At the risk of having my head taken off, I'll go further than this to say that of the folks of black hue that I have met in the U.S., I would distinguish three groups: 1) those who have recently immigrated 2) those who have grown up in mostly segregated communities in the U.S. and fashioned their sense of self in terms that were made in the black community 3) those who have grown up in the U.S. in integrated regions. I would say, again anecdotally, that the likelihood of a black man/woman believing themselves to be fully human is strongest in 1 and weakest in 3. Perhaps what Obama presents is a man who is absolutely convinced of his dignity and humanity.
A very rare thing in the U.S. in a black man.
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Well, I certainly have no intention of "taking your head off" since your observations don't seem unreasonable to me.
But then again, in a curious way, they also seem to be not quite right. There's something missing and as I type and stare up intermittently at the screen I'm trying to work out in my thoughts what it is.
Perhaps the trouble - for me - is the notion that it's rare for a black man, in the US, to be fully convinced of his humanity. I hear this sort of thing a lot (mostly from lefties it seems) but it certainly doesn't jive with my direct experience which has not been a rose petal strewn and laurel leaf crown adorned triumph down the streets of Rome.
Needless to say (though strangely, I'm about to say it) I know a good number of black men. A few as close friends and others as part of outwardly moving, concentric circles of acquaintances - social networks and family connections.
So, I've had ample opportunity to speak with, get a sense of and have some concept about the state of mind of these men. And oh yes, I also have some vague idea of what's going on in my own mind from moment to moment.
I have to report that although some of these guys are truly messed up and in need of intervention of one sort or another, I cannot say there's some epidemic of self-loathing. Of course, someone will pull a study out of the sparkly, magic sociology hat which shows that 1/3rd or 3/5ths or some insanely huge percentage of black men believe every horrible thing that's ever been said about us as a group and are seething with conflicting emotions as a result - one moment raising a fist in defiance, the next crying in a mug of cheap beer in a neighborhood bar.
Well maybe, but I grew up pretty damn poor with other pretty damn poor people and really cannot remember thinking of myself or my friends as sub-human, as less than white people or rich people or people with very nice teeth.
But having said that, I will concede the following about black immigrants...
One of my good friends is a very cool dude from Nigeria. He's a quite accomplished lawyer who jets to and fro doing the sorts of things lawyers who travel internationally wearing Hugo Boss suits do (it's a joke between us that I can't accurately describe his job and he calls my IT work "super geek world domination fun time" cause 'network engineer' just doesn't make a lick of sense to him). The difference between T and most of the rest of my friends is that he's totally unconcerned with the reactions of white people to the fact of his blackness.
Do you dig where I'm going here? It's not that he's more convinced of his humanity or more dignified (though he is a dignified cat - but I think that's a cultural thing that has more to do with not being a native American, the land of celebrated oafishness, than being a black immigrant) it's that he's not looking over his shoulder to see what white people will say or do in reaction to his action.
He's totally unconcerned.
So it's not that native black guys think, as a group, they're untermenschen, it's more that many feel, as a force of habit, the need to think about how their movements and words are perceived by white folks - the unblinking eye. This often creates a kind of hesitancy, a species of bashfulness that may appear to be a lack of confidence but is really a sort of ducking reflex for incoming fire.
Some seek to overcome this by being more confident than confident or, more human than huMan but that's a story for another time.
.d.