It is near impossible, I find, to discuss Black History Month without also bringing up the state of race relations today. As such, I find myself asking a question I often do. What direction will American society take to end racism? I believe there are two overarching directions to go, with one likely outcome. Either people on the whole decide race is an attribute as important as hair color, eye color, or height. The other option is society embraces cultural diversity and simply accepts difference.
The first direction I find is the extreme of the popular sentiment which says “There are no differences between us,” or “We’re all the same.”
Former Cosby Show actress Raven-Symoné possibly exemplifies this mindset. In an Oprah Winfrey interview in October, 2014, Symoné rejected the label African-American. "I have darker skin. I have a nice, interesting grade of hair. I connect with Caucasian, I connect with Asian, I connect with Black, I connect with Indian, I connect with each culture."
Culture is in one word the other side here. Can people accept other cultures without being uncomfortable and resentful of them? Of course acceptance goes any direction, from white to black, Asian to Hispanic and any other pairing.
Part of the schism I believe is in the amount of culture, so to speak. I feel there’s a subconscious jealousy amongst some white Americans of other cultures. Hispanics have their own language. Black strangers can refer to each other as “cuz” or “fam.”
In my conversation with Morris Smith, he noticed the same, how whites who haven’t met treat each other as strangers while blacks are more apt to meet with the aforementioned terms.
I, myself, feel like I have no culture. I connect with Irish culture, the music, style, accent, but I’m only a fraction Irish. I’m also Polish, Native American, and some others. I don’t even consider myself truly Southern even though I’ve spent most of my life in Arizona, Texas, and Florida.
As an aside, I feel bad for whites who do identify as Southern. Proud like any culture, they have to deal with much of the world believing they’re stupid and hateful.
I said at the outset there was one likely outcome. I believe racism will eventually die in America by dilution. As people come together and overcome differences they’ll get together, an apropos post-Valentine’s Day sentiment I believe. It will take time, but our descendents will only be shades apart in look and hopefully so in familiarity, too.
This article originally appeared on Santa Rosa Press Gazette: How will racism die?