A Message from the Average Black Person

To Whom It May Concern:

Greetings. My name is Elon James White. I'm Black.

I write this letter on behalf of a lot of people that fall into the category of Average Black People. (Yes, I capitalize it, as if it were a title.) I do not claim to represent them because that would be absurd. I really, truly don't. I don't even represent my circle of friends. At any point in time one of my Black buddies will, in fact, tell me to go to hell when speaking on concepts of race, politics, or religion.

I do, however, qualify as an Average Black Person. I am neither a part of the Black intelligentsia, nor do I fall into the category of your garden-variety street Negro. A lot of folks see Black people in one of these two categories. Normally, let's be honest, it's the latter.

I don't qualify.

I do come from "the Hood." That's right. I am a born and bred Brooklynite raised in the middle of Bed-Stuy. If you aren't familiar with Bed-Stuy, perhaps you have never listened to gangster rap. You're probably also unfamiliar with Jay-Z, Biggie Smalls, or the thousands of songs that yell out "Brooklyn!" and then give a shout-out to Bed-Stuy. It's fine. Just understand that Bed-Stuy has a primarily negative connotation and for many years was used in boasts to gain respect or fear because it's an incredibly violent environment.

In other words, you could get shot, son.

Speaking of which, I am the son of a single mother. My father is in prison. My grandfather was a pastor and I grew up in the church. I, without shame, also enjoy fried chicken, watermelon, ribs, and orange soda. I can have an incredibly in-depth debate on the best five MCs ever. My credit isn't great and I've been shot.

With facts like this I qualify as a stereotypical Black person right?

But I am also a computer programmer. I've been known to quote Nietzsche. I, on occasion, host dinner parties where I serve five-course meals, including a specialty of mine, White Truffle Tilapia (it's delightful). I have the entire John Williams discography and wear a backpack that is emblazoned with the Thundercats insignia.

Those with one half of that story shake their head at the sheer mass of stereotypes I carry. Then those with the other half question if I even understand the Black experience at all. Some refer to me as someone who "made it out." I currently live in Crown Heights. Some say "You're not like the others." Most people I interact with are very similar to me.

I am an Average Black Person.

So, as an ABP, I have a few requests:

Media.
Please stop referring to blacks as a monolith. I can't possibly express to you the different types of Black people that exist. We neither move as an entity, nor do we move as three or four entities. For every Sharpton, there's a Steele. And for every Sharpton and Steele there are a hundred folks in the middle. What we share is a past, which on occasion helps shape our view on things. Also? Obama is not a unicorn. Please stop acting like Obama and his family are magical in the Black community. Just because some of you may not have seen a Negro like this doesn't mean they don't exist. Lots of smart black folk living with their smart mates and their cute smart kids. So please remember. Obama? Not a unicorn. Black people? Not one voice: I don't care what the supposed Black leaders try to claim.

Supposed Black Leaders.
Please stop speaking for us as if we were a monolith. This is not the 1960s. We don't need a Martin Luther King, Jr. or a Malcom X. You speak for yourselves and your view on what's happening. You also can't police black people. There isn't an us. Are there issues within the Black community? Absolutely, but it's not everybody as much as it is certain groups, most time classes that are in need of help and focus. Hence you can't speak for "Blacks." There are people who need your help and don't want you speaking for them. Oh, and for the love of all that is holy, could you please stop critiquing Obama simply to show you aren't drinking the kool-aid? I get it. You're sugar-free. Got it.

Critics Of Obama.
Hey, um...guess what Black people are not? A monolith. We are not holding Obama on a pedestal. Some critique him harshly (and personally I feel unjustly) and others love him. This is the case with every president. Obama is not the spokesperson for Black people. He is a symbol of hope. He is a symbol of opportunity in a land where opportunity for us seemed nonexistent. He's a symbol of a fight where people cried and died and sacrificed in order for the opportunity for him to exist. But his actions are his actions and have to be judged. Just not four months after he walked in the door with one of the worst clean up jobs in the countries history. You may critique him without critiquing Blacks' ability to critique him.

The hypocrisy of saying we are not One, and yet speaking for the exact group for which I just emphatically denied exists, is not lost on me. Perhaps there are Black people who absolutely want to be spoken for and referred to as if we were one big team. I acknowledge the possibility, but if this was the majority people like Dyson and Smiley would be way more important, and let's be honest: they aren't. I hope that my message is clear. After reading this, the next time you talk to a Black person you can feel comfortable in now knowing with every fiber of your being that you have no clue what they think or feel based on their skin color.

But if they're wearing a Soulja Boy shirt you may disregard this essay and judge them immediately.

Follow Elon James White on Twitter: www.twitter.com/elonjames

Comments

[IrisBittencourt]

There is also a more profound point that is left unstated: there is an "us" and a "them," and there always will be as long as we assume that "race" actually exists. This is true because "race" is fundamentally a binary function -- there can be no "black" without a racialized "white" and vice versa. So, until we all renounce the very concept of race, the prescriptions that you provide will never be implemented. When asked what they like most about being "white," most white students respond by saying that they most enjoy "not being black." Latinos are not a race, but an ethnic group (see the Census), most latinos self-classify as white (less than 2% classify as black) and latinos and Asians share the racialized beliefs about blacks that whites do. Until 1952, only "whites" or "blacks" could be "citizens.­" Asians and latinos tried to fit into the "white" category. They only changed their tune due to the black civil rights movement. It is not coincidental that diversity and minority rights were invented during the civil rights act. They (as well as white women's rights) are primarily aimed at diluting the rights that blacks won and have been very successful in doing so. Eliminating the concept of race will also eliminate the claims of these so-called racial groups. All reparations should be based on historical and present harms -- not a fictionalized version of race.

[RobinSeattle]

Historically, though, whites have to accept blame for creating the bunker mentality that you see among many blacks in the inner cities. Because whites, after the civil war, essentially declared war on blacks via segregation and its various enforcement arms (the klan, bigoted police, etc).

As a white person who sometimes gets fed up with the rhetoric coming out of the usual coterie of self-appointed and media approved black leaders and rappers, when you pause to look at this in a longer term historical context, the kind of rhetorical exchanges going on are, in my mind, Americans grappling with just what true integration and equality means as society seeks to firm up a workable paradigm to accommodate a new status quo. It's ultimately the death rattle of racism. The final resolution inevitably takes decades to finally appear and it probably won't in my lifetime. But it will occur.

[IrisBittencourt]

I appreciate your faith, but only want to remind you gently that there is not one society on the planet that has successfully eradicated institutional racism. I firmly believe that the current course that the US is on will lead it along a path similar to Brazil, which I refer to as Apartheid with a smile. Your reference to a "final resolution" is chilling in light of the history of racism.
Yet, I revert to my initial point: we must first recognize that race does not exist; then we must correct the wrongs that have been done in the name of race; and then we will have "resolutio­n." Because the effects of racialization go well beyond the facts described in the post: the average black today has between 7 and 11 cents for every dollar of wealth that the average white does. This statement is truer in a fundamental sense than any of the racial stereotypes described in the post. Racialization was and always has been about the creation of white wealth. So, even if "whites" do everything that the post requests, will blacks have really gained anything of substance? Will any of those prescriptions prevent us from becoming Apartheid with a smile or worse?

[deepfreezevideo]

I grew up in the DC suburbs in Maryland in the 1960's.
I knew black folks that were from Ken-Gar and some from Roxanna Road in NW.
I knew some that lived in my neighborhood in Bethesda and some that lived in Hyattsville and Suitland. And I knew some that lived in Georgetown and Potomac.
And I've been saying pretty much what Elon says all along, since I was a kid growing up. And that's why I think his editorial is important, because he's right on target.
Thanks Elon.

[Benton]

I grew up in Potomac. The class/cultural distinctions among blacks in metro DC are rather stark.
Middle/Upper-Middle within a wealthier black subculture.
Working Class PG County black culture.
Middle/Upper-Middle wealthier blacks intermixed into mostly white areas of Suburban Maryland/Virginia.
Middle/Upper-Middle wealthier blacks in old school gold coast Upper 16th Street DC Area.
Hard Core Poverty in certain areas in DC.
You still have a more rural/country folk black culture in Southern MD and then beyond Leesburg in Virginia.
You also have a lot of black professionals that have migrated from other areas because they like the fact that their is an established black middle-class.
Totally different subcultures of blacks out of a more blue collar tradition only 40 miles away in Baltimore.

All of these people are close geographically but their concentric circles do not overlay as much as one would think. They also have definite opinions about one another that are not always positive.

The people in these areas don't even sound the same even though they are in a very small geographic area. Now that I live in Northern Virginia, I am amazed at the different more relaxed demeanor of the black community there as opposed to right across the bridge in PG County Maryland.

[faithnj]

thank you for writing this.

[mcyina]

I am with you. I a black foreigner who love it when people want to know me as an individual. I am different from people from my family, town, country and have things in common with many people all over the world. I can get stereotyped all the time and as people get to know me its is fun to see how their idea of my change and its depends on who is doing the stereotyping or how I have been stereotype. She is black so she should be exactly like me, She is a krio from Sierra leone and she should be exactly like me, or different, she is black so she must me from the hood and only listen to rap or she reads alot so she thinks she is better than me.

I just ignore all these people and associate with those that know who I am as a person and like me no matter what, because I am never going to be a 100% like you or who you think I am.

[ShakeYourComplacency]

Elon, I don't think I've read a more pointless article, on here or anywhere. Sorry...lo­l.

And although I'm a white person, I think the majority of black people would read your article and kind of cringe.

I think you lost me at Nietzsche, even before you got to the really wrong stuff.

[Jezreel]

"And although I'm a white person, I think the majority of black people would read your article and kind of cringe. "

Elon's point exactly.

Please stop trying to lump us all together into a one size fits all category. We are not monolithic. And no. You do not understand us or speak for us. Nor do you know how the majority of black people who read this article would react.

I can assure you that the Average Black Person would not cringe.

[Elon James White - Huffpost Blogger]

I would love to know what, as a White person, you read that would make "the majority of black people" cringe? I'm not sure how I "lost" you with a reference to Nietzsche. I'd have to argue that you may just not get it.

[RobinSeattle]

I read Nietzsche in high school. Nothing wrong with quoting him if you think it helps make the points you're propounding clearer to whoever you're conversing with. Do what you have to do. .

[deepfreezevideo]

He doesn't.
The point was simple and elegant...­we're different shades of black, both inside and out, which means that there is no such thing as "the typical black person", there's just a person, period.

Again thanks for pointing out what should be obvious but painfully, isn't.

[Benton]

Well done sir. I think you did a good job at shattering this frame, this cartoonish movie through which the society at large has chosen to view people currently labeled black (changes every so often). How, could all blacks be the same? It has not been too many generations since we belonged to different cultural and linguistic and religious groups. In reality "blacks" are a bunch of different ethnic groups who were forced to become "blacks" as opposed to Ibo, Hausa, Fulani, or whatever. Its almost like a tribe created out of thin air.

[missusam]

You made the bloggers point!.

[davebroham]

wow you just proved his point. I am black and was quite impressed by what he wrote. What -you- wrote caused me to cringe :)

[lawgrrl]

ha!ha! my thoughts exactly!

[lawgrrl]

And why would "we" cringe, since you know our collective thoughts so well? Accept the fact that you know nothing about "us" and go from there. Oh, I bet you have "friends who are black" so you feel you can speak with authority as you have.

[hollace]

Nice piece. I can remember when Pres.Obama said he was running and Canadians were so Happy ,

and then I was shocked to hear american broadcasters talk about "race". I have never thought of myself as a white woman,because that is not a description of who I am.

My point is that I apperciate your articule, and keep saying as often and as loudly
as you can.

Like memory work..repe­tition works .

[kgirlsf]

You were shocked to hear american broadcasters talk about race? ... I really don't understand your point. Are you saying there is no racism in Canada, or that Canada is as diverse as the United States.

[kobio]

exactly, I am an average gay person.

[Muad Dib]

I we need different voices like Steele? Whatever. We do need King and Malcom.

[Elon James White - Huffpost Blogger]

I never claimed we needed Steele. I "said" that for every Sharpton there is a Steele. I don't agree with Steele a lot of times but he's just one of the many voices with in the Black community.

And i did NOT say we didn't need King and Malcom. This is a different time. The reason WHY this is a different time is BECAUSE of great people LIKE and INCLUDING King and Malcom.

[redplanet]

A necessary essay. Glad you wrote it and glad I read it. Thank you.

[Olalaberry]

Very good article. You are right on point. Keep writing on race, it's much needed. You do it with grace and wit. Thanks

[IrisBittencourt]

If you follow your own logic, you are not an average black person, because there is no such thing. If you are saying that to be average means to have been shot, then I fundamentally disagree with you. Moreover, you fail to take your argument far enough: race does not exist. Dark-skinned people have been racialized, but we know that there is no genetic basis to race. Accordingly, "black" people need to address these scientific facts constructively. Everything that has been done based on race is a lie. Young black kids need to know that the difference white and black skin is one letter out of 3.6 billion and that sickle cell anemia is not unique to blacks. There are no inferior or superior races. We all descended from a woman in Tanzania 144,000 years ago. So, you see, blacks and whites are more like brothers, than separate races. In fact, the question becomes: what will whites say to God about their black brother? I am not my brother's keeper?

[Jezreel]

"If you follow your own logic, you are not an average black person, because there is no such thing. If you are saying that to be average means to have been shot, then I fundamentally disagree with you."

You missed the point of the article which was there is no such thing as a monolithic social group called average black people. Black people are a diverse group with varying interests and perspectives.

Some people mistakenly believe that Barack Obama speaks for all black people. He doesn't. Many in the gay community believed that because Barack Obama was opposed to Prop 8 all black people would follow his lead. They were wrong.

Barack Obama does not speak for all black people. He is a symbol of our success and a reminder of how far we've come as a people.

The point of the article is to remind others not to lump all black people together in a single box. We are all unique and no one speaks for us, just as no single person speaks for white people.

[IGNSTHMD]

the point of the article is to deconstruct linear thought. to say there are no monoliths is to say there is no United States of America, it is to say there is no world community, there are no black or whites no you or me other than the definitional orientation we give them; as soon as our assumptions about figurative terminology step outside of these quantifiable terms they definitioaly become nominal. So unless Commander and Chief directly mean Barack Obama and It means the same thing to everybody using that term then commander and chief is a mononlith. true?

[IrisBittencourt]

You apparently have missed the point of my post. You revert to the term "black people" as if they actually exist in the real world. So-called blacks need to understand that race is a myth and that we are the first people. Everyone came from us, which makes us extremely close relatives, rather than members of a separate species or race. I understand how difficult and dauting it will be for us to renounce race as a concept. However, I do believe that it is necessary and will ultimately be liberating. The implications are profound: there is no such thing as acting "white," because "whiteness" is not a stable concept. The gap in black test scores is due to environmental and not genetic factors, just as are the other pathologies in the so-called black community. On a certain level, blacks need to embrace the humanness of all and then request damages or reparations for all the sins that have been committed in the name of "race." Blacks are not a separate race; they have been racialized as "black" in today's society. We need to reverse that racialization and its effects. Blacks may achieve more if they change their tactics slightly to incorporate the latest scientific discoveries regarding race.

[gland]

I thought this kind of self-indulgent twaddle went out in the 60s.

Thanks for the memories.

[ShakeYourComplacency]

LOL! Thinking the same thing.

[IGNSTHMD]

whats so bad about it?

[Elon James White - Huffpost Blogger]

I'd love to know what you find self indulgent?

[Garioch]

Sorry you lost me at the Thundercats packpack, there are things I can forgive but.......­.

[Elon James White - Huffpost Blogger]

A love of Thundercats is unforgivable? You'd hate me like no ones business if you hung with me for a while.

[SeymourButz]

cool article. thanks.

[GrainOSand]

What is clear is each is an individual. What sometimes becomes murky is the role that a shared physical trait might have in creating "shared or common experience". One's response, one's achievements, one's triumphs, one's failures, one's strengths, and one's weaknesses are strictly their own; as is one's life -- to live , to nurture, to enhance, to inform, to grow, to guide...

A man once asked,” Why do you people call each other brother and sister?” (Yes, he put it like that.) Reflexively, I answered because in many cases due to shared experience, shared struggle..­.shared history, we are in fact a family of brothers and sisters of circumstance. I went on to explain that the terms are not exclusionary if one actually includes all in their human family. The brother and sister salute of the 60s and 70s was about the strength in numbers that moves mountains. Today, people are better able to stand individually strong and people are more widely able to assume sole proprietorship of their own fortunes (brother has become cousin). There is no monolithic people. There is however the familiarity of a bad taste to those who have tasted such. Ones’ ability to catch a foul taste is definitely subjective. Ones’ ability to wash away bad aftertaste, causing it not to linger, is also...sub­jective.

Concerning race, are some people stuck in the past? Ponder that question with another question? Does hatred of another still exist based on race?

[IGNSTHMD]

I fear that being lost means being found by someone who does not appreaciate me?

[GrainOSand]

IGNSTHMD:

I sense great meaning beyond the surface of your words.I have not captured the essence of your expression­...due to the feeling of uncertainty I am left with after reading it in contemplation. As my grandmother used to say, "My mind led me to say..." the following:

The greatest wilderness is not the barren desert that is the lack of appreciation by others...i­t is (in my view) the inability to appreciate, to love, to see the value in one's self. You cannot give what you do not possess. If you love you, then that love will permeate any external relationship as a reflection. The individual world is a solitary place for no one can be another. Each of us is a universe unto ourselves. I am a self-described grain of sand but that does not mean my potential and possibilities do not loom large inside of the infinitesimal existence that is mine. It means I see that I am part of the whole and therefore infinitely large, and I also see my own unique expression of all that is, and therefore I am infinitesimal in relation to the many grains of unique sand populating this beach of life. In my internal universe I find love. When I am able to focus on that -- life is indeed beautiful.

All this to say -- “You got to love the one you are with.” Everyone is always -- first and foremost -- with themselves.

Self-Contained Unit of Love

[Jezreel]

Great comment. Very well stated.

[GrainOSand]

This thought stream is complex. On the one hand I agree wholeheartedly with the author. I agree where it concerns me personally. If I were to journey to some of the places I grew up (as I continue to do) I know that there are still people caught in the throes of a tremendous battle having much to do with the race history of this country. I am also reminded of OJ, who was worldly before his world came crashing down, and then...he was decidedly black. Martin Luther King and Malcolm X did not speak for me, they spoke to me and I was forever altered. Al Sharpton, Jesse Jackson, Cornell West, and all the other distinguished people of brown hue and rainbow colored potential, they also do not speak for me and I never hear them claiming to do that. What I do see is them wrestling with injustice as it relates to being considered “other” in a society of Joe six packs and soccer moms who by definition do not include “others” amongst their ranks. One’s environment forms them. One’s nature may allow them to transcend what their environment has wrought. If what their environment wrought was violent, hateful, desperate, tragic, and racist then one is indeed benefited by any such eclipse of nature over nurture.

At the heart of this discussion (for me) is tribal familial culture versus capitalistic, you are on your own culture killing the familial.