In my memory February’s Black History month will go down as one of the more memorable celebrations. On the one hand, Fry’s Electronics didn’t have a Black History Month sale by discounting blackploitation movies. Yes folks, I picked up Coffy and Truck Turner about seven years ago during one of their sales. On the other hand, it seems UCSD had its annual ten year racial dust-up. That’s when I learned that in a post-racial society, a vast majority of people want Negros to shut up and laugh at injustice.

Just because we have a black President doesn’t mean there is a pass for errors committed in the present. I want to address the thousands of people who posted on the news sites of CNN, the LA Times and the San Diego Union. I know there were other places that probably had similar comments, but since I read and know about the ones on those three outlets, I will comment to them directly but others can take what you will from it.

One of the worries some had about talk of a post racial America was that non-blacks would suddenly not care about racism. For whatever reason, people have the need to pick The One for minority groups. The One is the person that proves the exception to the rule. If you can find The One they are used to dismiss any action that might seem bad in normal circumstances. A perfect personal example happened quite a few years ago because someone called me a nigger. They said they meant it as a joke and that he had said it to his ‘other black friend’ and he was fine with it. I explained that it wasn’t a joke to me and I didn’t know this so-called other black friend and even if I did, how does that justify saying the word to me? In general The One is some national ‘leader’ designated by someone to talk for the minority group. I don’t know Jesse Jackson, so he doesn’t speak for me. I don’t know Al Sharpton, he doesn’t speak for me. They have never been to my house, I haven’t shaken their hands, and I haven’t even seen them personally in a crowd. Just because they’re black doesn’t mean they know me. Despite what people think, minorities aren’t the Na’vi and we aren’t the Borg. We don’t tap into some mind hive and know what we all think, nor do we follow in lock steps the words of some self-appointed leader.

Now quite a number of people writing into the newspapers commented that the Compton Cook-Out was thrown by a black man. OK, let’s concede the point; I will say a black guy threw the party. Why didn’t students who attended the party think this was OK? If you listen to some of the reported quotes, since Dave Chappell and other black comics use that humor then it’s OK and what’s the big deal? Why not have the common sense to know a Compton Cook-Out, with its gold teeth and all, isn’t acceptable? And they thought doing this on Black History month was a good celebration? Not all Republicans are Glenn Beck or Rush Limbaugh, but by the logic some have used ALL white people are Glenn Beck followers who love the Tea Party movement. You might say no but he, Glenn Beck is on TV and he’s white so he must be the spokesperson for all of white America. So if someone calls a white person a Glenn Beck sycophant, white people shouldn’t get mad, according to the train of thought.

But there is a real difference here, despite whether you want to believe a black person ‘started this mess.’ It wasn’t a black person who used the word nigger on student run television, then put up a sign that said Compton Lynching. A student, I don’t know the race and frankly I don’t care, put a noose in the library, with all the racial tension going on, and thought that was OK. Black students, who make up 2% of the approximately 27,000 students, were outraged by the events. Did they riot and burn a building like was done at UC Berkley? Oh, by the way, that protest started because of an increase in fees, not because of a racist party, a student run newspaper’s racial insensitivity or a noose hung in the library. The UCSD students handed in demands, marched in a peaceful protest and, yes they did, took over a building. Because of this many called them ungrateful. There were none too subtle suggestions that the students should be grateful for their education, since would be impossible for them to get into college. Yes, folks said the black students got into UCSD because of affirmative action. That’s not a formulation I pulled out of the air, people actually posted this on the news sites. The slogan for quite a few folks was that the students should sit down and shut up. They shouldn’t be so uppity.

I know in the modern age memory and attention span is short. I’m sure many of the people that posted their items figured this is 2010 and to talk about racial unrest is something in the past. A friend of mine told me her daughters roll their eyes when talk of racism comes up. When I was younger I thought the same thing. Racism was something they showed in black and white TV shows. When I started looking for colleges in 1981, I was accepted to a number of schools. UCSD was one of them. Part of the reason I didn’t go to UCSD was because of the racial issues on campus in the 70s. The other was basic economics, but had I wanted to go there my parents would have had the money for me to go. I went to UCLA and I got there because of my grades. I went to one of the more competitive high schools in the city and did well at a number of science fairs. Our school, Gompers, brought students in from all over the city for math, science and computer studies.

In my first month at UCLA, I was hit with a harsh reality. I had gotten to the school because of my education, I had a number of schools who asked me to come, including UCLA, but there were a LOT of times in that first month when I went to see counselors and planned out my college life, the first assumption was I got into school because of sports. Our school didn’t have sports. One that was out of the way it was assumed there was ‘another’ reason for being there. Yes, they didn’t think a black kid could get into UCLA without affirmative action or being a sports star, both of which weren’t the case with me. Remember, we’re talking UCLA. I didn’t even go to the school specifically for the racial diversity. It was a good point but I wanted to go to film school and they had one of the better programs in the country at that time. That didn’t matter. I was a black kid and the first thing seen was affirmative action kid.

I have to tell you that hurts. You study hard and get into a school because of brain power and all anyone can see is black skin and assume someone MORE qualified didn’t get in because of some quota.

Again, I’m told and I’m supposed to accept that is post racial America. Things have changed. How can things change when our attention span is so short? It was 2007 when there was a fight at Jena High School which took on national significance. Do you remember how things boiled over when a noose was found at the tree? Do people even know how much pain is associated with lynching? You want to pretend these things are in the past, that racism is dead, but just because you declare something is over doesn’t make it so.

Here’s a suggestion. This link I have is to YouTube which is the first part of an interview of David Duke by Phil Donahue in 1992. In part of the interview they show a clip from an interview Duke gave on Donahue in 1978. If you listen to Duke you will hear the same arguments and rationalizations said by Limbaugh, Hannity, Savage, Beck and many other conservative talk show hosts today. I’m sure this kind of talk goes past 1978 but the point is for over 30 years we, and by we I mean minorities, have had to put up with the smooth talking separatist who would lull the population into believing God and country were being overrun by foreigners. When this is pointed out, it’s always said it’s the fringe element, not the mainstream. There are good people out there. I have no doubt there are, and like a friend of mine told me it’s the loud people who will get the most attention, but when people try to speak up, to push back against it they are either pushed back or they stand there alone.

For those people who want the students to shut up, who want them to go away and be good little children, I can tell you that won’t happen. You may suppress them for a little while, but something will happen and memories will flood back and they will not remain silent. You see, I was one of those kids, way back when. I was one voice and I was quiet for a lot of years, but I saw atrocity after atrocity happen and I saw too many people turn a blind eye to it. In this instance I remembered a quote I used to say.

I am your worst nightmare. I’m a black man with a brain and a computer.

I’ve been quiet for too long and I’m going to shout out as long and hard as I can. I’m not foolish enough to think I’m going to end racism tomorrow, or even in my lifetime, but I will work on getting people to speak out, to talk, to question and to refute those who would dismiss a noose or a Compton Cook-Out as harmless fun. I will make sure people don’t tell minority students they should be grateful for being in school because affirmative action got them there. I will shout and shout and continue to shout to shine light on the ignorance and intolerance I see.