What Separates Us

What Separates Us


Blacks and Whites in America are divided on the issue of Racism in America. Many Blacks feel that racism in America is a serious problem, while most Whites do not feel that Racism is a serious problem. Is there a REAL problem, or are Blacks just "Playing The Race Card"?
Please find below an excerpt from the book entitled: The Complicated Life Of The African-American Man(What’s on his mind) Available at www.amazon.com and www.authorsden.com

To Get Insight, Is To Get Information;


To Truly Be Informed, One Must Truly Listen;


If One Is Inclined To Listen, One Is Destined To Learn

pg. 107
The Race Card?
"There they go, playing the race card again." This
statement (or a similar variation) is used across the United
States by White Americans in response to a person of
color’s accusation that a particular statement or action
made by an individual, group or system was racially motivated
or influenced.
By making this statement in response to almost every
accusation made by a person of color, White Americans
seem not only to be trivializing said accusations, but
they also allow themselves not to inspect (in all honesty
and sincerity) whether or not the accusations are founded.
By simply stating "they’re playing the race card," White
America pigeonholes the concerns or accusations of
people of color (or more specifically African-Americans)
into their own little neat box ("They’re only saying that to
detract from the real issue;" "They want us to keep feeling
guilty about past injustices;" "Why should we be held
accountable for what our ancestors did?" "Everything is
equal now" ).
I do believe that there are White Americans who truly
believe that race is not an issue in many cases that African-
Americans claim racism. One of the main reasons
that White Americans feel that claims of racism by African-
Americans are baseless is that the historical teaching
in America (including television, radio, and print media)
have done a masterful job of persuading White Americans
that discriminatory practices in America were eradicated
by the freeing of the slaves and by the civil rights
movement of the 1960’s.We find this mentality evident
when discussions of racial equality come up. White Americans
often talk about how they should not be held accountable
for what their ancestors did. They say that they
were not even alive then.
Chapter 4 - Food for Thought
pg. 108
The Complicated Life...
What if racial equality was not achieved in any of
the fifty states that make up the United States? What
if, by simply declaring "separate but equal" unconstitutional,
racism was not eradicated in the South? What if
race does matter, and the amended laws did not eliminate
racism and discrimination in this country?
A United States president signs the Emancipation
Proclamation freeing the slaves that were in the southern
region of the country. Although this president was squarely
against slavery, he did not feel that blacks were equal to
whites. With this anti-slavery, yet "they (black people)
are not equal to whites" mentality prevailing, Americans
began to establish laws that restricted the rights of black
people. These restrictions were not only apparent in the
southern states, but in the northern states as well. Laws
that restricted black land ownership, marriage, and other
activities were designed to hinder a black person’s advancement
up this country’s economic ladder. If true equality
for the African-American had been the president’s
motivation and goal, would there be any place for these
laws restricting the rights of the African-American? The
same mentality of "all men are created equal" (shown historically
as foundational motivation for the Emancipation
Proclamation) when slavery was abolished, should have
been in play so these restrictive laws could not have been
established. Unless, of course, freeing the slaves was not
to establish true equality.
By the way America has taught history, I can somewhat
understand how White Americans would believe that
after slavery was abolished, equality was established. What
we (as African-Americans) have a hard time with is that
even after being presented with evidence which proves
that equitable treatment was not established, that you are
not willing to, one, change the historical teachings to reflect
pg. 109
the true occurrences of the past and, two, try to ensure
that equality is the present day motivation which helps
govern your actions (as it pertains to laws and policies
enacted).
When it comes to dealing with racial injustices of
the past that seem to have a present day effect, White
America seems to take an ostrich-with-his-head-in-the ground
approach. As if by not acknowledging how the
past has affected the present (as well as how present day
injustices still may be an issue), that somehow racial harmony
will be the reality. Yet when you pull your head out
of the ground, you see evidence that there are still issues
to be addressed, so you stick your head back in the ground,
hoping that when you look back up, things will be all
right. Now, when the African-American community comes
to you and says there is a problem (with statistical proof
in hand), you, without even taking a serious look at what
is brought forth and presented, say that blacks are playing
the "race card."
To find examples of how White America has turned
a deaf ear to the early outcry of the African-American
community concerning an issue (only to later proclaim
blacks are playing the "race card" when the demands of
the community grow louder), we look back into the realm
of athletics, which we have already reasoned is a microcosm
of the larger American society.
There are approximately one hundred and nineteen
Division One college football programs in America. There
were only five African-American head coaches at the beginning
of the 2004 football season. In a sport where over
sixty percent are of African-American descent, you would
think that the representation of African-Americans would
be more than approximately three percent of all Division
One head football coaches. The black community has
Chapter 4 - Food for Thought
pg. 110
The Complicated Life...
expressed its concerns to colleges across this country. A
black coaches’ group was established to help promote
qualified black assistant coaches as well as other qualified
African-American individuals. On the professional
football level, the lack of African-American head coaches
was also a concern. Groups went to great lengths to prepare
qualified African-Americans for the process that was
conveyed to them by the leadership of college and professional
football as a possible reason for the lack of adequate
representation of African-Americans in head coaching
positions. After years of portraying those things that
were expressed as needed characteristics and traits to become
a head coach, African-Americans were still under
represented on both the college and pro level. Now the
black community is again speaking up about the lack of
representation. On the pro level, their concerns seem to
have no effect on the hiring practices of the league’s teams.
White coaches are continually hired and re-hired (or recycled).
Race does not seem to be a problem to white
people, because having things go as they have been going
for many years seems to be quite acceptable. So African-
Americans continue to talk about the inequity of the hiring
system, and the system continues to roll along as the
"good ol’ boy" network, hiring, firing, and re-hiring white
men.
Now when the community turned up the heat on the
pro league by threatening its bottom line (profits), the
league implemented a mandatory interview process that
forced teams to interview at least one minority or be fined
by the league. Now some of the same whites who stood
by in silence while qualified blacks were overlooked for
head coaching positions for years, are ready to speak up
for those so called more deserving whites who may be
overlooked because of this policy that "smacks" of Affirmative
pg. 111
Action. Where were you when African-Americans
were speaking out about the "good ol’ boy" network denying
qualified African-Americans access? Did you have
your head stuck in the ground, not dealing with the reality
of the situation at hand?
On the collegiate level, African-American coaching
associations have expressed concerns about the minuscule
number of African-American head coaches of Division
One football programs. As African-Americans bring
up these concerns, the response from those in charge seems
to be one of non-response.
An African-American was hired as the head football
coach at a very prestigious institution. He was the first
African-American hired as a head coach of any sport in
this college’s long and storied history. Up until this point,
all football coaches at this institution were allowed to fulfill
their initial contract (usually five years). Now this
coach, who had led his team to two bowl games in three
years, was fired after his third season.
Why had this university, which had never fired a head
football coach during his first contract, decided to break
precedence with its first and only African-American
coach? As this topic was debated on sports talk radio, the
assertion that it was racially motivated was brought up.
Now, we hear all of these callers (presumably white men)
saying that race had nothing to do with it, and that blacks
were playing the race card. One caller even said that the
fact that blacks would bring up race as an issue would
only hurt their opportunities in the future for employment
as head football coaches.
It is amazing how many of these people come out of
the woodwork to say that black people are playing the
race card when we assert that race plays a part in different
situations. Where were these people when African-Americans
Chapter 4 - Food for Thought
112
The Complicated Life...
were speaking on the unfair hiring practices of these
same institutions as they passed over numerous African-
Americans applying for head coaching positions? Out of
approximately one hundred and nineteen Division One
football head coaching positions, only five were filled by
African-Americans. Blacks make up about twelve percent
of America’s total population and over forty percent
of football players. Yet we make up less than four percent
of the head coaches in football?
One of the problems is the fact that many White
Americans wait until a black person asserts racism as a
motivating factor in hirings, firings, promotions (or lack
thereof) and other actions, to say that blacks are playing
the race card. For YEARS African-Americans have been
speaking up about the almost non-existent minuscule number
of African-American head football coaches in Division
One football. We did not hear these callers speaking
up earlier about how the lack of African-American representation
was outrageous.
African-Americans have been speaking up (for years)
about the lack of diversity in multiple fields of employment.
Before (and after) Affirmative Action was implemented,
the "good ol’ boy" network would hire friends,
family and other people who looked like them to fill the
employment needs of usually white male owned companies.
While these practices went on (and are still in use),
we did not hear large numbers of White Americans speaking
out about the lack of ethnic diversity in their workplaces.
Over time, studies and statistics showed that racial
representation in the workplace was not in line with
racial representation in the communities of America. Affirmative
Action was implemented to bring the racial representation
in the workplace to more closely resemble the
racial representation in the communities.
pg. 113
The point is, race does not BECOME an issue when
whites say that blacks are "playing the race card." Race
has been an issue with blacks for years, as they were denied
positions for which they were qualified. What is
amazing, though, is how many whites who were silent
for fifteen, fifty or sixty years (as blacks sought equality)
are now readily voicing their opinion that blacks are "playing
the race card" when we speak about certain issues.
Now if we have been denied (for years) employment
because of the color of our skin (leaving the workplace
you’ve worked in virtually all white) and the government
(in an effort to rectify past injustices) ensures the hiring
of a certain percentage of people of color to more accurately
represent the societal percentages, and you moan
about "a more qualified white person not having a job
because of Affirmative Action," it sounds like you are the
one "playing the race card."
In general, black people’s conversations and concerns
about race have been pretty straightforward and consistently
direct. The connotation of "game playing" that is
implied by the words "playing the race card," seems to
best describe how White America looks at the issue. White
America sits by silently with an attitude of indifference
as Black America brings forth areas of concern regarding
race, and then conveniently proclaims, "They’re playing
the race card," when confronted with information or allegations,
which they have no desire to seriously investigate
or contemplate their validity. Believe me, when it
comes to racial issues in this country, African-Americans
are rarely "playing."

Jonathan Richardson
Author/Speaker/Poet