My father, who is 82 years old and grew up in de facto segregation in, Gary, IN, when confronted with a stat on Black poverty or economic helplessness or some anecdote about Blacks being victimzed by white people always says, "Integration was the worst thing to happen to Black people." We certainly can get into the various philosophical, moral and political issues behind the importance/necessity of integration but I think what has to be understood is that for my father, integration is the legally supported option to associate with or participate in hegemonic peoples and institutions. For my father it doesn't mean you have to but could if you wanted to and white folks couldn't stop you. What I love about this understanding and, which is, one I share, is that it comes out of a back ground that some would call segregated but others would call comfortable. Hence this piece from the Washington Post that focuses on the growth of segregation among Afri-US (my rebellious way of saying African Americans) peoples.
When I try to explain "double consciousness" to my students, I dive into my background growing up in Black Power Gary in which over 95% of the city was Afri-US and held damn near all positions of power and authority. So unlike DuBois' dilemma of "always looking at one’s self through the eyes of others, of measuring one’s soul by the tape of a world that looks on in amused contempt and pity" I was constantly looking at my self through the eyes of people, not necessarily Black people and certainly not white people. The article in the WAPO, nails two specific points which are that separation is different from segregation (voluntary selection vs. imposed marginalization) which Afri-US people have known for years and something more to my thought,
"They enjoy interacting with other blacks," Karyn Lacy, a sociologist at the University of Michigan, wrote in her book "Blue-Chip Black," for which she interviewed dozens of parents in Prince George's. "Scholars have focused so much on the burden of blackness that they have devoted scant attention to the possibility that there is something enjoyable about being black and participating in a community of blacks."
There is a tremendous industry which has arisen to necessarily and deservedly describe what a pain in the ass it can be, to be -co-citizens with many of the descendants of the people that enslaved and did various other things to your ancestors. Most don't want to admit it but that type of baggage doesn't go away just we all may enjoy the same televisions shows or The Wire got somebody to think about the inner city differently. However on the other side of it, it can be rather damn fun to be Black and be around Black people. All of these great cultural contributions which are attributed to Black people that are loved the world over? Well we get front row seats on the music, dances, humor, insight, yadda, yadda, yadda. It gets lost that there are several sides to living and no one walks on the rainy side of the street all the time. Part of the fun of being Black, is being Black in spaces where race ceases to matter. Places where one can stop second guessing what one's behaviour may mean (to a racial other re: white person) or how a statement or look is interpreted or do the people around you get IT without having to have IT described, pointed out or translated for them. It is a fantastic sensation to know that Black people are people and display the full range of great, good, bad and f*****up qualities that people universally exhibit. For example, the US electing a Black person President shocked me not because I was surprised there was someone out ready and able for the job, the commitment of the necessary amount of my fellow white citizens to vote for him was the shocker. When you grow up in a variegated pre-dominantly Black area, leadership makes it self known, it just happens to be Black. Intelligence shows itself, it just happens to be Black, "family values" display themselves, they just happen to be the way Black people understand "family values". Pre-dominately Black communities offer these experiences and more, so it is no surprise that PG County is getting more Black and why so many Afri-US people over the past 10-20 years have moved back down South. At the end of the day most people want opportunities and circumstances that will allow them to pursue their dreams, as well, most want to be able to do it in safe and (emotionally) secure environs, in short communities, not gatherings or collectives or awkward cheese and wine receptions, but community.
