W. Eric Croomes
Author, Brotha2Brotha, Becoming Healthy Men from the Inside Out

There, suddenly, I wasn’t, even covertly, a member of one of the hated races. It felt great! I really felt much more at ease. In fact I felt rather guilty at how much easier life was when I didn’t have to listen to “jokes” about “wetbacks” and “send them all back to Mexico” comments.

I’ve heard the same comments from African-Americans with lighter skin color when they are in groups with White people. Even if others do not recognize you or identify you as a member of a racial group, you are still exposed to their racism in ways you might not be otherwise and you still bear the cost of it. Because like you said, if you notice how much easier it is while in a country that is free of that(at least against a racial group you are a member of), then you are affected.

Isn’t the suicide rate higher in prison? (I couldn’t find stats on this, so take it with a grain of salt.) Is it possible that the rising suicide rate is as much about increased drug-related incarcerations, rather than, or in addition to, the rise of the black middle class?

I hope this doesn’t come out sounding condescending, but I also wonder if the average black person (whoever he or she is) knows just how much racism effects them. Let me explain why I ask this: I am partly hispanic, although I look white. Most of my life if you had asked me if racism, specifically anti-Mexican or hispanic racism, impacted me I would have said no. Then I moved to Germany. I know that Germany has and (to put it mildly) has had a lot of racial problems. But none of them were with hispanic people. There, suddenly, I wasn’t, even covertly, a member of one of the hated races. It felt great! I really felt much more at ease. In fact I felt rather guilty at how much easier life was when I didn’t have to listen to “jokes” about “wetbacks” and “send them all back to Mexico” comments. So even the tiny, tiny amount of racism I face affects me, even if I didn’t realize it until I lived without it. (I can’t even imagine how easy life would be in a place without sexism. It’s not likely I’ll find out either, but that’s a different problem.)If life is noticibly better without even the tiny amount of prejudice I faced for having one hispanic grandparent, how much moreso might the “real”, severe racism that blacks face affect them? But it’s so prevasive that many may accept much of it, never even think about it, because they’ve never known a world without it. So my conclusion is that blacks probably take way more responsibility for their problems than they should.

In one sense, I actually feel that “accepting personal responsibility” (as the Republicans put it) rather than acknowledging the influence of prejudice is taking the easy way out. If you acknowledge that prejudice exists, you might have to do something about it. It’s easier to just accept that you’re going to have to work harder to succeed, especially when the possibility of success IS really open to those who are particularly bright, hard working, lucky, etc, than to try to change the system to make it fair. I know that might sound like blaming the victims–well, it is blaming the victims–but the oppressors aren’t ever going to do anything about it so either the victims are or it’s not going to change. But what to do about it, how to eliminate the prejudice, I don’t know.

Dianne,
So tell me if this is a good paraphrase of your point–Black men know there is discrimination out there, but they know they must try harder to overcome that. If they don’t try hard enough then they feel, that they are to blame.

There is an interesting irony in that a high percentage of Black men report experiencing discrimination, yet they feel that Black men are to blame for the problems facing Black men

The two aren’t necessarily mutually exclusive. I’m not a black man, but as a woman I know that I face discrimination.For example, any manuscripts I send to journals or grants I submit will be downgraded because of my gender (don’t argue or I’ll post citations). Nonetheless, I also feel that if a paper doesn’t get accepted or a grant doesn’t get funded that I am to blame for not writing a better one (or having better data, etc), even though I also know that if I were male I probably wouldn’t be held to as high a standard and would, at least some of the time, get away with sloppy writing, holes in the data, etc. My projection is that it is similar for black men: they may know that they are being held to higher standards than whites, but that their failures and setbacks have to do with their behavior as well.