From bell hooks' Rock My Soul:Black People and Self-Esteem.
"Having lived in the midst of white supremacy all her life, Mama recognized that it would be dangerous for us to live our lives trying to please racist white people, letting them set the standards for our identity and well-being.
Her words of caution proved to be necessary wisdom. While she wanted her children to have equal access to libraries and typewriters, small classrooms, and the newest textbooks, she did not want us to be taught by unenlightened white people to hate ourselves. She did not want her academically gifted children to let white people teach them they were the grand exceptions, better than other black folks, maybe even not really black. The self-esteem that had been fostered in a social and political atmosphere of racial uplift was assaulted in the world of racial integration. Black folks living in segrgated worlds who had spent only a measure of their lives thinking about white folks were more and more becoming obssessed with race. Naturally, the more contact we had with white folks the more intensely we experienced racist assaults. Even the well-meaning and kind white teachers often believed racist stereotypes. We were never away from the surveillance of white supremacy in the world of racial integration. And it was this constant reality that began to undermine the foundation of self-esteem in the lives of Black folks."
10 comments:
So true. Sometimes I think we would have been better off segregated until we came into our own being...
I think that is true in so many ways. Not to say we should separate ourselves....but we had a since of dignity and pride back then.... An example, looking at my grandmother and her generation that grew up and went to school with her. Coming out of their small community, you can't imagine the number of people coming out of that place as Doctors and lawyers and schoolteachers.....it was a strong black community.
More imporantly, I think there should be some serious discussion within the black community concerning self-esteem and the way we value ourselves, including before the larger community.
There is definitely a sense of hidden low self-esteem in the black community. It's funny, because the people who seemed the most confident - you know the ones...the ones who were always saying how good they looked, how nice their butt was, how great there ______ was - were always the ones who had the biggest self-esteem issues. The black community has played it's part well, in perpetuating white supremacy. We hate our hair if it's too curly, we hate our skin if it gets too dark, we hate our lips if they are too full, we hate our nose if it is too broad, and the list goes on. I don't think people were in Africa talking about these physical attributes in such negative ways before the European Slave trade. I don't even think these issues came up with the Middle Eastern slave trade/migration. It saddens me when people who claim to love their blackness, spout off negative comments I can't even bring myself to type, for fear of contributing to the madness.
I know what you mean. I know plenty of people who walk around and adopt--most subconsciously at times--European values, standards for not only beauty--but for living. I myself have and am definitely trying to relearn myself to ways of looking at African and noneuropean features...I don't think Ive ever had any problem recognizing the beauty in them, however that doesnt mean that one never feels the onus of white colonialism and white colonial values....which oblige one to devalue, dehumanize, fail to recognize the beauty in that which is African, which is us.
I think that one thing that is incumbent upon us is that we stop allowing white people to define us and to define for us.
I refuse to blame the self esteem and racial bigotry issues on white people - much too easy to blame someone else without looking internally. Blacks were not better segregated because the system was NEVER equal. To claim that it was more beneficial undermines the work of our ancestors, especially Thurgood Marshall. To see such educated minds wasting time focusing on the impact of Europeans into Black culture is disgusting at best. Almost four generations past the Civil Rights movement and we are worse than we were before yet continue to look at whites to blame. We have more opportunities now than ever before. The time has come to look at what we can do to help each other as a community rather than keep playing the blame game.
White images of beauty have always dominated American culture. Black people do nothing to help the situation by over glorifying women that typically have European features - how many black women do you see on TV without a weave or that look like 'round the way girls? Until we respect and appreciate our own beauty it will never be embraced by mainstream culture. To address issues within the Black community, we have to look at ourselves first and foremost. Blacks have lost their history, leaders, self respect, and overall community. As a community we must stop playing the victim and start becoming self sufficient mentally and economically, or we will continue down this negative path.
We need to focus on how to establish better schools, how to develop black children to an academic level equal to their peers, how to address the lack of male role models and overwhelming number of single mothers, the lack of respect amongst ourselves, the modern day minstrel show we call "Hip Hop", the lack of self sufficient Black communities, the lack of Black wealth, the epidemic of HIV/AIDS, the crime in Black Communities, and the lack of leaders.
My history was based on sacrifice, struggle, determination and action. My history was built on the backs of men and women that fought to make change in our own communities despite what white people told them they were worth.
I know it's long but it's my 2 cents......
Rochelle: I find so much wrong with you are saying it disturbs me. I will come back later when I have more time...
Actually, I think its more like two generations since the civil rights movemet. Also, I think that the legacy of Black people fighting back in the face of white racism is here and is prevalent. There is something I would like to point out to you, Rochelle, in reading your comments....everything that you place value in...from what you are stating here....is based on something white male capitalist patriarchy told us to value. Now lets really look at the problems of black youth, especially Black lower class youth, in the American educational system. What kinds of environments are these children growing up in? What kinds of resources do they have to work with? Also, what is wrong with single-parent familes? The question to be asking is why single-parent families are discriminated against in the first place in this society.....your views are wholly patriarchal. I would definitely urge you to go back and reevaluate your beliefs and values...and where they came from...and what they uphold.
rochelle--
your comments reek of right wing conservatism. i really wish you would understand the effects of white supremacy amongst black people. it is more nuanced than what you are claiming.
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