Back on Friday, July 19th, 2013, in an eloquent off the cuff statement from the White House press room after the not guilty verdict of George Zimmerman, President Obama listed a number of factors that in a subtle but significant way affect the relationship between black American males and most of the rest of us. The president’s message was a powerful one in the way it addressed the nature and effects of human prejudice.
As I see it, there are five types of prejudices we practice
towards one another: religious, racial, ethnic, economic, and functional. (I define “functional prejudice” as the
attitude by the general public regarding the usefulness of people who live with
disabilities.)
One reality all of us have in common is our
individuality. No matter how welcome or
unwelcome we are at birth, we enter, exist in and exit this world separate from
everyone else in our individual personhood.
Our personal blessings and maladies affect us not only in the way they
inhibit or enhance our capacity to function, but also in how others perceive
them. Hence, everyone who read or listened
to what the president had to say reacted to his message depending on his or her
own perception of the president as well as experiences with socially inhibiting
prejudice.
As I listened to President Obama, I tried to imagine myself as
a black American male. I felt
comfortable doing that for two reasons.
First, I strongly identify with the president and what I know of his way
of viewing most public matters. Even
more importantly, however, I fully comprehend the challenges that those who are
“born different” inevitably face.
There are prejudices against which all of us invariably
struggle. Some of these prejudices are only
circumstantial. Other prejudices are
unfortunately endemic to more permanently ingrained attitudes.
To be a black male is to realize early on that people in
general (and whites in particular) have limited expectations regarding your
energy, creativity, intelligence, and decency. Even more, you learn from early
and sometimes bitter experience that a significant portion of the white
population is far from eager to like -- let alone befriend -- you. Tolerance and genuine friendship may follow a
period of pleasant proximity, but the benefit of most people’s doubts is
something you’ll have to “earn” even though they seem to be so easily granted,
as a birthright, to everyone else. Thus,
the president’s references to the way people often almost automatically react
to black males were sad but instructive to hear.
If you’re born with a disability, you learn two things
pretty early in life. They are that the world
is designed, for the most part, for the able-bodied, and that most people, be
they parents, teachers, friends, potential service providers or employers, are
genuinely surprised to learn how useful or helpful you can be to them as they
meet their personal and professional obligations.
A number of years ago, I heard an address by the late
Kenneth Jernigan, the long time president of the National Federation of the Blind,
in which he observed that the blind and disabled face a special brand of
prejudice. Racial, religious, or ethnic prejudice,
Dr. Jernigan asserted, is historically based on fear and hatred. Opportunity discrimination (one of
prejudice’s meanest deeds!) against the blind and/or disabled however is
usually energized by love and a desire to protect. To resist the well-intended protection or discrimination
of people who love you can be a soul-destroying task!
Hence, all minorities whether ethnic, religious, racial, disabled,
or economic are born into a considerably skeptical world! However disconcerting that reality may be, the
victims of prejudice face the challenge of navigating life’s outrages with all
the fortitude they can muster.
Nor should we assume for one moment that the successful
escape social ostracizing. We’ve all
heard how difficult it can be to be a preacher’s kid, the offspring of a
celebrity, or even the child of a popularly elected public servant. The
capacity for doubt, skepticism, and prejudice is by no means the sole prerogative
of the successful. Just as the poor, the
black, and the disabled are often the victims of skepticism, doubt, and
discrimination, you can be sure that their victimhood has taught them how to
dish out their own brand of resentful prejudices.
As happenings, the tragedy of Trayvon Martin and the acquittal
of George Zimmerman indeed have little to recommend them. As object lessons, however, these occurrences
could be invaluable if they teach us to make tomorrow “kinder and gentler” than
yesterday and today have ever been.
Sadly, human prejudices and opportunity discrimination are
likely to be with us as far ahead as the most foresighted among us can see. As
the president pointed out, however, the good news is that every generation
seems to be doing a better job countering and potentially healing the outrages
of racial, and other dehumanizing, prejudices.
As I see it, President Obama’s calm, non-accusatory manner
and optimistic outlook is leading us in that most desirable direction!
RESPECTFULLY SUBMITTED,
EDWIN COONEY
No comments:
Post a Comment