Once a month I am part of a group of friends which meets at Mudville Grille, a sports bar with many franchises in the Jacksonville Florida area, to challenge other groups in supplying correct answers to Trivia questions. It's an activity mostly enjoyed by nerds and intellectuals. I fall in to only one of those categories. This is just a backdrop to the theme I would like to discuss in this issue of my blog.
I was showing my dear friends, both African American women, a photo of a pair of blue flamingos with (faux) pearls around their necks, that I had placed in the front yard of my house. They seemed unaware of their political meaning so I explained that the blue flamingos signified turning Florida blue (Democrat) and the pearls was in my support of the new Democratic candidate, Vice President Kamala Harris. I was surprised by their polite but unenthusiastic reaction. I could see by their body language that they were uncomfortable. I heard a muttered unflattering response to the effect of "I am not too keen on her". I was confused. Why would these two intelligent women not be ecstatic of the possibility of the first female president of the United States? And a black woman at that?
The chief complain was that she was not black. The logic behind this reasoning was that to be black you have to have two black parents. Vice President Harris' mother is Indian and her father Jamaican. I questioned them "who said that?" I was ignored. I then asserted that as a Puerto Rican I come from three races; Spaniard (European), African and Taino (Native American). To that I received a dismissive "That's you." And they continued discussing the subject among themselves. The next assessment to Vice President Harris' ethnicity was that she was at best 1/4 black. And besides, according to the other friend, Ms. Harris at some point, had stated, "She did not want to be associated with being black." I started googling to find when and where Ms. Harris had made such a statement. I then heard, "You are not going to find that anywhere now that she is running for President." That sounded a little like a conspiracy theory. Again, I was perplexed. I had reached the end of my patience and blurred out, "I have heard of black racisms among the black community, but this is the first time that I have actually witnessed it." For the rest of the night they mostly spoke amongst themselves. Followed by long silent pauses. I was so disappointed.
My disappointment does not come from someone else having a different opinion from my own. Being raised in New York City taught me to deal with many viewpoints and respect each person's individualism. My disappointment came from being excluded from my own sense of self. I grew up learning about the people that made me who I am. The flirty Flamenco dances of the Spanish Gypsies, the heart stopping beats of African drums and the spiritual Taino connection to our island; have contributed in equal parts and therefore, I proudly claim my heritage in all of them. From a young age, I became curious of every aspect of these unique groups, both contributions and detriments to humanity. And somehow managed to blend them all nicely and accept that a person can appreciate and be a part of more than just one community.
I pray that we can find common ground and see pass the exterior of our prejudices. I pray that people truly want peace on earth. I pray that people truly learn to love their neighbor. I pray that people realize that we can not continue to live off hate and greed. There is a better way. Whether you believe in the teachings of Jesus, Gandi, Martin Luther King Jr., Maya Angelou or any other pacifist that exists or none of the above; I pray that we accept one another and strive for a peaceful resolution to the troubles we are facing today because in doing so, we might just be saving ourselves.
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