Blissfully Black
America still has race issues. But the idea I want to share with you doesn’t rely on things being better now. All it assumes is that things do get better eventually.
If we make the assumption that things get better, then it follows that there will be some Black people whose lives are better than those of previous generations. In fact, they will not experience the pain or suffering that those previous generations experienced.
This is what I call “blissfully Black”. It’s the idea that as society begins to be more equitable and Black people are treated as equals, there will be Black people who will have experienced less racism.
However, social change is usually uneven. Just because a particular geographical area or economic tier tends to have people that are less racist does not mean that people in other areas or different economic tiers don’t still face the same hardships of the past.
Why is this important? It’s important because there’s a strong narrative I’ve seen that all Black people understand each other’s struggles. That we all know what it means to be “Black in America”. But as things get better, this will no longer be true.
There will be Black people in America who do not face the same struggles of not being able to get a job and who don’t live in communities where the police are more likely to be violent towards them and who don’t have to face a daily onslaught of microaggressions. These people may become Black leaders and people in position of power, and yet have no idea what it means to everyone else to say “I’m Black in America”. They will be blissfully Black, unaware of the struggles and hardships that other people who look like them or have similar ancestry continue to face day after day and year after year.
The conclusion is that we will need to hold people who are blissfully Black to the same level of accountability as we hold the stereotypical “white men” to today. They are still responsible for learning about the hardships of Black people and working to stop all forms of oppression, wherever they may be. Holding them accountable may in fact be even harder, since they will likely feel that they inherently understand what struggles Black people face, since they themselves are, in fact, Black.
But the truth is that no one inherently understands what struggles anyone else faces. You have to listen, and you have to learn. And we, the people of America, are responsible for holding them accountable to do that learning and to be an ally of Black people who face centuries-old struggles that have still not been resolved.
If you have friends or family or people you know who you think might benefit from this idea, please share it with them. I write in order to help.
