L&T Publisher Earl Watt
Now an adult, former child actress Raven Symone raised eyebrows when she said she was not an African American but an American.
As expected, the race baiters chimed in, and she clarified her statement, but in a rare show of boldness, she didn’t cave.
“When I say that ‘African-American’ doesn’t align with me, that label, it doesn’t mean that I’m negating my Blackness or I’m not Black,” she said. “It means I am from this country. I was born here.”
She was born here. She is American.
Those who go through the process of earning citizenship, although not born here, are also Americans.
Americans.
Not Hispanic-American, African American, Irish-American.
American.
Symone is an American who happens to be black. I’m an American who happens to be white.
But those who want to deflect from the real conversations about how to make our country better, or even are neighborhoods, schools and churches, it’s much easier to simply make every criticism an act of racism, every difference in economic status evidence of white supremacy, and our only identity reverts back to the very skin we had no say in wearing when we were born.
Crispus Attucks was the first man shot by the British during the Boston Massacre. He was black, but more importantly he was an American hero willing to stand up to tyranny.
The 1st Kansas Colored Volunteer Infantry Regiment was an all black civil war unit of volunteers and the first to see combat. They were American heroes.
The Tuskegee Airmen were black Americans who fought against fascism in World War II. They are American heroes.
And so was every pilot, soldier, nurse, and all the others who fought for freedom.
When we separate groups, we separate America. We create the idea that we are not one people united in the cause for freedom and equality.
We have allowed the language to be hijacked with words like Diversity, Equity and Inclusion that sound noble, but the actions behind the words is anything but. The concept is to sew division, put up boundaries under the guise of “safe spaces” to support the illusion that racism is inherent and a core value of America.
It’s not, and it has taken 250 years to achieve a more equal society.
But you want to keep people in line? Throw out slogans like reparations to keep minorities voting for one party that has done nothing to benefit communities of color. Write checks that chain people to poverty instead of provide hope and a future.
Education for minorities is being crushed with concepts like Critical Race Theory, and some claim mathematical concepts are racist. Grading systems are racist.
The word racist has been so abused just like the boy who cried wolf, and when true acts of racism occur, it’s hard to separate because of the diluted claims.
Despite our racist past, America did something no other nation has attempted or accomplished. We blended races, religions and cultures in a coalition committed to freedom with guaranteed rights for each individual.
We dared to believe that all people are created equal.
What we do with our God-given rights is up to us. Live healthy and prosper, or become addicted to drugs and suffer. Our outcomes are based on our actions, and no other nation on the planet has allowed those willing to work hard, to dream and to innovate the opportunity to enjoy the fruits of their labor more than the United States of America.
We won’t always agree. But we can debate our differences in the open. We can challenge ideas and concepts without fear of reprisal, and while we question the concepts, it is simply an admission of failure when those conversations are hijacked by claims of racism.
We are better than that.
Symone was right. She shouldn’t be defined by the color of her skin.
Whether black, white, brown or otherwise, don’t be reduced to an identity of pigment. Be judged by your actions, whether you stood for those in need and offered them hope rather than a handout, you provided an ability and not temporary sustenance that will not last.
Self esteem starts with self reliance. Americans can take pride in the fact that our path is our own. If that path doesn’t lead to the prosperity we wanted, we have to look at the choices we made and take responsibility for them.
There is no guarantee of success, only a guarantee to try, to reach, to stretch. We have the freedom to pour out our blood, sweat and tears to become the person we want to be, no matter the color of our eyes our hair or our skin.
If anyone falls short of that by injecting race as a reason an excuse for accountability or falling short, then they are rejecting America’s values, not you.
