In my junior
year at Vanderbilt University as an Electrical Engineering major, I took the
formidable Differential Equations math class required for all engineering
majors. Though my freshman year with Calculus and Chemistry had been a bumpy
one, I rather enjoyed Differential Equations because it was such a highly
useful tool for the world of Engineering that I desired to be one day be
employed. Plainly stated, Differential Equations are mathematical equations of
variables and functions used to describe a deterministic relationship between continuously
varying quantities and their rates of change in space or time. For instance,
these equations can be used to find the velocity of a ball falling through the
air considering the gravity and resistance the ball experiences[1].
To me, the best part (oddly I found this to be slightly fun at the time) of
solving these equations was being able to use constants in which a certain
value was already known. Therefore, in the aforementioned example, the
gravitational constant (which is 9.81 m/s2 – and, yes I still
remember this by heart) was easy to factor into the equation. Having constants
made dealing with unknown variables a bit more bearable and provided more
insight as to how to navigate the problem in finding the proper solution.
Though I only ever thought that Diff EQ (differential equations) was suitable
in application with science and engineering, I think that its concept fairly
communicates the ultimate truth of Derrick Bell’s work The Faces at the Bottom of the Well. It has been a supreme goal of
the United States to posit racism as a variable that is ever changing and evolving;
however, Bell postulates the grizzly truth that racism is not some variable
that has decreased or improved over time. Instead, racism is a constant – ever present,
never erasable – impermeable and permanent facet to the American backdrop of
society.
In Diff EQ, the
constants we were able to use in solving problems were not some issue of
question; rather, they were well-proven and widely used both historically and
presently. As a nation, whose foundation was forged on the very backs of Black
people, racism is both well-proven and widely practiced historically and
presently. Yet, there has been a hesitance to classify its existence as a
permanent earmark of our society. Bell provides clear justification as to why
racism has been verifiably immortalized in America, saying:
…the continued viability of racism “demonstrates
that racism is not simply an excrescence on a fundamentally healthy liberal
democratic body, but it is part of what shapes and energizes the body.” Under
this view, “liberal democracy and racism in the United States, are
historically, even inherently, reinforcing; American society as we know it
exists only because of its foundation in racially based slavery, and it thrives
only because racial discrimination continues.” The apparent anomaly is an
actual symbiosis. The permanence of this “symbiosis” ensures that civil rights
gains will be temporary and setbacks inevitable[2].
Therefore, since racism is a
constant in our society, it must be factored into the equation as such instead
of being viewed as something that is unknown throughout space or time. Then,
and only then, will Blacks in America ever be able to assess our place in
society and what to do about our plight with the knowledge that racism is not a
function that can be minimized or zeroed out with a stroke of pen or
calculation of laws.
As
innately as the gravitational constant comes to my mind now, after using it in
numerous equations and observing its theorem proved time and time again, how do
you explain it to someone who has been privileged enough to live outside of the
pull of gravity, so-to-speak? My Momma always used to tell me, “that ain’t gone
make sense to a man on the moon” when I would try to explain to her my warped
since of teenage logic at the time, and, perhaps, this cliché saying fits here
as well. As we evaluate racism in America, for Whites they have literally been on
the moon – outside of earth’s gravitational pull of the ugliness of racism
since they have the normative privilege of being “superior” to anyone
considered Other. Even mere discussions of racism as a constant, permanent
schema of the American fabric would simply not make sense to them. What is
more, is that even for those of us who have never had the privilege of escaping
the effects of discrimination under the gravity of racism due to the color of
our skin, we still believe that certain hierarchies of elevation allow certain
pockets of us to experience less gravity than others. For Derrick Bell, this is
all blasphemy. Denying the permanence of racism is like denying God is real.
Perhaps those of us who can admit we are
imprisoned by the history of racial subordination in America can accept – as slaves
had no choice but to accept – our fate. Not that we legitimate the racism of
the oppressor. On the contrary, we can only delegitimate it if we can
accurately pinpoint it. And racism lies at the center, not the periphery; in
the permanent, not in the fleeting; in the real lives of black and white
people, not in the sentimental caverns of the mind[3].
In his work Faces at the Bottom of the Well, Bell implores us similarly to the
famous Spike Lee line to WAKE UP! The time for seeing and calling racism the
spade that it truly is, is now.
The
thing about racism is that it is such a touchy subject – kind of like Jesus.
You bring His name up in these times and people will pause and wait to see what
you will say and do next. The same is true with racism. It is that taboo thing
that you want to keep as some ideology rather than a way or part of life. So,
imagine not only having to write an entire book on racism, but also having to
explain why it’s here to stay. That seems like a ridiculously negative and
counter-productive task, especially to those who have worked so hard and long
to eradicate it. However, Derrick Bell navigates this weighty topic with ingenuity
and clarity. He presents several fictional, other-worldly stories that
encapsulate an aspect about the shape, size, and color of racism in America
that are undeniably eerie once confronted. For example, with the chapter on
Racial Preference Licensing – he presents the idea that business owners buy a
license to legally discriminate as much as their hearts desired and that a
portion of their profits go to a fund to help Black people with their own
living and professional expenses. The point of his story was not that the U.S.
should actually consider employing this strategy but rather the grim reality
that if this law were in effect much less discrimination would actually happen
as we are accustomed to today. In another chapter, Bell presents the outlandish
idea that all the Black faculty and President of Harvard University were killed
in an explosion. In the final letter written by the President of the
University, he speaks of the effort to hire more Blacks and equalize
opportunities for higher minority recruitment. As a means to pay homage to
those lost in the explosion, the community decided to honor the President’s
wishes and increase the number of Blacks on faculty at Harvard. Bell wished to
show how outlandish it is that a tragedy would serve as the precipice for doing
the right thing – something that should have been done all along. Then, the
question is – why does Bell use these stories rather than using real life
examples of racism? Because of the jarring and sensitive nature of racist
experiences, he uses these other-worldly anecdotes to serve as a mechanism to
create distance between the audience and the topic. By doing this, the reader
would be able to see through to the truths of each example without having to
necessarily make an emotional connection.
What
strikes me about the chapters written in Bell’s pages is the realism hidden
within each character. Though one such story wasn’t captured within his
chapters, Fruitvale Station, or the life and death of Oscar Grant, may as well
have been another account in Bell’s book. I found myself getting lost between
the fantasy worlds he was creating and the real lived racist experiences that
even I have had a Black woman. I experienced this same ambivalence when I
watched Fruitvale Station. I kept thinking to myself, ‘I know this is a
cinematic portrayal, but this is everyday life.’ When 22 year-old Oscar Grant
was murdered, martyred, lynched, it was as if the earth’s gravitational pull
curled itself up into a wrecking ball and slammed into my gut. I remember
vividly walking out of the movie theaters panic-stricken, unable to breathe,
and sobbing uncontrollably. The gravity of racism – its ugliness, consistency,
and permanence – became real all over again in that moment. Just like the O2
held within the atmosphere, racism is everywhere permeating every being, every
crevice and corner.
Rather
than continue on in stubborn denial of the staying power of racism, Bell would have
us all confront the truth. It is not that that he wishes for people to feel
defeated by the existence of racism, but he finds that acknowledging the truth is
enlightening.
Armed with this knowledge, and with the
enlightened, humility-based commitment that it engenders, we can accept the
dilemmas of committed confrontation with evils we cannot end. We can go forth
to serve, knowing that our failure to act will not change conditions and may
very well worsen them. We can listen carefully to those who may have been most
subordinated…We must learn from their example, learn from those whom would
teach.[4]
When we are able to rightly
identify the agency and entity of racism with accuracy about its gravitational
pull, we will be able to better evaluate our stance in dealing with it
properly. In a lecture this semester, Dr. Stacey Floyd-Thomas taught about the
genius of discrimination – it is genius because it poses itself as many
different other ills, so that you end up only treating the symptoms while
masking the true source. The sickness is not a gland problem or a hormonal
imbalance. It is cancer, called racism – and, it is terminal. Now that the
diagnosis is clear, the regimen for treatment can be formulated.
As
mentioned earlier, there is plenty of viable proof that racism is a constant
aspect of daily life in America. Off the top of my head in my lifetime I can
name several terrible examples of the impact and implications of racism:
Trayvon Martin, Oscar Grant, Marissa Alexander, Hurricane Katrina, caricatures
of President and First Lady Obama, caricatures of the Boston Bombers, black
face costumes for Halloween 2013, disproportionate number of Black students
placed in Alternative Schools or Special Education, the number of Black men and
women in prison, the number of Black men and women in poverty and/or on
welfare, the number of Black men, women, and children without healthcare, etc.
I can honestly keep naming more, but the amazing thing is that anyone reading
this list most likely already knows these events are racist – it is just a
matter of dislodging oneself from the socially irresponsible location of
de-sensitivity and/or privilege. And even if you didn’t know that the
aforementioned people or events have to do with racism, the same course of
action applies – dislodge yourself from the socially irresponsible location of
de-sensitivity and/or privilege and WAKE UP!
As
I have engaged in dialogue with several of my friends about the year’s most
recent racist happenings, most of my friends have lamented at how little they
actually get upset anymore by the silly things racist people do. On Facebook I
even saw one Black young man virtually giving his permission for White girls to
dress in Black face costumes. I would love to complete a survey in which
different racist pictures or media images are shown to Black people of all ages
and have them rate how angry the picture makes them. I would like to conduct
this research to observe how much Black people have become de-sensitized to
racism. Conversely, I would like to conduct this same study on White people to
see if a correlation between the level of White privilege, or the ability to
ignore racism, and Black de-sensitivity, or the ability to become numb to
racism, is evident and/or similar.
[1] “Differential
Equation,” October 28, 2013, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Differential_equation
[2]
Derrick Bell, The Faces at the Bottom of
the Well: The Permanence of Racism, (New York: BasicBooks, 1992), 9.
[3] Derrick
Bell, The Faces at the Bottom of the
Well: The Permanence of Racism, (New York: BasicBooks, 1992), 198.
[4] Derrick
Bell, The Faces at the Bottom of the
Well: The Permanence of Racism, (New York: BasicBooks, 1992), 198-199.
