While science has finally concluded that from a biological standpoint, black skin means nothing with regards to full membership in the human race, the social value attached to black skin remains problematic for black people. While we may finally understand intellectually that blackness does not determine inherent intelligence, creativity, talent, nor morality, the world continues to behave as though skin color is attached to all these things. As a result, black people like me, experience a confusing mixture of esteem for our contributions and disrespect for our person on a daily basis from a society that is itself confused, guilt-ridden, stubborn, and afraid of us. The same people who eagerly enjoy, consume and imitate our rhythms, artistry, and creativity ignore, debase, and ridicule us as inferior beings. We are a traumatized people. I am traumatized. We suffer from PTSD. I suffer from PTSD. And we die younger. The highly prevalent health issues like high blood pressure, diabetes, chronic kidney disease and cancer are connected to our trauma.
To survive in black skin continues to mean that daily stress levels will be higher, resilience must be higher, creativity to overcome hurdles must be higher, and a combination of street smarts and book smarts must be higher. The confirmation hearing of Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson showed how we have to do more, take more, and be more to be allowed to occupy the same space as our white counterparts. And once we arrive, people continuously question our presence. Her story is the story of many black people (including me) since Affirmative Action opened doors that were previously closed to us despite our qualifications. White conservatives refuse to acknowledge that for most of U.S. history they closed the doors of opportunity to us. And now they choose to ignore how we had to struggle against all odds to gain the required qualifications to apply for college admission or a job position that was once closed to us. Affirmative Action wasn’t some “give-away” program for inferior black folks, but that’s what the conservatives want people to believe. They want to hide the historical legacy of black discrimination and claim a level playing field that never existed. The denial of past in present discrimination is an attitude that just further traumatizes black people.
What we saw in the horrifying Will Smith incident was the result of generational trauma. I believe that Chris Rock’s response was also born from that same place of trauma. Generations of black women have lived their lives undefended, disrespected, abused, and invisible. We go missing, die in childbirth, watch our sons murdered by police, and suffer abuse and no one comes to our rescue. At the same time, generations of black men have born the frustration of being unable to defend their black wives, mothers, and sisters against a society that denies both their worth and vulnerability as females. When Chris Rock made his insensitive joke, I think we witnessed the explosion of a black man finally feeling empowered enough to defend his wife. And I think Chris Rock knew it, too, and refused to allow the Los Angeles Police Department to arrest Will Smith. Although we understand and think that finally a black man is defending a black woman, nothing about that incident was acceptable except that Chris Rock didn’t escalate the incident by fighting back. I must admit that I wonder whether Will Smith would have had the same confidence to slap a white comedian.
And finally, the world got to witness first-hand how caring the powerful are when white hardship from war is on display. In this world, white people’s tears are more highly valued and deserving of media attention and actual care than the hardships of people of color in similarly dire situations. The coverage of the Russian invasion of Ukraine is on CNN all day and night with every aspect of the Ukrainian sufferings being broadcasted as though no others in the world are also suffering the atrocities of war at this very moment. The opening of borders and homes, the outpouring of humanitarian aid, the financial donations, and even the willingness of people to travel there to help Ukraine fight is like nothing we have seen in the many other countries laid bare by war. War correspondents have said as much without realizing it that these are “Europeans” and that makes the suffering untenable.
As a country and as a world, we know in our heads that humans are the same whatever their skin color. The problem is that our hearts have yet to get the message and until we do, black skin will continue to be a problem for black people.