No Country for Black Men

Well up until that freak snowstorm we had a few days ago followed by the cold weather, it seemed that spring was in full swing. I don’t care for spring too much. It’s a nasty season when all of the snow melts and turns to mud and everywhere just looks dirty as hell! That being said, I do like what spring signifies – that summer is just around the corner. And I love summer!

What I do love about summer is packing the family in the minivan (yes a minivan) and taking a nice drive through the country. I love passing through little picturesque towns and dreaming of a peaceful little existence in the country – with the clean air and clean living. Then reality hits. As we stop for lunch or something or another in some quiet little hamlet, it quickly dawns on me that we’re the only black people in town. Well, at least the only ones on main street. In fact I don’t see any visible minorities at all. Actually that’s not entirely true, there’s always a restaurant, dollar shop or grocery store run by either a South Asian or Chinese. Not to call out stereotypes, but it’s true. No matter what the town or how small it is, you will find these little establishments. What you won’t find are black people. Now I know many of you reading this are probably saying; ‘So what? It’s no big deal’. It might not be a big deal to you, but it sure as hell is enough to cancel my dreams of good old country living.

If you have a chance you should read a book entitled ‘Destined to Witness: Growing up Black in Nazi Germany’ It’s was written by Hans J. Massaquoi. Mr. Massaquoi was born in Germany in 1926 to a white German mother and a Liberian father who was a law student in Germany at the time and was also the son of the Liberian consul-general to Hamburg. After his Grandfather and Father went back to Liberia, Hans was brought up alone by his German mother. He relates tales of not being accepted by German society even though he wasn’t subjected to the persecution the Jews endured. He later immigrated to America, joined the military, put himself through college on the G.I. Bill, and went on to eventually become the Managing Editor at Ebony magazine.

Hans J. Massaquoi considered himself German even though his fellow Germans didn’t consider him one of them. So let me make that leap. If I did buy that little house in the country would I be accepted by my fellow townsfolk? Personally I couldn’t give a damn whether my neighbors accepted me or not, however I wouldn’t want my children to experience being shunned or considered inferior.

It’s been said that racism against black people (and other minorities) is more common and rife in areas where there are in fact, a lot of black people. The reason for the racism is a fear of being overrun – that these immigrants are somehow taking over – changing the face of the neighborhood with their weird food, weird music, weird accents etc…

I don’t believe this to be true. I look at my own upbringing and personal experiences and realize this theory doesn’t hold much water. In 1975 my family immigrated to Canada from England – where I was born. At five years old I left diverse and ethnic London for Edmonton, Alberta. I went from being around tons of black people to being around no black people at all! Now, in case you don’t know, Edmonton was not a diverse place in 1975. Hell….Edmonton isn’t a diverse place in 2011. Most black immigrants to Canada at that time moved to Toronto and Montreal. Therefore, as diverse as those two cities were, Edmonton was the polar opposite. Don’t ask me why my parents chose Edmonton because it’s a long story. So as I started grade one and entered the Canadian school system, one thing became clear. There weren’t too many people who looked like me. If this wasn’t bad enough, a year after we arrived my parents purchased a brand new house in the suburbs. So I left lily white Edmonton for the blindingly white suburb of St. Albert. I had the extreme honour (sarcastic) of integrating most of my classes. At best I was one of two or three black students in schools with student populations in the hundreds. Not so good odds!

Now to address those people who say big deal, let me tell you why it was – and why I would never subject my children to this. Children can be cruel. It’s part of human nature that kids tease each other. Usually if there is something about you that stands out, that will be the tool they use to ridicule and tease you. And guess what – I stood out. Can you guess why? And so I heard the word ‘Nigger’ directed at me more times than a fly lands on sh….doodoo! I can still remember walking to school and hearing racial epithets being hurled at me from people inside their houses. That’s right, they were inside their houses hiding behind their curtains so I couldn’t see them, and calling me Nigger, Chocolate Finger, etc…And by the sounds of their voices, most of the perpetrators weren’t children. As a matter of fact it was adult voices shouting some of the abuse. And keep in mind I was only a six or seven year old child – minding my own business and walking to school in this strange-ass country that I had only moved to a couple years prior.

So, the commonly accepted theory that racism is more prevalent in highly ethnic areas is a crock! In 1975 in St. Albert, white people had no reason to fear they were being overrun by black people. Thirty Five years later that’s still the case. So what was the reason for their racism………..inbreeding, ignorance, a bad upbringing? Look at the incident that took place in tiny Campbellford, Ontario last Halloween when a local resident showed up to a party at the local legion hall wearing a Klansman outfit and won first prize; https://jasonslyric.wordpress.com/2010/11/08/canada-the-true-north-strong-and-racist/. Even after this incident made the news many townsfolk didn’t see what all of the fuss was about. So much for nice, friendly , country folk.

Of course like any sensible person, you would expect teachers to use their guidance and ensure racist comments and jokes weren’t tolerated. And some did step up and do their jobs. Some! Not all! In fact I remember one incident in which I turned to the teacher to see what he was going to do about it and found him chuckling to himself at his desk. He apparently found the joke very funny.

On another occasion during my second week at a new school, a classmate made some smart-ass remark to the teacher which drew laughter from the entire class, me included. So imagine my surprise when I was sent to the office for laughing. The student who actually made the remark wasn’t sent to the office. Neither was anyone else in the class – the same class in which everyone was laughing hysterically. No……just me. When I got to the office, the principal pulled me into his office and informed me in a very unfriendly tone that he heard a lot about me. That was strange. I had only been in the school two weeks and hadn’t been in trouble before. So just what exactly did he hear about me?

Then there would be those great moments in which all of the students in the class would take turns reading from a novel we were studying. One of those novels happened to be ‘Huckleberry Finn’. Of course when we got to the word nigger, the student who was reading would proudly say the word with authority – and then the rest of the class would look at me and chuckle.

Then there was the divide and conquer mentality. Make black people feel so inferior and insecure that they feel the need to turn on each other to maintain their acceptance among the white majority. This happened with a black girl named Lisa who happened to be in my grade. We were the only two black kids in the entire grade and you would have thought there would have been some sense of camaraderie. Hell no! I teased Lisa along with everyone else so that they wouldn’t think I liked her. Even though I didn’t want to I felt compelled to – just for the sake of acceptance. I assume that was the same thing that went through the mind of a black kid who happened to be in an older grade. I remember him draping me up by my shirt one day after school – which caused much chuckling from his group of white friends. Imagine that, three black kids in the entire school and we felt the intense pressure to be mean and abrasive to each other – to hopefully escape our blackness and be considered one of the gang– much to the delight of our white classmates.

Needless to say, when I left Alberta for Toronto in 1985 I said good riddance! I haven’t been back since, not even for a visit because to be quite honest, I really have no interest in reliving some of my not-so-pleasant memories from that hellhole!

So before you say big deal, let me inform you – yes it is! I think those idyllic country towns are just a passing fancy. I’ve grown into a 41 year old man whose tolerance level for ignorance is non-existent. If I found out my kids were being subjected to racist taunts in school and nothing was being done about it……….let’s just say it wouldn’t be good!

Which leads me to the bigger question – was integration such a good thing? When you look at the state of black people in 2011, have we really benefitted?

Recent studies in the United States show contradictory results as to the integrating of America. On one hand, more black people are living in fully integrated neighborhoods than ever before. On the other hand, in recent years there has also been the issue of ‘self segregation’ in which black people have made a conscious choice to live in their own neighborhoods, have their own proms, attend their own churches etc…
I remember reading an article in Ebony magazine back in the 80’s that discussed affluent black neighborhoods. The article interviewed a vice president at a Wall Street firm who happened to be black and chose to live in Hamilton Heights – an affluent, mostly black sliver of Harlem. The man said that with all of the stress of being a black man in a largely white corporate environment, he felt a sense of relief and release to be able to be around his own in his private life. I was only in my early teens at the time of this article and didn’t fully understand what he was talking about until years later when I followed suit and worked in a largely white corporate environment. Then I completely understood the stress he was referring to. I discussed this in detail in an earlier blog; ‘Servitude of the Corporate Negro’ https://jasonslyric.wordpress.com/2010/05/16/servitude-of-the-corporate-negro/

There is something to be said for a multicultural neighborhood. It gives people exposure to different cultures which can only be a good thing. We can’t actually become friends if we don’t know and respect each other. However, this myth of a colourblind society is just that – a myth!

So was integration a good thing? Well, from the start it was made evidently clear we weren’t wanted. The photograph at the top of this blog is a Pulitzer Prize winning photo of an incident that took place in Boston in 1976. Ted Landsmark, a black lawyer happened to be at city hall at the same time that a white mob was protesting the contentious issue of busing. He had nothing to do with the protest he was simply there on business. The protesters, seeing a lone black man, decided to pounce. He was impaled with an American flag. He was attacked by the parents of white children who didn’t want black children coming into their schools. Why don’t I see this in any depictions of Norman Rockwell’s America?

Of course racism goes both ways. There are people of all races who are racist. But there’s a difference between black and white racism. A big difference! Racism without power equals nothing – no impact. Racism with power impacts everything. Black people who are racist have no effect on society because as black people we have no power. Sure, the President is black but we all know that he can’t make a move without congress and the senate backing him – and congress and the senate are overwhelmingly white! That’s why black racism amounts to nothing. We are powerless to act on that racism. If you look at the criminal justice system, most of the Judges, DA’s, Police Chief’s etc… are white. When they act on their racism, black people get affected. A black youth found guilty of selling twenty dollars worth of marijuana will go to prison even though the white person buying that marijuana might get off with a fine. If you look at the corporate boards of almost every fortune 500 company you will be hard pressed to find a black face. When these people act on their racism, black people don’t get hired. When you look at the majority of news directors and newspaper editors you will see the majority are white. When they act on their racism, black people get depicted in a negative light on the evening news and on the front page of the newspaper. Been to a bank lately? What colour was your bank manager? When they act on their racism they implement and maintain ‘Redlining’ of black neighborhoods to ensure no financial investments are made in those areas – unless you call a disproportionate level of liquor stores, greasy fast food joints, and gun shops, investment. When the lily white school boards are racist they can ensure no resources are given to already resource-depleted black schools. That’s the difference between black and white racism!

There you have it. This summer I plan to once again take scenic drives through the country with my family. I’ll stop in some nice scenic little town, enjoy the sights, maybe buy a fresh pie from some farmer, play ‘Spot the black person’ and then get back in the van and get the hell out of town! Because the country charm wears off fast. I don’t much fancy being the chocolate crumb floating in the glass of milk!