticism based on a single or small group of blacks. No one wants to be negatively stereotyped or unfairly criticized. For many black folks, it becomes a constant (and for some) an obsessive mission (for better or for worse) due to the sad legacy of slavery and discrimination. Not just white-on-black discrimination. But black-on-black discrimination based on eurocentric beauty, stands, economic status, social status, and pop culture trends.
So what is my overall point, you ask? My point is that we have made awesome strides in race relations in our great nation from a macro view, however from a micro view, only time is going to heal all the wounds. Slavery scarred white and black folks deeply. The mental shackles of racism and bigotry can’t just be blown off – they rust away slowly. In these times of economic turbulence, it is imperative that we all try to step back and realize we are all in this together for the long haul. Criminals are criminals no matter what color they are. They don’t represent an entire race. Obama is Obama. While representing and leading our nation, he does not represent an entire race. Even if most of that race voted for him.
I’m not complex. Don’t have time for all that. And all that complex stuff bad for the stomach. Just color me simple and plain with a twist.