From #OSCARSSOWHITE to Our Community: How can we validate ourselves?

In my opinion, we have much more to be focused on than boycotting the Oscars. Since Jada P. Smith has come out and urged the public to do this, there have been hundreds of celebrities, bloggers and socialites go back and forth about this issue. I plan to boycott watching them (which isn't too big of a deal since I'm not a huge award show person in the first place), but I think the message that Jada was speaking of is much bigger than the #OscarsSoWhite, I think that we in our individual communities need to take this message and run with it wholeheartedly. Instead of waiting on or seeking for validation of other communities, as minorities, we need to find ways to validate ourselves.

I have been rumored to have some sort of prejudice to Caucasians. I want to once again reiterate that this is not the case. Because I have desired to see more black men with black people and because my focus is primarily-- almost exclusively-- black gay men, people have said I need to do a better job of uniting different communities. In light of Jada Pinkett-Smith's announcement to boycott the Oscar's, I feel it is the perfect time to explain my thoughts around White privilege and supremacy and why I don't consider my views prejudiced at all. After all, we don't have a whole lot of spaces for us in the first place.

No, all white people aren't bad. No, all white people don't use their privilege to overlook minorities. No, all white people don't look down on other communities. No, most times, if they do, it is not intentional.

Lots and lots of my friends promote unification. I think unity would be great, but unfortunately since inclusions seem to come with exclusions, I have a special interest in making sure this unity-- if ever grasped-- would work efficiently. We have become so focused with equality that we have escaped the fact that equity is more of the final fight.

In equitable circumstances, we would be considered for the greatness that our culture presents. In equitable circumstances, we would be put into line ups that don't require for us to be the token. In equitable circumstances, there would be enough spaces for our inclusion so that we wouldn't have to fight for a place at the table.

Unfortunately, this is almost never the case. We are brought into spaces to give our perceptions and looked over, in most cases, to be the spokesperson for our feelings, artistic ability or professionalism. This angers me very much. In situations where I have been dying to see more black characters with depth and power, I find that white characters play us in these roles or we are subjected to be the likes of the top side chick, ride or dying for the dude who left us in jail while he made millions off our legacy or the most conniving lawyer that uses everything in her toolkit to be victorious-- and that's what we look at as power. And let's not talk about black, gay roles-- well the few that we see mainstream in the first place. They're either given power based upon their connection to the lovers (mostly other ethnicities) and/or other characters in the movies. We just can never seem to be shown in a positive light; we have moved from primarily slaves, maids and clowns to criminals, victims and antagonists. Pisses me off.

Then, if you want to play the game, you become the token guy if you want any acclaim. Those aforementioned roles are what you are offered and that's the way you can win. I'm sorry, but I identify much more with things such as businessmen and powerful thinkers than I do with criminals and the sort. The bad thing is the general public wants for everyone to be okay with this, hiding behind this thought that "those stories need to be told." Hell, black history didn't start at slavery and didn't end at criminals.

In considering all of this, I feel the same thing goes into us trying to desgregate our black, gay culture. Now, I think that it is important to consider that, once again, all Black people aren't great and all White people aren't bad. I admit desegregation, in theory, makes sense but if we aren't given the same footing for success, it is none more than your mother telling you to hug your brother when you don't like him at the moment-- or ever. It is barely a cover up and we end up losing; our culture looses itself and wants to then be combined to other cultures and, when we decide to win, we have to join another team. Further, if us joining hands with the rest of the civilization is only to make them happy in which we still don't get nothing out of it, then why would I be interested in something like that again? Many cultures and ethnicites have great things to offer. I appreciate other cultures, but if all I'm relegated to is "the thug", "the dancer", "the big dick" or "the sports player", I don't want it. I -- we-- are so much more than that.

We think that it makes sense to want to hold hands and "Kum-ba-yah" or to "stop shouting racism" or to "be considerate to the feelings of everybody" because, what has been said is, "It's not the fault of these people with their limited perception and we are racist in our community, too." First, Black people can not be racist... I'm sorry. Racism, classism, sexism requires power and although collectively we have power, we haven't united in recent history to do something worthwhile with it so... Yeah, powerless people can't be racist. Still it is true: usually the racial stigma is so deeply engrained that people don't even recognize it. And yes, we are prejudiced, but without the power to keep people from winning things or, more realistically, getting a job and going to jail, then it does not matter or is worth much, much less. Further, we are so use to wanting their validation, that we constantly seek it and I find us looking down on our own kind for not living up to their standards.

I know this comes across harsh, but we have some incredible people in this community. Unfortunately, we spend more time, money and energy to everyone else that the people with the greatest talents in our community can no longer afford to cultivate their craft. And the money we give to businesses all over our cities, for one week if we spent in Black or up and coming businesses, we would give our communities a chance to thrive on its own. I end in saying this: What can we create to validate ourselves? Oscars may be far fetched for many of us and, even though I plan on boycotting the viewing of them, I'm sure it is something that we can create in our community to validate our own.

-The Normal Anomaly