I was disturbed by Joshua Wood?s column, "Injustice came from both sides." You may find my reason for being disturbed different from most. I was not troubled by the fact that he encountered racism from whites. What did anger and sadden me is to hear that many black students felt that it was their right to judge his "blackness." I cannot understand why so many educated black students would disagree with him simply on the fact that he is not 100 percent black. Let me take you on a view of my life. I am a 28-year-old, 100 percent black male. I am also the father of two interracial children. For those inquiring minds who would like to know, my wife is white. I know that is a hard pill for most blacks to swallow, but swallow it you must.
My oldest daughter, Zhane, is four years old. She has skin like caramel, deep brown eyes, and hair nappier than Buckwheat. If you saw her you would say she is black. My youngest daughter, Lauryn, only ten days old, has jet black straight hair, skin paler than her white mother, and eyes lighter than her sister, but it is too early to say. If you saw her, you would think she was not my child. My oldest daughter has a firm grasp on the fact that her parents are different races. In fact she celebrates it, because it is who she is.
What troubled me about his column is this: I, as a black man, can explain racism from outside of her race, but how do I explain it from within? How do I tell my two daughters that you may not be "black" enough for the rest of your black community? To say that a person of interracial background cannot understand and comment on the oppression of black people is a slap in the face. They should have a much stronger opinion, because racism for them is a two-edged sword. While they deal with the white bigot across the street, they must also deal with the black bigot in their own backyard. Blacks who behave in this manner have lost sight of the real struggle, and are as ignorant as those who hide behind white sheets.
The reason we as blacks today find it so difficult to change social structure is because we just don?t agree. We have no common goal, no common purpose, and we allow ourselves to become disjoined at every turn. As long as we allow racism from within to tear us apart, we will never reach the prize of equality. Equality must start with us, before we can preach it to everyone else. When we as blacks can accept each other, that is when the revolution will start. I say to you, Joshua Wood, that your opinion does count. I thank you for sharing. Just remember that not all will want to hear, and all you can do is keep on moving. So keep on moving Mr. Wood, move on black man, move on, you have to keep on moving.
