Juan Williams Discusses Growing Divide in "Black America"

Juan Williams examined the Black intra-racial divide on NPR's News and Notes program yesterday (Thursday). This has been evident for the last several years.... but Bill Cosby helped to really get a discussion going on the issue. It seems that before Cosby so boldly raised the issue, Black Americans were treating it like the Elephant in the room.

Well Juan acknowledges the Elephant. He discusses data from a recent NPR/Pew Research report on the issue of racial identity. The report seems to support what I have felt for a long time- that there is no such thing as a "Black America" per se. That is such a monolithic term and I have never favored the way that it has been used. This society is always attempting to place Black people in a box. In fact, Blacks seem to be the most "Boxed in" of all the major ethnic groups.

However, since the Civil Rights struggle of half a century ago, Blacks have become much more diverse, socially, culturally, economically, and politically. This is especially true in terms of cultures and values. The truth is, there is no overriding issue, such as unmitigated racism, that requires the kind of oneness or unity that was seen 50 years ago. Blacks have chosen many different paths. Unfortunately the media has not caught on to that fact. We are still referred to in monolithic terms....and it annoys the hell out of me. Ironically, this media ignorance has been one of the reasons for my push back against the Rap Culture, BET and the like, because there is this track record on the part of the media to lump Black folks together in one big pot.

The results of this study are not new to Black Americans, since many have known this for years. But it may be news for the news reporters and the TV producers. Will they do something constructive with this information, such as change the way they refer to Black people or change the way they report events? Somehow I doubt it.

The report is similar to Dubois's two Souls analogy, although it is now manifesting in different ways.

This Black cultural split is real and "the community" is becoming more divergent everyday. This is why I also don't like the term "Black Community" because it suggests a oneness that does not really exist and has not existed since the Black Pride movement of the 70's thru parts of the 80's. Black people are clearly choosing different value systems and lifestyles. In addition, the Black intra-racial gap is also growing in terms of economics and education.

There is a permanent underclass that is emerging, and Black Americans will disproportionally be a large part of that group.... and this time it will not be because of an oppressive White Man holding them back, it will be because of the choices that they have made and the value systems that they embrace.

So how will Black people identify in the future since the skin color paradigm is being shattered? A more important question might be... would society (esp. the Media) finally recognize our diversity?

It is amazing to me that in 2007, people like Dog Chapman, Michael Richards, Don Imus, etc feel that they can run to ONE MAN whom they feel represents all Black people. It's insulting. When Dog Chapman ran to Al Sharpton, it was just as insulting to me as the racist tirade itself... perhaps even more insulting.

But as long as we share Brown skin, I think we will always be treated as a monolith. This, in a way, is turning into a new form of racism. White Americans are seldom required to deal with these racial identity issues. But as a Black American I constantly feel under attack... as if I must constantly answer for the wrongs, the lifestyle choices and the values embraced by the wider group.