My irrational fear of Black men (because I grew up in the United States and I'm white and it's also my fault)

Frank Somerville, Channel 2 news man, and frequent facebook poster, recently posted a photo of a group of younger black men having a BBQ and playing dominos on Telegraph Ave., in Oakland, I believe.  Frank, being the charming guy that he is, decided to stop his car and chat with the young African-American men. In his post with the photo of the guys, Frank says something like "this is what the 4th of July is all about. Friends getting together to BBQ and enjoy the day." It was the 4th of July, so that part made perfect sense.

My first response was one of utter happiness.  I was so impressed that this white, extremely clean-cut (he's a newscaster) guy would stop his car and get out and chat with the Black guys.  I felt like that was something that I would want to do, but wouldn't do out of fear.  What if the guys are thugs?  But that thinking, "What if the guys are thugs?" is produced in part by my experience growing up in an upper-middle class neighborhood predominately populated by white people with just a few Black people, and the fact that the US/California/Bay Area is still extremely racist (here I'm mainly referring to structural racism, the kind that keeps disproportionate numbers of Black men, women and children in neighborhoods with greater crime, less access to quality education, healthcare and job opportunity). I must emphatically point out that this stereotype of the "scary black male" that has infected me, is in my experience, absolutely wrong.  I will discuss more below.

In any case, I was impressed with Frank, first of all, for stopping on his way to work for anything other than an emergency.  Who does this?! I guess you have to be a reporter to do this.  And more importantly, he stopped in a "sketchy" neighborhood, got out of a car and was like, "Hello young Black BBQers!".

This made me emotional.  I felt like, "Go Frank!" because he confirmed my beliefs that these young black "thugs" (my word choice - from the fear mentioned above) were actually really nice, cool dudes, just relaxing having a BBQ, playing dominos, enjoying a beautiful day off.

This is something that eats me inside: the knowledge that black men who appear scary to me are in almost all cases decent, kind people.  They're human. With families, a desire to do better for themselves and their loved ones.  It hurts that I am afraid of certain Black men I don't know. This, of course, depends so much on context. There are so many Black men who I am not afraid of and who I know to be loving caring human beings. It hurts that I have to actually write that Black men are Human.  But it is my belief that in the United States Black men are still not considered 100% human by the majority or people in this country.  Black men were invited to participate in this country as 3/5 of a person, and they are struggling, still, to get to 100%.  Let me be clear again, Black men are 100% Human. Their not being viewed as such is the continued historical product of a the white majority's inability enact laws that protect their humanity and participate in business practices that help their humanity flourish and even do what Frank did (even though I have issues with what Frank did, which I will get to below), make a personal effort to connect on an equal basis.  I wish I would do what Frank did more often.  I have a desire to connect with scary black men, and see first hand what is so evident to me from a distance: their inherent humanity and love.  It makes me feel critically wounded and hellof sad.

(Art courtesy of the brilliant Kara Walker - http://learn.walkerart.org/karawalker)

Frank posted a couple days later that he got a lot of feedback from the BBQ post, and he said like 99% of it was positive.  But some astute (my word) people mentioned that the post was a tad bit insulting (as I'm sure some people will find my posting).  Frank quoted some posts where people were like, "Frank you stopped and realized Black people are nice.  Good for you." That was me paraphrasing.  This is me continuing to paraphrase, "Frankie the white man, shows up and the Black guys are like "Here are some ribs! Come play dominos with us Frank!" Frank has a quick, 15 minute interaction and he's back to his life free from all the perils of living where these black men live"""" (These extra quotation marks are just there because it got to be hellof quotes and it was annoying me.)  These people are right.  Frank, the well-to-do white guy, stops his nice car, doesn't get car jacked and feels compelled to post about it.  But as a fellow well-to-do white guy, Frank's actions are actually important and inspirational to me.  Even if it was naive, Frank made an effort to connect that so many white folks don't make.

Unfortunately, Frank in his response to the "negative" responses was all like "I look forward to the day when it's not about colour."(British usage on purpose to give impression of greater intelligence and to honor Andy Murray on his Wimbledon win).  Frank.  Frank. Shit's gonna be about color for a long, long time. It's been about color for a long fucking time and shit like that doesn't just stop.  SCOTUS, if you are reading, and you should be reading The Existential Porcupine, that bright-line when Affirmative Action is no longer necessary isn't here yet, we're not even close.  We need lots and lots of Affirmative Action, the same kind that his wiseness, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. championed during his lifetime (google "Operation Breadbasket", if you're not familiar).  The goals of equality, justice and respect still remain and still remain unfulfilled. Oh and SCOTUS, gutting the voting rights act didn't help.  Yes, I believe that things have improved greatly for African-Americans in this country from the time they were slaves.  But we, I emphasize the we, all of us, have a lot more work to do.  A LOT more work to do.  And thank you to all of you who spend everyday doing this work.

But back to Frank.  I love you Frank. I love that you stopped your car and got out and made an effort to  connect with those young men.  At the end of the day, I got nothing but love for you Frank and for those young men.  It serves as another reminder that I must continue to be willing to feel uncomfortable, recognize my white privilege in all its manifestations.  I need to continue to reach out to young Black men especially when my first reaction is one of fear.  I need to do my part in the continued effort to mitigate the great damage history left to us, i.e. work towards ending racial inequality, and work towards eradicating the false stereotype of the scary black man.

with love for Frank and the Black Men he posted about,
Anthony

So Here We Are

(For much more eloquent writings on these and other related topics, please check out Michael Eric Dyson and Time Wise.  Their links are on the main page, to the right.)