'Irrespective of the neighborhood in which I live, regardless of how articulate I might seem, all I am and all I ever will be to some people is Black.'
"Irrespective of the neighborhood in which I live, regardless of how articulate I might seem, all I am and all I ever will be to some people is Black."Once, as I was putting the final touches on the live auction program for my sons’ school, one of the committee moms expressed surprise when I told her that I wanted to get more Black parents involved the following year.
When they were in high school, I was the only board member to insist that we create a diversity, equity and inclusion committee to deal with the racism our students, parents and faculty were experiencing on campus. I devoted myself to ensuring that each of our school’s young Black kids had a platform to speak their collective truths.
I’ve heard rude statements like, “But aren’t you mixed anyway?” Meaning, I suppose, that the white half would cancel out the Black half, and all my troubles would be over. I’m not mixed-race, by the way; both of my parents are Black. In fact, I was born in the Negro ward at the Illinois Research Hospital, so there’s that.
Once I was the only person at my table to be charged a $10 “service fee” when my dinner companions and I got our separate checks. And then there was that moment I’ll never forget while touring a public school in Malibu. When I asked about diversity, the principal looked me dead in the face and told me, “It’s a very homogenous community, and most of our parents would like to keep it that way.”
What about Black people being detained for loitering in front of their own houses ? How about being stopped and assaulted by the police while walking their dogs . I could go on and on, of course.
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