I'm A Legal Alien

January 30, 2007

Unlike Sting, I can't finish that stanza with, "I'm an Englishman in New York," but I can finish it with, "I'm an African in America." And although this situation of mine is glaringly obvious in many facets of my life, it has become even more apparent in my academic studies. Contrary to what you might be thinking, I'm not even referring to the fact that, since 2002, I've attended predominantly white institutions of learning. I'm not talking about the little racist attitudes of students, teachers, and faculties that I've had to encounter and fight with a smile (because they're supposedly terrified of a Black woman and a big voice). I'm not talking about the fact that I've been amongst the minority in every single class I've been in since undergrad (meaning that I was either the only Black person in class, or one of the only Black people in class). I'm referring to the actual "knowledge" that is being given to me through textbooks, lectures, and curricula.

I believe that it was in my junior year in high school that I figured out that the curriculum that was assigned to my peers and me was not customized to our lives as "minorities" in America. My freshman year in high school, I took a world history class. ("World History" meaning, "mostly European history.") My sophomore year, I took an A.P. American History class ("American History" meaning "the history of white folks in America." The lack of information taught to us about African-Americans became glaringly evident when we took the A.P. test. It just so happened that one of the essay questions, which count for a large portion of your score, was about art and its role in the Civil Rights Movement. Only three of us, including me, passed the exam.) My junior year, I took an A.P. European History class (you get the point). As I sat in that class, bored to tears by all the talk of European affairs, governments, wars, etc, etc, etc, a thought came to me, and because I was young and inexperienced, I verbalized it as soon as I was given a chance.

"Mr. Kos," I said, "why is it that Curie doesn't offer an African-American history course? Or a Latin American history course? I mean, the majority of this school is Hispanic, and then the rest of us are pretty much Black. We've only got a few white folks up in here, and they're first and second-generation Polish kids. Why do we have to take a class about European history?"

Mr. Kos' mouth tightened as he explained to me that European history was essential to "American" students because the history of Europe had an immense impact on the history of America.

I thought about it briefly as he went on to continue his lecture, satisfied in the belief that he had pacified me for the time being. Wrong.

I raised my hand again.

"Well, I understand that European history influenced American history because white folks run this country now [the class began snickering and saying, 'right'], but, I mean, it seems to me that African history has also had a large impact on American history. Because, if there was no Africa, and if what had happened in Africa hadn't happened, there wouldn't be African-Americans, right? And, I mean, I think we've had a large impact on America, haven't we?"

Mr. Kos' face began to flush. He certainly could not say that African-Americans hadn't impacted America, but if he admitted that we had, he'd have to admit that we should also have a class on African or African-American history. He obviously did not want to do that, so he told me that if I'd like to discuss this matter with him after class, I would be welcome to. I gave him one of those ole-skool-black-mama "hmmhmm"s that meant "that's what I thought sucka", and leaned back in my chair satisfied with the belief that I'd "treated" his ass in class. I believe I received an F for that marking period.

Upon my arrival to college, I perused the course listings for the upcoming semester. Being that I was at a university (one that considered itself the "Harvard of the Midwest" no less), there were classes offered in African and African-American history, which I suspect were only included after the continual bitching and moaning of the small percentage of African-American students who attended school there. (I don't remember seeing any Latin American history courses being offered) However, since I am a nitpicker and rabble-rouser of epic proportions, I did find some other disconcerting discrepancies in the curriculum.

For instance, there was a plethora of literature courses offered that centered on the writings of different European authors. There was a class that studied only works by The Bard of Avon, and classes that only studied European literature from certain time periods. There were classes devoted to European poetry and short stories. But I couldn't seem to find a class that centered on African or African-American writers. Not even a class to cover the literature of the African Diaspora. No. It seemed that all of our works were contained in courses with names like "World Literature," which basically meant, "literature by everyone who ain't white." Art majors suffered the same fate. There were many courses that studied Van Gogh, or Baroque period painting, but the only courses that addressed the immense amount of art rendered by those of the African Diaspora was contained in courses such as "World Art."

When I transferred to the school that I now attend, I'll admit that I was surprised by the availability of classes that specialized in the history, art, and lives of African-Americans. There was even an Afro-American Studies department! So, I proudly enrolled in some of the classes that talked about Black folks. And most of the time, the actual content of the courses was not a disappointment.

But, outside of those classes, I still ran into roadblocks. Even though I am constantly wary of any classes about "women" or "feminism," I took a course entitled "Women & Work" because it fit into my schedule and counted towards by degree. In almost every chapter of one book we used, the bulk of the chapter was taken up talking about white women and their plight ("tell me of your plight" Jahi gets it), and then a little two or three page section at the END of the chapter, which addressed "women of color." (Anybody who's read any of my blogs knows that I detest the term "women of color" with a freaking vengeance!) This sort of dismissal of the complexities and differences of experiences between different ethnic groups prompted white girls in my class to say dumb shit like, "there was even a time when women made less money than slaves." (First of all, SLAVES DIDN'T MAKE ANY MONEY, you simple bitch. Secondly, and this may come as a surprise, some WERE WOMEN! I know that's hard to believe seeing as folks love to use phrases such as "women and minorities" as if some "minorities" ain't women.)

And on and on it went, and on and on it goes. In one of my public administration classes, we were assigned to read an article by Herbert Kaufman, which was written in 1969. In it, he makes such statements as, "these people (obviously, it had not yet come to White America's attention that Black people detest being referred to as "these" or "those" people.) are not mollified by assurances that the characteristics of the system thwarting them also thwart selfish and extremist interests..."

Basically he was saying that the "have-nots" don't realize that the same system which denies them "shares of the system's benefits and rewards" also denies extremists their share of these "rewards." I may have not been alive in 1969, but I've seen enough episodes of "Eyes on the Prize," and heard enough stories from my 95-year old great aunt whose lived her whole life in central Mississippi, to know that the "extremists" were definitely getting their way. At least when it came to thwarting the "benefits" that should've been given to Black citizens. This article was written only 5 years after the Civil Rights Act of 1964, and only one year after the CRA which prohibited housing discrimination (which everyone knows Johnson hurried up and signed to pacify the "Negroes" after the assassination of Dr. King).

He then went on to call us "Negroes" by name on the next page of the article and said that they had, "recently begun to develop the organizational skills to mobilize their political resources only to find that it takes time to build channels of access to political structures. Rather than wait for admission to these structures.....these groups....have adopted a strategy of deriding those institutions and seeking to build new ones in which they can have greater, perhaps dominant, influence."

Well, excuse the heck outta the Negroes for being getting fed up with a system that made no attempt to recognize them as citizens who deserve rights, and building their own institutions! Furthermore, I'd like to add that the belief that in 1969, Negroes had only "recently begun to develop organizational skills" is ridiculous and obviously ignorant of the looooong history African-Americans had of organizing themselves. During slavery, negroes organized themselves. The African Methodist Episcopal Church (which still thrives to this day) was founded in 1816! During Reconstruction, many African-Americans came to be officeholders, which takes a whole lot of organization. The NAACP was founded in 1909, Marcus Garvey founded the Universal Negro Improvement Association (which boasted of over a million members in its heyday) in the mid-1920s. And let's not even talk about all the institutions of higher learning that were founded by Negroes previous to the 1960s.

And this is not the first time (nor the last, I suspect) I've had to read literature authored by people whose biases and ignorance about my people are glaringly evident.

Some people may say that this happens to me because of the fact that I attend predominantly white institutions instead of predominantly Black ones. They'd be wrong. From what I have heard from my peers who do attend those institutions (lovingly referred to as HBCUs), they don't fare much better. Sure, they might have a wider variety of courses about African-Americans, but many of their courses are the same, and many of them use the same textbooks that I use. Sadly, I don't think I'd fare any better if I went to school in the Motherland. Colonialization has screwed with their education systems to the point where they look a lot like European ones (in method and curricula).

So, I continue a quest that started my junior year in high school. It is a quest to seek out and find information that pertains to me and that educates me about ME. They're books that they wouldn't dare teach out of at the University of Illinois or any other state school (or private school). They're books that follow in the educational traditions of my ancestors. And because of that, sometimes they're not even books! Sometimes it's folklore passed down from my great-aunt, or snarky quotes from my great-grandmother's mouth and mind. Sometimes it's the amount and kinds of seasonings I put into my food, or the way I wear my hair, or swing my hips to the blues. Sometimes it's a look that I learned from the grown-acting girls down the block or a wave of the hand that would dismiss even the Queen. All of it is education. It may not be westernized, or Eurocentric, and it may never be appreciated by the masses. But I'll take it any day over folks like Kaufman and Kos.