Hello Sisters!
My business is Black-Market Exchange and my organization The Houston Black Professionals Meetup Group . As you can see, I LOVE my people.
Every now and again I receive a comment form via my business website from a Caucasian person who goes into a rant about how unfair it for blacks to have "black" organizations, but how whites cannot. Then, it is almost inevitable that things like "white history month" and "WET, instead of BET" are brought up. To view the entire note sent to me and my overall viewpoint, visit www.blacksynergist.com .
What are your thoughts? Is this really unfair?
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See this is too funny to me. They feel left out when they cant get into a black organization. To be left out becuase of the color of your skin. Humm......
What is unfair is not that we have black oriented organizations, but the fact that many times, particularly in many genres of business and networking, we have to. It is difficult for me to sympathize with non-blacks who neither identify with our experiences nor care. Not that I have a problem with other races, but I find no shame in identifying with my own. It is not the titles of white-oriented organizations that is a problem for blacks. It is the damage done by many of the unstated and underlying messages that they send into our communities. It is the differences that are made between us when we participate in organizations,etc that are dictated by other races. There have been great strides made, but we have to uplift and uphold the experiences and ambitions that we own and that have brought us thus far in order for the society as a whole to move forward. If anything, other races should welcome our collective voices, because it assures them of the hope for the entire human race - and not just their own. A hopeless society can be a destructive one for all.
If black music, media, books, actors, art,etc was as mainstream as the Caucasian counterparts then we would not need our own space. We have been creating our own for years because, well let's get real, they really don't want to share but a little bit.
Goodness, I get so irritated on this one because in large part its such a ridiculous argument. Mass media is white, point blank the end. Creating black spaces is something we do to create our own forms of media, as they have theres. Beyond stating that fact to those who inquire about it, I don't waste my time debating it.
We have a responsibility to ourselves to redefine who we are in our own voices. We have the right to create spaces in which we are comfortable. After all, every day we change the pitch of our voice and put on their clothes to blend into their world. How would they react if they had to always change themselves to fit it.
On your spaces, God Bless you for creating them, and on this space and many others, we can be who we are and nothing less. Let them go seek and or create more of the spaces they already have. Let us focus on building a community we can be proud of.
Replies
Welcome to our world! Now you know how it feels!
Entitlement at its best..too funny!
I am not racist but I am a realist.
We have a responsibility to ourselves to redefine who we are in our own voices. We have the right to create spaces in which we are comfortable. After all, every day we change the pitch of our voice and put on their clothes to blend into their world. How would they react if they had to always change themselves to fit it.
On your spaces, God Bless you for creating them, and on this space and many others, we can be who we are and nothing less. Let them go seek and or create more of the spaces they already have. Let us focus on building a community we can be proud of.
And that's my 2 cents plus a dollar or 2 :)
-lh