I Noticed You Noticing Me
I wonder if white people walk into a room full of white people and notice that everybody is, ya know, white?
I know I do (I’m Black though). Everytime I walk into a room where the overwhelming majority of people are white I not only notice but I look for the other person(s) of color in the room. Of course, once I notice them, we spend the the duration of time that we’re in said location pretending not to notice one another.
But we notice. Oh, how we notice. I’m sure that white people do it as well if they walk into a room full of coloreds. But that’s mostly because they’re in jail at that point and it’s going to be lights out pretty soon for them anyway.
Lights out?!? That’s a pun and I didn’t even intend it. There should be a term for those puns that people accident-upon. Something like: no pun intended.
That’d be swell.
This recognition-lack of recognition of one another makes me realize something: Black people are fucked. We have the worst sense of unity of any other cultural group; I’m convinced of it. I went to both an HBCU and a big ole’ white public state school on the East Coast. At HBCU’s there’s no rush to speak or even notice all the Black people since we’re in such abundance. Nevermind that it’s a completely false representation of the real world and that it shouldn’t be taken for granted that we’re in the midst of likeminded individuals who can actually read and aren’t afraid of information at the same place at the same time. Yet we kind of gloss over the importance and landmarkism of it.
It’s college, who the fuck cares. Give me my hours and give me my degree. Fuck you, pay me.
Amazing how many people long for the constant recognition of successful driven Black people once they graduate (unless you went to Morehouse since ninjas apparently don’t graduate from there much) and re-enter the world we’re all more familiar with — you know, the world where its hard as hell to find the professional Black crowd and we’re often left longing for the intellectual stimulation that comes along with late night arguments about which A Tribe Called Quest album was better, The Low-End Theory or Midnight Marauders.
It’s Midnight Marauders, by the way. You can disagree but you will be wrong.
At our HBCU’s we see eachother but we don’t really notice one another. We’re just all there so we assume we’ll always be there. Don’t know what you’ve got ’til it’s gone kind of thing.
And then we have the big ass state schools were there’s usually a handful of coloreds who STILL make all attempts NOT to notice one another. When I went to Big Ass State University, every time I’d see a Black person I’d speak. Hell, we had the same struggle. We were pepper sprinkles in a big ass cauldron of salt. Not just that, but filled with lots of salt that didn’t really want much peppering.
Ignored.
Constantly. At first I took it personal. Why on earth would these motherfuckers have the audacity to not respond back to me saying “hello.” These northern bastards. Then I realized that its part of the same shit we all do, even amidst times when we should have unity. We spend time noticing but not noticing one another as if to act like we don’t need to.
We have no unity. We have no unity when we’re unified and we have no unity when we should have unity and the opportunity exists. I don’t give a damn if I’ve never met you in life. If I walk into a KKK meeting and I see a Black cat you better believe I’m going to notice him since we have a common struggle.
Assuming I’m at a KKK meeting out common struggle is probably literally a struggle but hey, common is common.
Unless it’s Common Sense. Which is just not what it used to be.
That’s got a double meaning.
Sometimes I’ll go out of my way to speak to the other Negroes in a room. Of course, then we look like a gang which is never a good thing when you’re in the midst of a bunch of people who know how to dial 911 and aren’t afraid that 911 won’t result in action.
Our lack of unity — which is partially caused by our rise in social and economic status, face it, we don’t all have the same struggle anymore — is ultimately our downfall. We want equality but we all won’t even get on the same page in a room full of people who don’t look like us. Which is why Black people are fucked.
I only wish we’d notice.
October 10th, 2007 14:37
Ok, Morehouse grad. Tell me something. As a graduate from the white private school not too far from the AUC (come on, it ain’t too hard to figure out), I noticed (pretty much once a semester and ALWAYS at the A Phi A “Bare as You Dare” Party) that MAD Morehouse cats (usually Greeks) would come onto our campus as if we’ve never seen black people before. They expected the white people to run away like the Japanese do when Godzilla hits Tokyo, and they expect all the black people to be in awe, as if we’ve never in our lives seen a large group of black people.
And just in general, many times when I met AUC cats, I always got this “oh what, you too good to go to a HBCU, uppity nigga?” vibe. What’s that about? At first I thought I was just being paranoid. But by my senior year, there was one time when like 30-40 cats were just strolling down Frat Row yelling “DA HOUSE!” and “This is OUR campus!”
Care to shed some light?
October 10th, 2007 15:11
Hmm…what you’re speaking of doesn’t surprise for two reasons.
1) You’re talking about Morehouse’s Alphas and though I graduated 6 years ago, our Alphas were very much on this we are Alpha hear us roar type rah-rah shit. I know a lot of them and liked them individually, but as a unit, they were a bit much and had a strange sense of “look at us, you are not worthy-ness”. It wasn’t all of them, but it doesn’t surprise me. In one sense, they were just really happy be Alphas and took that shit with them everywhere they went. I can’t knock pride, but it was borderline obnoxious, even when I was there and they’d first came back onto the yard.
2) When most of us enter HBCU’s, we get a lesson in being Black. And further, we get a lesson in not letting the fact that you’re Black ever hold you back. We get taught to hold your head high and let people know who you are. Now, some folks run with that and turn it into the “I’m Black man of Black school. I’m real nigga. You’re not.” Which doesn’t make much sense to me. I think its the same thing that causes some Morehouse cats to run with being from Morehouse so much so that they proclaim it to everybody and badger anybody who ain’t a ‘House cat.
On the flipside, I remember my freshman year at Morehouse. My girlfriend went to GA State and I remember he Black male friends always had this attempt to show us how real they were. They went out of their way to be Black and shit. It’s like the Red Sox and Yankees. They were the Sox and wanted us to know and pay attention and we (Yankees) kind of didn’t care cuz we weren’t looking to define out Black existence. Not saying it happened to everybody but its been done.
Then of course you know niggas from HBCU’s tend to be militant at times. Maybe that’s the answer in a nutshell.
Niggas from HBCU’s and lightskinned or mixed Black chicks. Militans all around.
October 10th, 2007 15:17
“Niggas from HBCU’s and lightskinned or mixed Black chicks. Militans all around.”
I’m not gonna even talk about the post because it was the above line from your comment that reminded me why I hate you and openly question your sexxxy!
October 10th, 2007 15:18
If you consider some of the people that get into HBCUs are the first generations to do so in their family. When you come from a poor/uneducated background, and you start a new cycle, it makes sense that you would proudly shout your accomplishments, not to mention feeling like you are apart of something bigger than you are.
as irritating as it could be, I would understand the bravado that many of they/us may have.
October 10th, 2007 20:46
I had the same reaction, going from HBCU to all white grad school and was baffled that the Black people didn’t speak to each other. One time I was in the computer room and this Black girl said, “hey, aren’t you in my class?” I so wanted to turn around and say, “you know I am, we’re the only two Black people there…” Sigh…
October 11th, 2007 11:11
I so feel this post. I remember going to some kind of wine tasting function or something a few years ago and saw like two other Blacks there. So I call myself moseying on over there to start a convo only to be greeted with, “so you came over here just because we’re the only other Blacks here, huh?” lol Needless to say, my visit wasn’t very long. That chick’s (did I mention she looked a mess which made it even more curious she had such a stank attitude, lol) rudeness was my foray into the “You’re on your own around
some ‘Blacks’” world. *Sigh* Cornel was right, all our skin folk ain’t our kinfolk. But whatever…
Good post
T
October 12th, 2007 11:11
What’s worse is when it happens at work! I’m the youngest Black chick at my company and there are about two or three older Black women. I kind of assumed they’d be like mentors and show me the ropes of navigating this spot. One of them is cool and very helpful. The other one acts like one of those slaves that would have told the master if you were planning a revolt.