I want to extend a a bit more on today's earlier post because I woke up still seething and in disbelief that I'm romantically involved with this individual. I'd like to express my point of view in a academic manner in which I'm accustomed since I am a young college-educated Black woman and I couldn't leave this subject matter alone just yet.
I'm a believer in the human race. A human race without categories and social constructs established by colonizers. People believe we live in this imaginary "Post-Obama" era where race isn't an issue anymore but when I'm filling out a job application and you reach the last page you're asked to identify your race and sex. Its at the end, why? Because 9x out of 10 this is what it comes down to. Not your education, not your qualifications, not your extended impressive years of work experience, but self-identity. I believe in dismissing race as an issue when it comes to many things especially since I've been on a job hunt for close to a year now. I remember when I was looking for an internship to fulfill college credit and I received great feedback even an interview or two, but there were interviews that were just too uncomfortable for it to be blamed on nerves. They didn't believe I was Black prior to meeting with me. Not with the monotone name on top of my resume paper, not with my bland accent that could be erased of a colorful "Black girl" inflection at will. No. There was another reason why they weren't impressed with my credentials.
Always drawn to knowing my ancestral history I took plenty college electives involving the history of Africa. I learned that the slaves who were brought to the tiny island of Jamaica located in the Greater Antilles were mostly Nigerian and Ghanaian. I wanted to entrench myself within that West African history and culture and learn. It was an enlightening experience to say the least but I also learned of the Africans who were left behind and were ruled by the European colonizers. They established a system, especially the Germans (Go figure) where the Africans had to self-identify by passes stating which cultural group (for lack of a better term: "tribe") they belonged to.
For example: In colonial Rwanda when the Germans "ruled" they forced the Africans to walk with passes to identify whether they were Hutus or Tutsis. When colonial rule arrived, tension already existed between the two groups and relations worsened when the Germans enforced this establishment and favored the Tutsis as the ruling class. When the German colonizers were kicked out after WWI, Belgium continued to rule with the existing hierarchy in place since the colonizers believed the two majority groups were of a different race. After WWII, Rwanda was left to its own accord, race tensions intact, later leading to the genocide of millions of Tutsis by the Hutus which long endured injustice from their German colonizers. This short history lesson is just a prime example of the evil ideologies called separatism and race.
What I've been contemplating since this argument is how do I approach this matter with him? I definitely see him in a different light now. Ironically, he's always thrown out that "I'm Spanish not Black," and I've always came back with "Yes, you are Black, culturally you are of Spanish descent." Slave catchers, killers, masters didn't identify their property by their facial features or nationality. You were identified by your skin color (which automatically made you a slave within slave territory and sub-human in the Constitution) and by your physical bearing. As big and strapping as he is, he'd be the first one to be auctioned off the block, no doubt. Your skin color is what was used to justify slavery but your physique is what made them the money. To say that someone looks like a slave is a reflection of self-hate especially when you tote the same physical attributes. There's no humor in such a ridiculous statement only pain can come from it.
There is no way to justify ignorance especially when you carry it around proudly. Just like I am not my hair, I am not my skin color, this wide nose, thick lips, high forehead, big eyes. I'm an individual made up of emotions and feelings. And until we live in a perfect world where I don't need to self-identify on a job application (Really? If you think about it, how ridiculous is this notion?), or state what percentage of "otherness" you may be, I'll embrace all of me Black and all.
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