One of the most important lessons I have recently learned in trying to speak on behalf of other people - be it through organizational leadership, the paper or the airwaves - is that our "struggle" as black students on campus is not the same because we are not the same.
My life experiences have taught me that as human beings, our daily experiences are inherently different. Add into the mix race, gender and class, and things get really complicated for anyone working toward change in his or her own life, let alone in others.
Racial identity is usually the "complicating" factor when it comes to addressing black student grievances on campus. In his recent presentation on campus, "Profit, Power, & Privilege: The Racial Politics of Ancestry," Duke University anthropologist Lee Baker explored this use of "racial convenience."
Using several case studies, Baker contends "race, culture, and heritage, have always been used inconsistently in a struggle to define social, political, and economic relationships."
Group identity is paramount to many in our community, and to reside on the "fringes" usually means one can't relate to the vaguely defined "black cultural experience." On campus for example, it seems that some in our community invoke "blackness" as a salve for the wounds of racism or ostracization. Others use it as a claim ticket when it's time to redeem that coupon for social justice.
One can witness this phenomenon in someone who comes to embrace his or her blackness only after "the incident" - usually some form of overt racism like the "nigger" comment by the best friend "who sees no color."
However traumatic, such experiences usually send the accosted one to the far end of the black spectrum, usually exuding Negritude - the ideological concept of affirming black culture - at it's finest.
When it comes to issues of health, sexuality and religion, these "born-again black folk" can seem near schizophrenic.
While preaching dogmatic religious principles, they simultaneously engage in behaviors that debase all the principles they claim to espouse. As a people who are disproportionately afflicted with obesity, heart disease and diabetes, any attempt to address the poor eating habits of our people are met with retorts like "it tastes good" or "a lil' bit of fat back ain't never hurt nobody."
Others make certain "compromises" based on their "consciousness" or "relationship" with their higher power. Of course when things go wrong, the "hater" becomes the scapegoat.
The "hater" concept, made popular by hip-hop artists, is the ghostly concept of the green-eyed monster. Folklore has it that any success in life is to be had at the added burden of dealing with "haters" who spend their days maliciously plotting one's demise by spreading lies and half-truths.
Of course, the schizophrenic, born-again black disciples seem to avoid this nuisance because of their higher consciousness (all 18 months of it).
W.E.B. Dubois' "double consciousness" best explains this renewed sense of blackness as the "sense of always looking at one's self through the eyes of others, of measuring one's soul by the tape of a world that looks on in amused contempt and pity."
While not as eloquent as fellow writer Aric Lewis's "sound advice" to student leaders [Daily News, Feb. 28. 2002], I believe that in order to effectively address black student grievances on campus, students who wish to act on behalf of the community must have a firm understanding that everyone doesn't want the same thing.
A final reminder to the "Black Disciples:" while dealing with your sense of identity, remember that it is an ever-evolving task. Blackness, to me, has always had a sense of permanence and thus my concerns relating to it have remained consistent.
Write to Anthony at neonegro@blackplanet.com
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