To understand the impetus for this post, read my friend Tim's blog. Furthermore, please remember that Tim is actually a favorite of mine on the trip, and has excellent manners (see "Home Training" for the relevance of that). Take all of this as an attempt to explicate my opinions, not an attack on Timmy Neutron.
Feel free to skip to the end for the summary.
This DukeEngage experience is the first time I've spent concentrated personal time with a group of people who have the Caucasian persuasion... Contrary to the beliefs of my grade school peers, I've spent most of my life around black people (at least my personal time... school and work are a very different story). After I left private school in second grade, I never had a close white friend until college, and even still, my "favorite white girl" and I don't spend the majority of our time together. I have had romantic feelings for a white guy, but race was actually a pretty big sticking point with us, and the source of much frustration for me.
I say all this to bring me to why I feel Tim and I disagree on this subject. I think Tim can view "black culture" as an environmental product because he, as he has said, never had to deal with race until college, and even now, does not really have to ponder it on a daily basis. Furthermore, from my studies and observations, few white people even believe there is such a thing as white culture. Secretly, it's called mainstream America.
So, on the day that spawned the quote and conversation Tim reference's
"I just want to be a girl today, not a black girl, just a girl..."we had spent a lot of group time together. I had watched Shantel (a bi-racial girl on our program who identifies as black) be photographed while stepping, listened to a rant about how Bojangles chicken was racist, and gone on a haunted and vampire tour.
(Hey, here's the post I promised about that! Small victory!) We had a very Southern sounding white middle aged tour guide pointing out what I swear was every former slave quarters in the French quarter. Apparently they have slate counter tops and floors now, with thick walls so that no one hears your music, or when you beat your slaves... Whichever. She also told us about balls held where white slave holders could meet and buy pretty quadroons to take as mistresses, and the tour ended with a more graphic and sensational telling of the story of the LaLaurie house. Although it may be a case of yellow journalism and completely overhyped, capping off the tour with a tale of horrific cruelty to slaves, and the inability of the spirits of my possible ancestors to settle after a century was really just too much for me.
So, yes, I was tired of being a black girl. I needed a breather, and wanted to dance, and from my experience, (Tim and the aforementioned favorite white girl being exceptions), most white people don't dance when they go out. I don't feel at all misquoted.
But, Tim and I differ very starkly in our views of race, and I think his blog itself actually proves my point. Tim says:
Culture as I think of it is like a collective past; memories, traditions and beliefs that influence and shape the next generation.
Although I understand the efforts to invoke our shared American past, I think we can all see that Black Americans have experienced this history differently. Significantly affecting the black experience has been slavery, and though most white people were not slaveholders, the necessity of dehumanizing those of African descent in order to continue barbaric practices for financial gain has left a legacy that I don't believe can be denied. Centuries of oppression created differing memories, traditions and beliefs. Furthermore, because of the differing ancestries and continued separation of the race, some of the more concrete hallmarks of culture- food, storytelling traditions, dance styles, hair and clothing styles, the list goes on- are also incredibly different.
Now, in our conversations, Tim has seemed very concerned about over generalizations, which I totally agree with. Not all black people are the same anymore than all white people are, and I appreciate his ability to differentiate and aversion to stereotypes. But, we both agreed that Sushma, a girl in our program who's parents were both born in India and moved here before she was born, has a different culture... or at least her parents do. I honestly see no issue in acknowledging that though life in an Indian village and Bombay are different, there is still a cohesive Indian culture, just as though Black Americans have differences in urban, suburban and rural environments, and vary socioeconomically, and simply as individuals, there is still a culture.
Tim is arguing for a larger American culture, and while there is definitely some truth to that, it's illogical to think we really all are one. If we were "one" the statistics in health, education and poverty would not be so disparate between racial groups. Furthermore, again, from Tim's own points, if there's no such thing as black culture, why would Shantel know about Yaki weave??? She is of a very mixed racial heritage, resulting in great hair that grows quite well without synthetics. And what about other things we've discussed, like "CP time" and "gov'ment names"- stereotypical yes, but brought about because there is the perception of different races (I do believe race is mostly a social construct) and therefore there are differing expected behaviors. These classification have resulted in different cultures. And you can't ignore the existence of things like "Ebonics"- a shockingly national dialect even before the advent of mass media.
I could go on for quite a while, thanks to many experiences both being "the black girl" and "not black enough", reading too much Michael Eric Dyson, and being a AAAS minor. But a dissertation here would be silly and I don't want to accidentally talk myself out of my depth.
Summary: While I appreciate Tim's viewpoint, I think he's wrong. But, I don't think it's his fault. He's not been confronted with these issues for a lifetime and therefore wouldn't realize that he provided a lot of evidence for my point. Color-blindness, which is what I would say Tim is arguing for, is a beautiful idea, but simply not realistic in the near future.
Heart TimTim though!
As proof, I've included a picture of a moment of merriment. (see right)
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