Is the American heart missing when it comes to its black citizens?

Because America as an idea – whether myth or reality – is far greater than the sum of its parts (economic, military, and technology, etc.) helps to explain why it has been an inspiration for the rest of the world, for individuals and nations. The power of this appeal has been such that it has either moved individuals to America or has had America move to them through ideas in official documents, in their living rooms, or through the phenomenon known as the “Mc Donaldisation” of the world. America is also known for its big heart. It has, at least over the past century, been the preferred destination for those wishing to unshackle the chains of oppression. Take the Jews. America opened wide its arms when the Jews needed sanctuary during the rise of ideological extremism in Germany before and during Nazi rule under Adolf Hitler. Moreover, America continued to welcome hundreds of Jews after the Second World War prior to the creation of their own state in Israel in 1948. Take the Italians. America was home to hundreds of Italians during the decades of fascism embodied by Benito Musolini. Consider the Irish. More than a century later, America has fully integrated the descendants of those Irish indentured servants from the time of the colonies. Also benefiting from full integration, as citizens with equal protection before the law, have been migrants from Germany and the Scandinavians. Therefore, as a country itself born of those fleeing monarchical excesses in England, America’s DNA is ingrained with compassion and empathy for all and sundry. Indeed, with its tradition of acceptance and tolerance for a diversity of cultures, America has more than justified a metaphor for which it prides itself: “the melting pot.” If America has integrated the different subgroups as full citizens with equal protection before the law, why does it seem reluctant to extend the same treatment to its blacks, the other hyphenated subgroup, the African-Americans? It is a question on the minds of many that has been prompted by recent murders of blacks by police in different parts of the country and where the police have escaped prosecution. It is this reference that led to a columnist for a major news media to ask a set of questions about America: Why was an overwhelmingly black area policed by predominantly white officers? Why is there such mistrust among that community of the forces of law and order? Why, if you’re black, are you much more likely to be a victim of crime? Why, if you’re black, are you much more likely to end up in prison? Why are you more likely to be unemployed? Another columnist for this mega news organisation wondered: Will black Americans finally get a fair deal? In a New York Magazine interview that the prominent journalist Charles Onyango Obbo twitted as “unmissable,” the comedian Chris Rock had his own questions on these tragedies: How come white kids don’t get shot? Have you ever watched television and seen some white kid get shot by accident? One wonders then whether the American family has a member who is tolerated but not loved -- A Black Sheep, perhaps? This is certainly how many blacks feel about their relationship with the rest of America. Irving “Magic” Johnson, the former basketball great, philanthropist, and leader in the African-American community, elaborated on this sentiment during an event this past Friday, in Toronto, to mark the one-year anniversary of the death of Nelson Mandela. “The distrust and the disconnect is huge,” Johnson said. “Make no mistake about it. It’s bigger than we’ve seen on TV. Blacks don’t think that they’re ever going to get a fair shake; they think every time the police is coming, it’s going to be trouble.” This feeling of rejection reminded me of a time around 2007 when Henry Louis Gates, the celebrated African American scholar, scolded American universities, including Harvard University where he teaches, for what he saw as a biased system of university recruitment and admissions that rejected or overlooked African-American students (local blacks) in favor of African and Caribbean students (foreign blacks) in efforts geared towards building a diverse student body or what is generally known as affirmative action. The bias, it is argued, reflects prejudice that considers American blacks to be aggressive, intimidating, less agreeable, and generally much difficult to get along with than their rather ‘tame’ counterparts from Africa and the Caribbean. As a result, the argument goes, the ‘imported’ blacks are more likely to distort the true picture of black marginalisation in America. The same distortion, black intellectuals are likely to argue, is created by the individual success of the likes of Barack Obama, Oprah, Jordan, and Tiger Woods, among others, whose rise is due to “tokenism” when, in fact, group progress remains distant, with blacks as America’s undesirables akin to those at the bottom of the caste system in places like India. Thus, despite its magnanimous DNA and in spite of a black President, America is yet to extend the benevolence enjoyed by its other subgroups towards the blacks. Which again begs the question: Will black Americans ever get a fair deal? lonzen.rugira@gmail.com

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Is the American heart missing when it comes to its black citizens?