Truth About Being Black in America - Healing with Time

As a community (without a specific African cultural heritage beyond slavery and having to depend on MOSTLY each other socially for many years) Blacks must purge the idea of Black against White. It's not easy. History is a harrowing emotive storm of accusation, hurt, and blame of what some Whites have done for the sake of personal prosperity at the expense of many Americans of African descent.

The Truth about Being Black in America presents the legacy of being Black in America. In this segment, the implication of that legacy receives attention.

The Black communities of the United States of America must not disregard their shared heritage as descendants of slaves and second-class citizens with attempts to convert to the majority culture--pretense that color does not matter. No. There must come acknowledgment and acceptance that will lead to clarity of purpose, to begin the long cultural and racial healing Americans need to endure--voluntarily.

White America, the cultural aspect of a White America, is a choice purposely forged with the benefit of continuity of culture from homelands never interrupted by forced cultural purging.

Blacks have no choice but to accept the ambiguity of connections to Africa and the reality of livestock-like breeding in America. Many descendants of American slaves are attributed stereotypical physical characteristics of tall, large muscular men and thick wide-hipped women. At one point in history, this description could depict the humans that slavers used to breed the other slaves. There may be some connection to the assumption that Blacks excel at sports at a higher rate than not.

This would also justify the stereotype that American slaves' descendants are inherently intellectually inferior--a premise that most would not accept in modern psychology. No scientific justification for such a view is forthcoming, but culturally the idea was considered and is slowly diminishing along with the physical stereotypes.

This subject, of course, is too complex to receive full attention in a mere section of an article, but here is a beginning. Because of the cultural effects of slavery and persecution for many generations in any given situation, a Black individual must cycle through introspection common to most segments of society that do not represent the ideal composition of the dominant culture. To answers the question before giving out examples: Not Enough Time Has Passed. Not Enough Healing Has Occurred Not Enough Societal Shift Has occurred.

For instance, a White man may experience a bad day at work and speak rudely to a Black store clerk who may think, "Did that person behave curtly because I am Black?"

Because of the implication of his or her culture handed down from generations of oppressed Black people, those thoughts flash through the minds of many Blacks (and other marginalized segments of society) and are filed away by rationalization, hopefully positively.

The same mental gymnastics applies to women--especially minority women who must add to the mental reflection the question of their gender.

This introspection applies to anyone who does not identify with the majority culture including homosexuals, obscure religious groups, etc. It is true for Blacks, whose culture is uniquely tied to America since that group is alone having been forced into the States and forced to give up culture.

This all translates subjectively that as a group (not individually), Blacks think that the prisons are full of Black men and women because Blacks have no choice but to fight through the American system even if they have a more level playing field in today’s society.

It means Obama was the president because "THEY"(WHITE PEOPLE) want Blacks to stop using the excuse that Blacks cannot get ahead in society because of racism--the hidden kind, conspiratorial.

There exists a large array of opinions among Blacks. Those who think differently may receive negative attention as one who denies heritage or is denying heritage unawares--hurting themselves by disassociating with the social aspects of most African American culture. The stain of slavery is that it limits modern descendants of slaves--has the potential to restrict them. Freedom of movement, thought, and philosophy are hard-fought for in America among intellectuals who struggle within their economic communities when worry about law officials treating them disparagingly for the "crime" of having too much melanin, and the wrong texture of hair arises.

Whites do not need a race with which to identify; however, Blacks seem to need race collectively and not individually. Of course, there exists those whose cultural experience has allowed them to adjust to mainstream American society, which is a growing number.

Again, not enough time has passed since the Civil Rights Movement. Possibly, in three to five generations Blacks generally will think about race as do most Caucasians--meaning race does not define their heritage.

Yet, it is also intriguing that an ethnic group of Americans exist whose only identity stems from American origins, a uniquely American creation.

It is not the purpose of this article to persuade Americans of African heritage to forget the struggles of the American slave. Contrarily, Black Americans must remember and embrace the shared American heritage of struggle.

All Americans have struggled to some degree for the right to be in America. The United States of America is culturally diverse with groups that successfully etched a place in the American landscape.

Whether the struggle began with a fight for equality or a battle for independence, all Americans share the same single trait to persevere until the work is completed and the situation controlled.

American descendants of the African slave are distinguished as captives and slaves in the nation, but share the glory of overcoming with other groups. Granted, the descendants of slaves may have a greater deal to overcome because of the oppressive past; however, such a history does not constitute a handicap.

The determination of the change-makers of the past has diffused in the genetic core of all Americans. As diverse as America is, it is the common heritage that makes it great and not the diversity alone.