FX’s new, controversial hit TV show, “Black. White,” is meant to demonstrate that racism still exists. But let’s be honest, it’s to show white people that racism still exists.
Not only does racism exist, it’s pervasive, it’s everywhere and it permeates through everything.
There hasn’t been a “Black. White.” episode when I haven’t wanted to chuck my television at the nearest white person and scream, “Don’t you get it?” And as proven by Bruno, the white father on the show, some white people – and I’ll go even further and say most white people – still don’t get it.
But at this point in the game, I think them “getting it” is a lost cause. Roughly 400 years of slavery didn’t make them get it. The Emancipation Proclamation didn’t make them get it. The Voting Rights Act of 1965 didn’t make them get it. So do we think they will get it now?
I don’t care. If no white person ever sympathizes with the pain of my ancestors or my day-to-day struggles, I don’t care.
Why, you ask?
Because I believe in creating, having and supporting my own.
See, when you have your own stores, restaurants, banks, shopping centers, schools and land, you don’t have to seek the understanding or approval of others.
If my mother chose to, she could’ve broken every window in the house and parked the car in the living room. Why? Because the deed of the house read “Denise Vaughan” and not the name of a white person who was allowing her to rent.
The Mexicans do it, the Indians do it and the Asians perfected it, so why can’t we?
The other night the question was posed to me: “What is success?” And until a few months ago I believed success was working in a public relations firm or as a publicist. But my perspective – my whole outlook – has changed.
My life’s goal is to open an all-black boarding school with an all-black staff. I want to educate my all-black students and feed them all the information their little black minds can handle.
We should stop waiting for white people to understand us because they won’t, they can’t. There’s a saying that goes, “Until you’ve experienced my struggle, you can’t experience my pain.”
Until white America is enslaved, beaten, degraded, humiliated and pitted against each other by skin tone and hair texture, they will never understand.
So what do we do? We move on, leave them in their confusion and start owning. We need to stop seeking their understanding and approval and start building and uplifting each other.
Amber Vaughan is a senior public relations student from Pensacola. She can be reached at famuanopinions@hotmail.com.