Reflections+on+Race+in+America

The African American has long been viewed as little more than the laboring race--the people to exploit for cheap, brutish labor. This perception forces us to see the African American as a raw good-- a mass of mindless power-- as opposed to actual, intelligent //people//. Even with the election of our first Black president, Barack Obama, we have difficulty seeing the //entirety// of the Black race as intelligent and as human as he is. For instance, if we could truly see the potential each young African American has to bring to this country, then perhaps our public school and college systems would serve to better prepare them for fulfilling, intellectual careers as opposed to low wage occupations. Perhaps then the African American could transcend from the "wage earning" race, to simply //a race of people.// By dividing this wall, I wished to illustrate how African Americans are perceived and manipulated by the powerful White population but also to show how African Americans themselves continue to dream under White oppression. The American Dream is, as I previously mentioned, a discriminating one that is attainable only by those who themselves impressed the dream upon society. And those who achieve it step upon the African American, pursuing the vision that turns them into the laborers--the ones who earn the money for the White man up top. Nevertheless, because it is almost expected for every American to pursue this so-called American Dream, African Americans follow suit. They seek what the White American does: wealth, power, family, comfort, and so forth. But instead of coinciding with the White American Dream, these ambitions run parallel to it. As was exemplified during the Harlem Renaissance, African Americans could and did achieve great wealth and renown. However, it was classified as "cultural" achievement, entirely separate from the success of a White artist or businessman. << Race in America, A Narrow Vista