FKLifestyle: The Shades Of Black

Kai of Forever Kings recently posted a thought provoking paper on his Facebook page and there was a sudden impulse to share it here on Forever Kings Lifestyle. This paper is over a year old and entitled "The Shades Of Black" - Kai wrote it for a “Black Intellectuals” course during Fall 2009. Here is the first couple paragraphs of "The Shades Of Black" and if it sparks your interest you can proceed to the full selection after the jump.

Every “Black Intellectual” of note has, at one point or another, dealt with the notion of merely being “Black” in America; a notion that, by itself, conjures up sentiments of dismalness, pessimism, misfortune, disgrace, and the presence of evil. Yet, it is this very notion that links the likes of Langston Hughes to OJ Simpson, Barack Obama to Tupac Shakur, and Maya Angelou to Condoleezza Rice; a link that has seemingly with stood the test of time and forced one of the great minds of our time, Henry Louis Gates Jr., to create a narrative based solely on its meaning and social impact.

Henry Louis Gates Jr.’s piece entitled “Thirteen ways of looking at a Black Man” is the archetype or quintessential depiction of the very diversity, complexity, and heterogeneity that exists within the African American diaspora and is also representative of an author’s profound willingness to walk the tight rope between “race neutrality” and racism. Yet, there is a constant in Gates’s work; a constant that resonates even in the title of his piece, which is the overall unluckiness or foredooming nature that comes with being black in America hence the number thirteen. The number thirteen is also an indication that there are multiple ways of looking at a black man, which is quite contrary to popular belief.

 More After The Jump.

Consider what Colin Powell, a highly regarded and undeniably intelligent military official, meant when he inexorably stated that he “Ain’t that black”. (Gates, 84) Was he simply feeding into, or, in other words, supporting the dominant notion of “black” and all of its negative pretenses or was he in accordance with Michael Eric Dyson’s positive view of Kanye West’s statement “George Bush doesn’t care about black people” (Dyson, 27)? Although both answers, to Colin Powell’s intensely problematic statement, are contentious in their own right, they both highlight a deeply rooted, pathological, and systemic issue in the American society. 

Kanye West’s statement came after the devastation of Hurricane Katrina and the government’s neglect of its citizenry. West’s statement was dismissed and negatively construed, by the media, as being another one his irrational, illogical, and immature publicity stunts that held no weight in regards to the American social barometer. However, West’s statement is indicative of an age old phenomenon that has not only created many of the canonical narratives of our time (i.e. The Native Son, Their Eyes Were Watching God, and To Kill a Mockingbird) but one that has also forced millions to valiantly march the streets of Washington D.C. The alluded to phenomenon is the seemingly homogenous definition of “Black”, which is the degradation, disenfranchisement, and the overall demotion of African Americans in the societal context of the United States. This definition stands as a mechanism in which to categorize and, in a sense, consolidate all “black” people into one cohesive group, no matter how well established or accomplished he or she may be.  

            Colin Powell, unfortunately, perpetuates this vicious cycle of racism through his grotesque and all together blasphemous dialogues which Henry Louis Gates Jr., rightfully, highlights in “Thirteen Ways of Looking at a Black Man”.

            Ask Powell about the way he has come to be seen as a paragon of something like racial erasure, and it’s clear that he has given the matter some thought. “One, I don’t shove it in their face, you know?” he says. “I don’t bring any stereotypes or threatening visage to their presence. Some black people do. Two I can overcome any stereotypes or reservations they have, because I perform well. Third thing is, “I ain’t that black.” He talks about interracial social skills, skills that he fears are deficient in too many blacks. “I speak reasonably well, like a white person,” he says. “I am very comfortable in a white social situation, and I don’t go off in a corner. My features are clearly black, and I’ve never denied what I am. If fits into their general social setting, so they don’t find me threatening.” He pauses. “I think there’s more to it than that, but I don’t know what it is.”  (Gates, pg 84)

Colin Powell’s acceptance of white supremacist ideology not only perpetuates racism and racial prejudices but also empowers and, in a sense, validates their beliefs that people of color (i.e. “Blacks”) are an inferior race. Take for example the fact that he associates the ability to “speak well” solely with white people and “ebonics” or bad grammar with blacks. This popular misconception has served as an erasure and has, in a sense, luxated the likes of Fredrick Douglas, Martin Luther King Jr., and Malcolm X (all of whom were great black orators) from the history of the United States of America.

            There is plenty that can be criticized about Powell’s conversation with Henry Louis Gates Jr., which in turn serves as is a direct reflection of not only his overall character as a person but also his disposition towards “blacks” of America. His character is, rightfully, critiqued and scrutinized by Reverend Jessie Jackson.

Historically, there’s been this search—whites always want to create the black of their choice as our leader. So for the white people this nice, clean-cut black military guy becomes something really worth selling and promoting. But have we seen him on a picket line? Is he for the unions? Or for Civil Rights? Or for anything?” (Gates, pg 75)

Although, Colin Powell can, justly, be viewed “as a paragon of something like a racial erasure” due to all of his political accomplishments and accolades (as a “Black” man), he is no more that an embodiment of assimilation that has done nothing to curb or impede the numerous injustices that face the socially marginalized black community. Consider what he says when asked his opinion on possibly becoming the first black President: “I really don’t want to be elected to be the first black American President,” he tells me. “I don’t want to be the poster child for the brothers, or for the guilty white liberals. That would not be true to the image I have of myself.” (Gates, pg 82) Certainly, there were exterior motives that could prevent Powell from running for office such as the possibility of being assassinated, which his wife articulates in “Soon as he would decide to run, you can bet that somebody somewhere would decide that it was his patriotic duty to shoot him”. (Gates, pg 74) Yet, it’s Powell’s conviction of not wanting to be a role model or “poster child” for the subordinate “blacks” of America that trumps his own welfare.

             Henry Louis Gates Jr.’s profile of Colin Powell has more significance than simply being of the autobiographical nature. His profile actually serves a dual purpose. It not only proves the existence of the, aforementioned, homogenous notion of black in America but it also defies it. Colin Powell completely subscribes to the notion of blacks being of the deficient and subordinate nature but his mere existence is proof that blacks aren’t all the same. This double consciousness, if I may, negates the very sentiments in which Powell and other white supremacist advocate. Powell’s existence is in contention with the notion that all black people are innately incapable of independent thought, which would seemingly refute the very nature of the homogenous definition of “black”. This train of thought that all “black people think the same is also highlighted in Henry Louis Gates Jr.’s book.

            It was misconstrued, by the majority that all black people believed that OJ Simpson was innocent during his murder trial, where as it was commonly accepted by white people that he was guilty. Although Gates believes that Mr. Simpson was in fact guilty of the alleged crime (which again indicates independent thought within the “black” community), he does realize that Mr. Simpson was, in many regards, prejudged based solely upon the color of his skin rather than on the case’s evidence. Gates states that “to put it at its harshest, for many whites a sincere belief in Simpson’s innocence looks less like the culture of protest than like the culture of psychosis”. (Gates, 105) In other words Mr. Simpson’s innocence was not even an option for the white majority because he was black. This created an atmosphere of racialized hysteria and upheaval. Gates comments that there was a “racialized response that itself would fill television screens for the next few days the white students looked aghast, and the black students cheered.”(Gates, pg 104) Gates further states that “for white observers, what’s even scarier than idea that black Americans were plumping for the villain, which is misprision of value, is the idea that black Americans didn’t recognize him as the villain, which is a misprision of fact”. (Gates, pg 105) A villain not based on fact or conviction but a villain based on the color of his skin and consequently all negative pretenses that come along with being such.

             Cornel West once said that “so many white brothers and sisters are living in a state of denial in terms of how deep white supremacy is seated in their culture and society”. (Gates, 107) This white supremacy, in which Cornel West alludes to, has deemed “blacks” immoral, inferior, and, in many rights, impotent. This overall disfranchisement of “blacks” in America has rendered the race innately inferior and consequently unacceptable in many contexts, especially in access. This sentiment has persisted through the years and has created a social obstacle that has proven to be impossible to over come even by the great African Americans of our time. This has created two, seemingly, diametrically opposing sides that paralyzes progress in terms of transcending racism and racial prejudices in the American society.