Too often that sentiment comes out as someone saying that some one or another isn’t “really Black” or “Black enough” as though there is one definitive way to be Black and it can be attained by degrees or levels.

Of course there are a million different ways to “be Black” and we all find out own ways and often they have nothing at all to do with how other people think you should behave, look, think if you’re Black.

But in these situation with students at your school, I have to wonder how much their belief that there aren’t people in power who can relate to their lives and experiences contributes to their misbehavior. When you don’t think that people understand you, when you feel like your lifestyle, your culture is continually questioned, do you feel a need to assert those aspects of yourself? Do you act out as a reaction to believing that you’re not heard?

In the instance of the girl with the low-cut shirt and her mother. Yes, the girl broke the rules, and yes, you went out of your way to do things that will most likely be good for her in the long run. But, I understand why her mother hung up on you. The reality is that some Black people see discrimination when it doesn’t exist because they’ve experienced so much real discrimination. To dismiss concerns of discrimination by off-handedly saying – “I’m Black,” is pretty weak, and borderline offensive.

It implies that Black people don’t discriminate against other Black people – and you’d have be almost intentionally dense to believe that. But mostly, it’s a simple dismissal – and no one likes to have their concerns dismissed as being unworthy of discussion.

Even if that mother was wrong. Even if there’s no way that her daughter was being discriminated against in anyway – didn’t she deserve to have that concern taken seriously for a moment? Didn’t she deserve to be reassured that this was not the case? Because you know that she has probably faced plenty of situations where her perception of discrimination was spot on. And I think, from her point of view, that another Black person, who had been subjected to discrimination at some point in their lives would have been sensitive enough to recognize that and to treat her accordingly. So dismissing her by saying, “I’m Black,” was really a way of diminishing your Blackness rather than affirming it to her.

At least that’s how it came across to me. And I have certainly been on both sides of this coin. Most often I’ve been accused of being not Black enough, but I’ve gotten “too Black” thrown at me too. Sometimes you can’t win. But sometimes you stack the cards against yourself too.

Joe Clark: I want all of you to take a good look at these people on the risers behind me. These people have been here up to five years and done absolutely nothing. These people are drug dealers and drug users. They have taken up space. They have disrupted this school. They have harassed your teachers. And they have intimidated you. Well, times are about to change. You will not be bothered in Joe Clark’s school. These people are incorrigible. And since none of them could graduate anyway, [turns to the troublemakers on stage] you are all expurgated. You are dismissed! You are out of here, forever. I wish you well!

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