African Americans, Thank You

I came here from Jamaica and rode on the back of your sorrows and pain, giving myself all the accolades for my success.  I never gave you credit, you who set the stage for me to achieve anything in this country.

I came in 1980, and at age 24, was completely oblivious of the struggles of Blacks in this country.  I knew a lot about the slave trade, or thought I did.  I knew about the Middle Passage, having studied History of the West Indies.  I had no idea there was slavery in the United States.  When I say I was ignorant, I mean it with all letters capitalized.  IGNORANT!  I knew nothing about the Civil Rights Movement.  I did not know who the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. was, even though the great one had visited Jamaica in 1965.  I was 9 at the time.  He had come to lecture at the University of the West Indies.  I would guess that the intellectuals and people within a certain class knew who he was.  Classism and colorism are endemic and deep seated issues in Jamaica and subject of its own thesis.  I am from a family with parents who had at best a sixth grade education and we lived in the inner city. That may have been the excuse for my early years of ignorance.  However, I graduated from Teachers’ College and taught elementary school for three years before emigrating. 

How could I be so ignorant of what was happening in the United States of America?  You see, we heard that America was the land of “milk and honey.”  Everyone wanted to come to the United States.  I had never heard anyone speak a bad word about the US.  My mother had lived here since the early 70’s and she had never ever mentioned anything about discrimination.  The few American Blacks I came in contact with before coming here, were those I met or saw as tourists in Jamaica.  They never spoke or exhibited anything that would let me suspect that anything about their lives was anything beyond the happiness they exuded.  I, in fact, envied them for being born in that land of richness. 

After I got here, I based my information on biases and not facts.  Implicit bias is not the sole territory of Whites, even though, they are the ones who started it and have us believing it as facts, and then we pass the lies on as facts.  Blacks are lazy.  They are criminals.  They are on welfare.  They are on drugs.  They don’t take care of their children.  They are uneducated.  And it goes on and on. 

I didn’t stay ignorant for long.  In 1981, I found myself surrounded by American Blacks and discovered that all I had heard were lies.  There were things I had to learn along the way.  I never understood why some Blacks would not want to give up their information to the government or any agency.  I had never seen “Claudine.”  I had never read any books either.  I never understood why some Black men did not take care of their health.  I did not know about the Tuskegee Experiment. 

One of the criticism about Black Americans, is that they always blame everything on racism.  Guilty of thinking and saying that.  I missed cues along the way, even when I became a reformed critic.  I didn't know racism.  So when a man told me to go back to where I came from, I cussed him told him to go back to where he and his ancestors who stole the land came from and moved on.  It took two experiences that slapped me directly in the face for me to see and get it.  (I will relay one of those experiences in a post tomorrow).

And so I found out that all that I had heard about American Blacks were lies, but…

I didn’t correct friends or others when I heard them repeat the lies.  I, too, failed you.  What did King say about the silent ones…

I know that those of us Blacks not born in the US, have been the brunt of vitriol, with criticism of where we come from, our accents, that we came over on the banana boat, we live in huts , we steal your jobs and other derogatory things, many of them are the same ones mentioned earlier that are said about Black Americans.  "Hurt people hurt people."  Black Americans have been hurt by their extended history of oppression and subjected to criticism from White Americans and by those of us not of this country.  How much can anyone take? 

What I want my fellow non born Blacks living in America to understand.  Where you want to separate yourself from Black America, White America sees you as the same.  Don’t get it twisted.  When the white supremacist comes after you with a noose or that racist cop with a knee, you don’t get a pass because you are Jamaican, Trinidadian, Ghanaian or Nigerian.  Black is Black.   Let me say it again.  Black is Black.  Don’t get me wrong now.  I am not saying we give up who we are.  I am Jamaican through and through.  Ask anybody.  Look at my closet.  Look at the food I cook.  Look at me celebrating my culture come August (Independence) and almost any and everything Jamaican all year long.  Listen to my accent.  Overhear me speaking to another Jamaican and hear my patois.  And don't ever, ever get me mad, you will get my wrath and you will indeed hear the accent, interspersed with patois.  I am also Black America (notice I didn’t say Black American - I respectfully use that term for those who were born here).

Here is my pledge... I stand in solidarity with you, Black Americans. I pledge to continue to study and learn and increase my understanding.  I pledge to not allow anyone to debase you.  I pledge to shut it down if and when I hear it.  You are my sisters and brothers in every sense of the word.  Your pain is mine.  We are Black America.  I will fight for us with all my might and means.  And I love you.

I am sorry, truly sorry for the pain inflicted on you by us and others.  

I thank you for making the sacrifice.  I owe it all to you.