iZania Blogs

About a week ago I was reading an online article. It was an investigative report by two Black writers, David A. Love and Peter Gamble. It was credible with good sources. When I read it and read the source links (to the New York Times, Time Magazine, and Southern Poverty Law Center and the KKK-supporting group in question, The United Daughters of the Confederacy) included within the article as well as the photocopies of the documents in question, I was appalled and outraged!

I was so angry because every day. for the past several weeks, America (and the world) has been bombarded with news stories and polls that pretend the mainstream media in the U.S. is showing some sort of gender bias against Hillary Clinton rather than (or more than a) racial bias against Senator Obama. For Whites, gender has never trumped race in this country. And to support this reality, the U.S. news media can be observed as it actively engages in unfair, obsessive scrutinizing of the only Black presidential candidate with their numerous 'discussions, reports and polls' about how "racist" is an EX associate of Senator Barack Obama. But here we have two men, brave enough to go against the grain of biased reporting, who bring to light Hillary Clinton's CURRENT associate's (her husband, Bill Clinton's) letters of praise to the United Daughters of the Confederacy. This is a group of women who have recommended the literature of Klansmen, been championed by the racist Senator Jesse Helms, and denounced by

I recently read an article facilitated by The Ohio State University’s Kirwan Institute for the Study of Race and Ethnicity. titled, Whites Underestimate the Cost of Being Black. The basic observation of the research by Phil Mazzocco is “While there has been progress in making racial conditions in American more equal, there's clearly a lot more work to be done,” he said. “Blacks and whites are not experiencing the same America.”

As we approach this Independence Day, I began to ponder the “cost of being Black.”

Independence has a very different meaning for African Americans, and that leaves many of us ambivalent as we watch the fireworks and hear the marching bands and see the parades celebrating our nation’s independence. Freedom for Black Americans came more than 100 years after the Declaration of Independence, and still is characterized by huge gaps in the fruits of independence.

As we look back on our own independence, and evaluate our progress, we are not far removed from the indignities observed by Frederick Douglass , in his Independence Day Speech on the fourth of July, 1852. At that point in the history of our nation – he made this observation:

“At a time like this, scorching irony, not convincing argument, is needed. Oh! had I the ability, and could I reach the nation's ear, I would today pour out a fiery stream of biting ridicule, blasting reproach, withering sarcasm, and stern rebuke. For it is not light that is needed, but fire; it is not the gentle

We have to quit apologizing for being Black.

As I listen and read about the challenges we face as Black people, I am amazed that each step we take forward is accompanied by at least one apology for Black unity. We have to quit doing that. Perhaps we are affected by post traumatic stresses of slavery, or suffering identity crises, or feeling guilty about our “affirmative action position,” or feel we are the undeserving beneficiary of a set-aside program, or that we don’t belong and just got over because of a handout. Whatever the case, we need to examine our situation and formulate a way to move more of us forward without apology.

Among the factors militating against our unity are the countless apologies. We don’t want to seem to be too militant; we don’t want to be accused of reverse discrimination, or racism; we don’t want to seem ungrateful to our mainstream supporters; we don’t want to appear to be separatists; we don’t want to be accused of the same bias of our oppressors; we must treat others equal, even though we are treated unfairly. Often we make these apologies in subtle ways that we don’t even recognize, and therefore, our progress is limited. Instead of aggressively pursuing gains, we apologize for asking for too much, and make exceptions for the high achievers. So, when Blacks make progress in corporate America, they don’t aggressively seek to mentor and develop other Blacks. They view themselves as “first achievers” and as exceptions, not as