WON'T YOU BE MY NEIGHBOR

Can’t we all just get along? These infamous words spoken from the mouth of Reginald Dennehey gripped the hearts of whites who didn’t really give a damn about him. They simply wrote Mr. D off as a martyr who gave new meaning to the term “taking one for the team.” Honestly, at that point in history, many whites almost felt guilty for their indifference to Jim Crow, Jerry Curls and the Underground Railroad; while Blacks marched around in T-shirts with a picture of the Isley Brothers holding cans of Old English Malt Liquor reading “Kill Whitey for Equality!”

The 90s were full of racial tensions that ran hotter than Michael Jackson’s head when it caught on fire during that Pepsi commercial. Blacks and whites did intermingle during that decade; however, it became increasingly taboo. Black kids were afraid to showcase their intellect in a classroom full of their peers for fear of “acting white.” Whites were forbidden to wear Cross Colors or buy collard greens from the market and those that violated those orders were captured, taken into room 101 and forced to watch episodes of the Donna Reed Show while listening to Van Halen at a high volume, which didn’t go over so well. Many detainees died. Movies like Jungle Fever, Soul man and Whoopi Goldberg: An Act of Courage furthered the taboo that was interracial dating and cohabitation. I’m not saying that it was unacceptable, it was just uncommon yet provided excellent dinner party fodder if you were aiming to make Peter and Kanesha uncomfortable for the evening.

Fast forward to 2021 and depending on which area of the US you’re in, it seems illegal to be Black or White. Just seven years ago, Wilcox County High School in Georgia finally desegregated its prom. School officials denied this was a progressive move adding that they just wanted the white students to have an equal opportunity at learning how to dance. The KKK has given their sheets and hoods back to the Salvation Army in favor of judicial robes, shoes and suits. The NAACP – Never Actually Advocating for Colored People- is still never actually advocating for colored people. Awesome show great job guys! The point I'm trying to make is that decades later, interracial dating and marriage is still more taboo than being gay or same sex marriage. Racism is still present daily it’s just able to hide more efficiently in the era of political correctness. Groups like Black Lives Matter are only creating a larger divide among blacks and whites, harming society more than ever. Shows such as Black (ish) try to portray Blacks in a more positive light but seriously, Anthony Anderson seems more like Dick Van Dyke than Cliff Huxtable (The good wholesome Cliff, not the roofie concealing sexual deviant that we’ve come to loath). Blacks and Whites still seem to tip –toe around the issue of race and many are totally apprehensive about meaningful interactions in public; especially in the San Fernando Valley of California, which seems to operate like a level 4 prison yard at San Quentin. There seems to be a stigma attached here that has been embedded in the psyche of society for a long time. The South may fair better at Black and White relations because they are trying to shed their overall image of being a bunch of red-neck Confederate Civil War losing Honey Boo-Boo prostituting Duck Dynasty endorsing, forest preserve lynching Red Stagg drinking Kid Rock loving anarchists. All for the love of your tourist dollars of course; yet they've still got their work cut out for them. However, in the San Fernando Valley, people still seem to be irritated with Ebony and Ivory having intercourse.

In the mall the other day, a White woman was in the same store as me and was glancing over like she was conspiring to make contact with a Black man in a public setting. She walked by and whispered “Hi” like she didn’t want anybody to know she spoke. I couldn’t tell if she wanted proposition me for a threesome with her husband or ask for my indentured servant papers. Being Black in America has a totally different connotation than before. Now, alliances must be formed, lines must be drawn and Kool Aid must be made. Without love we’ll never make it to the promised land, where Blacks and Whites reproduce tiny little tan babies who will grow up to take the SATs only to identify as “other”, because terms like Mullato, mutt, Oreo and hybrid probably won't make the cut. So, listen up. All you Darkies with your dark problems engaging in dark tactics on dark streets wearing dark apparel. And you too Whitey; rolling around in your white cars, washing up with white soap in your white society engaging in your white ways eating white chocolate. Racism is a tool of division; keeping us fighting amongst ourselves so we are too distracted to fight the one true enemy of us all...