As one week ends and another begins I’m stuck on the idea of “The American Dream”. Since the beginning of our country’s history the idea has been that in America, if you work really hard you can achieve anything your heart desires; we’re a “pull-yourself-up-by-your-own-bootstraps” kind of society – or at least that’s the story they’ve been selling the last couple of hundred years. That’s a nice idea, but the truth for so many of us is far from that pretty vision.
Since we were children we’ve been inundated with stories of this one and that one who came from nothing and now make millions; while that may be true for mainstream society, it is certainly not the case for most people of color in the country. I’m not saying that it can’t come to that, but people of color in this country aren’t starting on an even playing field – in this “bootstrap” society, most of us don’t even have boots!
That’s what frustrates me – our children may be given many of the same opportunities, but it is certainly not equal. It takes me back 60 years when Jim Crow ruled the south and the notion of “separate but equal” prevailed. Our parents, grandparents and great-grandparents had their own American Dream – to be treated equally and with respect. They were tired of being harassed on buses; tired of being beaten and brutalized solely based upon the color of their skin; tired of being attacked and mistreated without cause, so they rallied together and organized to effect change. Fifty-six years ago on this day (Monday, December 5, 1955) they decided to no longer take the injustice and began a movement that would change the world.
While 56 years have passed and we no longer have to sit at the back of the bus, we are still treated as second-rate citizens. It may not be blatantly obvious, but if you scratch the surface just a bit and take a closer look at every system in this country – education, health care, social services, legal – people of color are being abused at alarming rates. We can’t blame it all on “the man” or “the system”, but the system certainly doesn’t help. I often hear people say that the past is over and it doesn’t have anything to do with today, but I beg to differ – the package may have changed, but the circumstances are still the same; and it’s time for us to take a hint from those before us and rally together and organize for change.
How, you might ask? It begins with education. We continue to be complacent with an education system that was not created for people of color to succeed in; but we have to get pissed-off and demand change. We need to educate ourselves on what education is. We have to dig deeper than just the surface, which may take some time.
So what can you do today, tomorrow, or next week? Get involved in a youth program or afterschool program and mentor a student. Find out how your employer supports education and get involved there. What education-based programs are in your community? Find out what they are and get involved. Be a mentor, be a positive example or face for someone in your community. Start slow, but sitting idly by while things continue as they are is not an option.
If achieving the American Dream means pulling oneself up by one’s bootstraps, then that’s what we’ll do! And because we don’t have boots – they aren’t given to us – we’ll just have to take the boots, create the strings, and pull ourselves up.
