It’s 8 in the morning and I’m at flight camp for high school students in Georgia. Most of the students are black teens who claim a real passion for flying. In just a few minutes I get to accompany 17-year old Brandon Henry on his maiden voyage behind the flight controls. He doesn’t seem nervous at all, but I certainly am. I have not eaten breakfast. He offers me peanut M & M’s. I don’t think it’s such a good idea to eat right now.
Brandon is a remarkable young man. I admire his passion and commitment to flying at such a young age. What an incredible opportunity. And it made me think about where I was at his age.
A training program like this for minority teens wasn’t an option for me in the 1970’s in my small Louisiana town. Instead of training to be a pilot or an astronaut or a journalist, at 17 I was trying to not make the same mistakes that some of my older male relatives had made; drugs, babies, jail. There’s not much to do in a small town but get into trouble.
Also by 17, I had become quite adept at navigating between three different worlds; the light skin black world, the dark skin black world and the white world. Most southern blacks are very familiar with this. But more about that later.
Don’t get me wrong, I came from a good family. Problem was that some of my peers did not. But, my grandmother watched me like a hawk. She was my and my two older sister’s babysitter and co-parent for much of our youth. “Where are you going?” “Who’s that boy’s people?” “Did you write that paper?” Those were the standard questions. I didn’t appreciate it then, but boy do I now. THANK YOU MAME (pronounced mah-me), god rest her soul!
My mother will tell you I idolized my grandmother. We watched daytime soap operas together. Even as late as high school my grandmother and I would have sleep overs at her house. We’d watch old black and white movies until the wee hours. We listened to late night radio shows. For hours we’d sit in rocking chairs on her front porch and watch the people and cars go by. Then we’d read bedtime stories together. Except, I’d read to her. She only had a fifth grade education. She died of Alzheimer’s in 1998. I miss her every day of my life.
My grandmother looked White. To this day we still aren’t sure of the exact mixture of her race. Her mother died in child birth. Her husband, my grandfather was brown and of African and French descent. They had three daughters. The middle one is my mother. I have two sisters. My father died when I was seven. My mom remarried. He died 23 years later. My mother is my best friend.
Mom, single at the time, chose an all Black, Catholic grade school for me where there was a substantial focus on “light skin” and “good hair.” There I learned a respectable knowledge of reading, writing and arithmetic. More importantly I learned that not only did white people discriminate against black people; black people discriminated against each other. Skin that was lighter than a “brown paper bag” guaranteed entrance into Creole fraternities, sororities and historically black colleges and universities. Yes, the same HBCU’s still exist today. In the Black community universities like Fisk, Spelman and Howard, among others, were openly referred to as “brown paper bag” universities. Darker blacks went to ‘Skegee,’ short for Tuskegee. It was, and still is, shameful.
In my home town, the big highway with its parallel railroad track was the dividing line. The blacks lived on the west side. The whites, on the east side. We all shared the grocery store, bank, post office and such. That’s where I first heard a white person call me a N***er. When we moved to a new home in a “white” neighborhood some parents refused to allow their children to play with me. On Sunday the Ku Klux Klan would hand out paraphernalia on the same street as my high school. The majority white high school had only been integrated a few years before I attended. I’m not sure how it happened, but while the Klan did its thing out front; inside, my classmates were electing me Senior Class President. Only the second in the school’s history. Progress. But to this day I believe the South offers Americans a most accelerated lesson on race relations.
The conundrum then was not fitting in with either the light skins or the dark skins or the whites. I had the light skin but i didn’t have the “good” hair. Sometimes I could “pass” for a light skin, especially in the winter months when my skin would lighten up. But only if my sister applied a chemical blow out to my hair. It never lasted, and always turned my brown hair bright red.
Of course there were the usual infractions from whites like getting pulled over by the cops because I was driving a nice car, getting followed around by security guards in retail stores, being ignored by restaurant and bar staff. Sadly I had to learn to accept it, even expect it. But it somehow cut to the quick when black people did it. It hurt me deeply. Hey, whose side are you on anyway? - is what I wanted to ask out loud. I never did.
Turns out Brandon the flight student is from Louisiana too. Just listening to him talk about his town, his family, his friends, his neighborhood, I can tell not much has changed there. But much of the world around him has changed, and it’s good that his family encourages him to explore it.
Brandon’s first solo flight, like both of our upbringings, was a little bumpy, but not bad. He admits he needs to work on his takeoffs and landings. Personal responsibility is important, but he wasn’t discouraged. In fact he is inspired by those challenges. And he inspired me too. At that moment it hit me; being black in America can be rocky at times, to say the least. And as much as life in some ways for many of us has stayed the same, it has also changed in just as many other ways. The point is to keep going. Like Brandon you too can change the world by changing “your” world. Thank you Brandon.Posts: 461 | From: Kilimanjaro | Registered: Jan 2008
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Nitpicking and unrelated to the gist of the article.
Brandon’s first solo flight, like both of our upbringings, was a little bumpy, but not bad.
Let me help out the author a little. Brandon's first solo flight was a little bumpy because of the wind. The author seemingly pins it on a first solo flight.
He admits he needs to work on his takeoffs and landings.
So how did the author recognize what the kid told him about this?
Take-offs aren't much of an issue—unless your engine fails; and you don't pay attention to details.
Landings are a continual work in progress. Experienced airline pilots have an occasional rough landing.
Posts: 2118 | From: midwest, USA | Registered: Aug 2007
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In the Black community universities like Fisk, Spelman and Howard, among others, were openly referred to as “brown paper bag” universities. Darker blacks went to ‘Skegee,’ short for Tuskegee. It was, and still is, shameful. That's the point of my thread, there seems to be some issues about colorism among African Americans...Since you are Euro American, I don't think it's a subject that you care about...
Posts: 461 | From: Kilimanjaro | Registered: Jan 2008
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^ hey, why don't you go find the roof of a very tall building to jump off of? Posts: 3423 | From: the jungle - when y'all stop playing games, call me. | Registered: Jul 2006
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Habari – I see now why you have been petitioning for a moderator. And you are right, when you post pointless drivel like this, you must be protected from others who might insult you for posting pointless drivel like this. No doubt some redbone chick refused to give you some, so of course you would come here to lament your misfortune. You were also right in nominating Charlie Bass for the job, I’m sure that he can relate to your plight, and thus afford the necessary sympathy and protection. Problem is; this is an ancient Egypt forum not Dear Abby, so other than suggesting Mary Palmer, I don’t know what else to tell you.
Posts: 22721 | Registered: Oct 2005
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Just a few hilarious points of past-to-modern contrast that ran through my head after reading this.
..and contrast his old-South words with today's world where our white coach even mentioned to us (a mixed team) - as incentive - that our opponents are a very racist community (and pretended to warn us to keep our cool if we heard the n word) and where my [white] classmate a few years back was rapping that one hilarious as hell wanton rap about going to hik's -ville and getting white *****.
Btw the [white] classmate was the most farm-boy/"game huntin" -est looking person at school and was even nic-named 'Cow dude' because of it and so him whisper singing that vulgar rap in class was hilarious.. he like the song so much he even downloaded it and was playin it on his headphones in class..
also contrast his old-South words with today's world where white classmates in majority white schools will and have gotten knocked out (though it was wrong) over the rarely said N word (at least in the North).
Let's not forget the many who say they wish they were "a black guy" (esp in locker rooms) or were so excited about this game because they "always wanted to be a black gangsta - that means black person [Alive]" [I knew - instead of saying black person or African American many suburbia kids now say gangsta..] LOL.
Posts: 5555 | From: Tha 5th Dimension. | Registered: Apr 2006
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The site needs a section like; "World Black-On-Black" topics to contain this often repeated and repetitious type of thread topic.
Posts: 3595 | From: Moved To Mars. Waiting with shotgun | Registered: Dec 2006
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quote:Originally posted by Habari: the point of my thread, there seems to be some issues about colorism among African Americans...
Nooooo???? LOL This jacka** talks about trolling yet he posts a political topic in AE forum.
Jesus Habi, are you that desparate for a discussion? There is colorism among blacks wherever they came under colonialism, it's an old tired argument.
Posts: 4165 | From: jamaica | Registered: May 2008
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The debate on colorism within the AA community as of 2008, is a bit overrated [at least where I live].
Posts: 4021 | From: Bay Area, CA | Registered: Mar 2007
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^ Indeed it's a stupid non-issue. That sort of thing occupies a lot of space in Habari's small mind.
Posts: 3423 | From: the jungle - when y'all stop playing games, call me. | Registered: Jul 2006
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quote:Originally posted by Sundjata: The debate on colorism within the AA community as of 2008, is a bit overrated [at least where I live].
Of course it is if you are accepted and date out of your race. This so called *black* community you live in is obviously self hating and loves non blacks and faux blacks that look like beyonce *shrugs*
Ofcourse it is a NON issue. Posts: 343 | Registered: Feb 2008
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quote:Originally posted by Sundjata: The debate on colorism within the AA community as of 2008, is a bit overrated [at least where I live].
Of course it is if you are accepted and date out of your race. This so called *black* community you live in is obviously self hating and loves non blacks and faux blacks that look like beyonce *shrugs*
Ofcourse it is a NON issue.
That's backwards. If my community was "self-hating", then they'd harp on the insignificance of light skin (ala Beyonce, etc) as much as you do. It is obvious you have an inferiority complex.
Posts: 4021 | From: Bay Area, CA | Registered: Mar 2007
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From CNN: Black in America in July 2008: Light Skin Versus Dark Skin
O'Brien interviews two brothers whose lives took very different paths. One is Michael Eric Dyson, a Georgetown professor who has written 16 books.
"He is a philosopher, a preacher and a well-respected figure in black America," she says. "He got his Ph.D. from Princeton. They call him the hip-hop intellectual."
His brother, Everett, also is highly regarded - by the warden at the prison where he is serving a life sentence for second-degree murder.
"We were very interested in the dynamic of how does one brother go one way and the other brother go the other way," O'Brien says.
"What I thought was fascinating was that part of their argument is Michael Eric Dyson is a light-skinned black man and his brother is a dark-skinned black man. Part of their argument is that the color of their skin played a role in how they were treated by society.
"In fact, Michael Eric Dyson says he's not even talking about white people; he's talking about how black people treated them, how he, as a light-skinned young man, was encouraged to flourish and his brother, a dark-skinned young man, was not.
"I thought that led to a fascinating conversation about something that a lot of black people will talk about but is not talked about in mainstream media at all."Posts: 461 | From: Kilimanjaro | Registered: Jan 2008
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"We were very interested in the dynamic of how does one brother go one way and the other brother go the other way," O'Brien says.
So the dynamic is one is educated and one is a killer. Now what.
"What I thought was fascinating was that part of their argument is Michael Eric Dyson is a light-skinned black man and his brother is a dark-skinned black man. Part of their argument is that the color of their skin played a role in how they were treated by society.
So one was treated so badly he murdered someone. Is this the part that drove him over the edge? Or was it something else; maybe a combination of a lot of things possibly unrelated to skin color.
"In fact, Michael Eric Dyson says he's not even talking about white people; he's talking about how black people treated them, how he, as a light-skinned young man, was encouraged to flourish and his brother, a dark-skinned young man, was not.
Oh, so he let the ''brothers and sisters'' get under his skin enough so that he committed second degree murder?
"I thought that led to a fascinating conversation about something that a lot of black people will talk about but is not talked about in mainstream media at all."
Black people I'm sure talk about a lot of things that don't make mainstream America until that same mainstream wants to focus on a negative to prop up some stereotypes.
Please post the rest of the story or at least give a specific link.
Sundjata, what do you mean by ''seems to have played out''?
Posts: 2118 | From: midwest, USA | Registered: Aug 2007
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Actually the reason why I posted that topic is just that I thought that kind of mentality was long gone, but I watched few shows recently that brought back that stuff and I also remember vaguely one of my African friend telling me that very light African Americans from privileged families are encouraged to marry among light skinned people, that was back then when I was living in the states. But I can't confirm that latest part, it's just hearsay.
Posts: 461 | From: Kilimanjaro | Registered: Jan 2008
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^Likely so. Perhaps what he perceived was the remnant of white-based social-bias still seen in American society in general, cuz it sho' ain't no thang who I decide to bang.
Posts: 5555 | From: Tha 5th Dimension. | Registered: Apr 2006
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quote:Originally posted by Sundjata: ^That's interesting since the opposite seems to have played out with me and MY older brother.
And it is so with my cousin and his light bright almost white brother.
Though my cousin isn't really dark skinned.
I wonder: were Michael Eric Dyson and his bro not born into a well-off family?
I think in more well to do families the opposite of what Habari just mentioned tends to occur.
Many rich kids want to be seen as average and kick it with normal kids. So they are either 'down' or irritated by average folk (snooty).
Add the dynamic of being a light-skinned black, and in your own mind you consider yourself succeptible to being called a sellout/ "white", at least as long as this "lightskinned darkskinned" thing keeps getting blindly repeated.
In middle class families this thing could play a role like in Habari/AfricaI's story because they are less informed and BELIEVE or at least propagate (ie belief in practice) stereotypes about their own race. All of the children may be recognized as the same 'race', but the darker skinned ones that show promise treated differently (perhaps gets pursuaded to do entertainment like sports or music) than the light-skin child that shows promise (who instead might be encouraged in what he shows as it is recognized as being 'white thing' and he is seen as being part white).
**********************************************
This is why I think it is better to focus on what's crucial and not in blindly repeating the past or practicing the past (if you will) on young children.
The past should stay in the past, but should be learned from. - Habari, it's that simple, ya dig?
Posts: 5555 | From: Tha 5th Dimension. | Registered: Apr 2006
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Interesting comments on the topic. What they show is how Europe[in the symbolic sense]was able to take a group of captive people and effcetively lobotomize them culturally.
The idea of identity long founded on kinship[in the anthropological sense]and language was first erased then in almost Mengele fashion replaced by a caste system built on brutality and rape which was then glorified by perpetrators and elements of the brutalized.
But this insidious Mengele-esque system--in the sense of grotesquely seeking to biologically transform humans by brutal force--seems to be the sinister calling card of Europe every where it extends its cultural tentacles. The question is how can one decry the crime as an enormous crime against humanity and at the same time embrace or be indifferent to its results. This seems to be a general problem that has resulted from Europe's encounter with Africa.
Very recently in South Africa some blacks were killed by the township vigilantes during the recent xenophobic unrest because they were of dark hue and therefore not assumed to be South African.
In Africa proper skin lightening creams are used by many women with often disastrous results. But they are still sold. And in fashionable circles European hairstyles--by way of wigs and extensions--is the norm.
Maybe what is needed is a serious cultural revolution on 2 fronts. For those overseas victims of this extraordinary crime against humanity, would they be willing to reject the colour-caste-christianity-European names faux kinship system for something like the African kinship systems that prevailed before the great crime. Or maybe that's impossible because master race status has been ascribed to the European other by its victims. For t hose on the African continent victims equally of the Atlantic trade--loss of family members, domestic and cultural destruction, etc.--and a King Leopold-like colonialism there is need to confront the grotesque results of personality and identity changes: rampant egoism, rampant individualism, rampant schizophrenia[francophone, anglophone, arabaphone--problems of Sudan, South Africa, North Africa etc.]. As in what have been the effects of alien religions in Africa given that the chief totemic personalities of such religions are not not seen as African? And the schizoid personalities that result from cultural fealty to the West in terms of political systems and imported cultural forms?
So again is there a need for an African cultural revolution?
Posts: 5492 | Registered: Nov 2004
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lamin, are you saying that the bolded was caused solely by that same Mengele ish system because
quote:Originally posted by lamin: Interesting comments on the topic. What they show is how Europe[in the symbolic sense]was able to take a group of captive people and effcetively lobotomize them culturally.
The idea of identity long founded on kinship[in the anthropological sense]and language was first erased then in almost Mengele fashion replaced by a caste system built on brutality and rape which was then glorified by perpetrators and elements of the brutalized.
But this insidious Mengele-esque system--in the sense of grotesquely seeking to biologically transform humans by brutal force--seems to be the sinister calling card of Europe every where it extends its cultural tentacles.
[...]
In Africa proper skin lightening creams are used by many women with often disastrous results. But they are still sold. And in fashionable circles European hairstyles--by way of wigs and extensions--is the norm.
East Asians, Indians, and others all seem to have the above goin on as well..
I don't recall China being raped the way other places have. So what's with the women's eye-surgery and skin lightening creams there?
Also, in alot of good/notable animes the characters all look at least somewhat European, and certain Asian features are either absent or on a character who is somewhat the bunt of a joke/jokes. I was looking at authors/cartoonists one day and they were majoratively Asian. So is this attributable to demand or what? And so I wonder why the opposite with Hip Hop and their image.
Posts: 5555 | From: Tha 5th Dimension. | Registered: Apr 2006
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I mean I lived for some years in Western countries...well the girls you meet on the street are pretty average...I don't want to go further...so girls are usually more artificial than men in all cultures, they pay more attention to what they view as the norm...basically if the norm was dark skin ...they will try to look like a dark skinned woman....this is what many men don't get...girls just try to look like what they show you in magazines and movies...but when you like at Western girls on the street...well...it's not the best....they are pretty basic...they don't look like the girl in magazines or movies...actually traditionally in my culture the purest and most beautiful girl is the darkest...and I think among some other cultures in Africa it's the same...
Posts: 461 | From: Kilimanjaro | Registered: Jan 2008
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Look how little it means to many of us, like this guy^ who makes a fool to himself.
Posts: 5555 | From: Tha 5th Dimension. | Registered: Apr 2006
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quote:Originally posted by lamin: It's all about white magic. Hopefully, it would be negated by black magic one day.
Many White people up yonder in Holland, Europe, visit the tanning saloon. Why is it they want to be brown? I had whites apologising to me for their white skin. Guess they just want to come home.
On the other hand I see Black people doing interesting things with their hair and face, from the beginning of time, which does not mean they want to be White. Remember, it all began in Africa, untill others started to steal things and put stigma on things.
So, as a Black person you can go horseriding in full gear, or drink tea or watch opera, because it all started with Black's. Van Beethoven was a Black man.
Posts: 5454 | From: Holland | Registered: Aug 2008
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Everything did not start with blacks. Horse riding started on the Central Asian plains. The Egyptians did not adopt horses until relatively late in the game. Tea originates in China. Please.
Posts: 8891 | Registered: May 2005
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Perhaps I should clarify my remark. My research centers around 1500-1789, when according to my findings Europe was ruled by a Black and Coloured elite. So when I speak of drinking tea and riding horses I refer to habits that these people introduced into western culture. Humanity and all civilisation started in Africa, by the way.
Readers take note that our con-artist is again using different nick's at the same time to win arguments, insult and 'proof' that he is superhumanly intelligent. Well, he isn't, but only preys on people's good will.
Posts: 5454 | From: Holland | Registered: Aug 2008
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I don't recall China being raped the way other places have. So what's with the women's eye-surgery and skin lightening creams there?
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