American like me / Forty years after MLK's landmark speech, I have a dream, too

Pittsburgh Post-Gazette via realclearpolitics.com ^ | 8/23/03 | Eric L. Strickland

[jocon307]

Two score years ago, a great American, in whose symbolic shadow we now live, stood upon the steps of the Lincoln Memorial and issued a decree to all Americans. In his speech, he mentioned "Negroes" and "Americans" and his desire that one day the two should become one. In 1963, Martin Luther King Jr. felt it was time "to lift our nation from the quicksand of racial injustice to the solid rock of brotherhood." One brotherhood.

It seems to me that no matter where I go or what I do, I am a hyphenated American. If I were to become the first of anything, I would invariably be called the first African-American to achieve this stature. When one black achieves a goal, that person must then wear the crown of de facto representative for the entire race. This is seen not only in the nomenclature of first African-American, but also in the fact that he or she will immediately be asked questions such as "How does this help the African-American community?" or "As an African-American, how do you feel?" And, sometimes grievously for us all, this person will be catapulted into the position of role model and canon bearer.

The role of First African-American carries with it a tremendous burden. That burden is placed there by media, by our peers and by blacks in general. We are immediately painted with the brush of ethnicity instead of being written with the ink of individuality. Our accomplishments, once our own, soon become the proprietorship of the entire black community. The achievement of the black individual becomes the communal glory of the black race. This becomes a burden only in that the individual is now viewed as part of the whole. He or she loses distinctiveness and is soon enshrouded with the appellation African-American.

The very way we achieved our goal becomes a possible burden. On the one hand, one can never be seen as having used race to achieve a position. If that happens, the more outspoken and vociferous blacks will refer to them as "house niggers" who are only there at the behest of their masters. However, if one were to achieve a position through sheer dogged determination, then they can never "deny their race." They must not only be proud of their race, they must trumpet that fact wherever they go. To do otherwise would be to sell out the race that supposedly got them where they are today.

I dream of a world in which I go to the polls and vote American. I dream of a world in which there is no official or unofficial spokesman for African-Americans. I dream of a world in which all blacks have removed the hyphenation that is roped around our necks like an albatross....

(Eric L. Strickland, a computer programmer, lives in Brighton Heights.)

[jocon307]

Interesting piece, I like his writing and his stridency.

[jocon307]

Submitted for your consideration!

[martin_fierro]

Black Conservative meta-Ping.

[DaughterOfAnIwoJimaVet]

This man gets it. An excellent piece, imo. (To the writer: Bravo, sir - may it be so.)

[solzhenitsyn]

jocon307, thank you for posting this interesting piece by a brave and thoughtful American.

[mhking]

Black conservative ping

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[SAMWolf]

If only all Americans thought like this.

[WaterDragon]

I remember when Martin Luther King, Jr was active. I lived in the Deep South, am white, and was so excited about what he was doing. And when the Republicans FINALLY got the Civil Rights Act (and later the Voting Rights Act) passed in Congress....well. It was wonderful. So, MLK (and those little black kids who integrated the schools) is one of my lifetime's heroes. I wish he were still the hero he deserves to be for all black people, as well.

[JustPiper]

A honour ping to Dr. King!