If you’re a Drop of Black in America

Klarissa Sisco
Blk St 101
Prof. Lewis-Mccoy
Mon/Wed 12:30 pm fall 2016

“Sete Meninas Crespas” (Seven Curly Girls) (Photo: Facebook Quilombo dos Meninos Crespos) “blackwomenofbrazil.co”

In New York City, the life experience is different for you, even if you’re a drop of black. The kinky, curly hair, darker skin tones and variety of culture combinations sets them apart from white America. Over the years they have fought to gain knowledge and skills from their own strong culture to become a strong part of the American culture, as opposed to the inferior beings they have been seen as since before the time of the trans-Atlantic slave trade when the division of race came to be. Being of African descent can mean being from any culture where the people were of darker skin tones no matter what language they may speak. This could mean being from the Dominican Republic, Cuba, Brazil, Jamaica, Haiti, the West Indies, etc.

In the book Building a Latino Civil Rights Movement : Puerto Ricans, African Americans, and the Pursuit of Racial Justice in New York City, Lee describes how Ted Velez, former board member of the Massive Economic Neighborhood Development (MEND), turned leader of the East Harlem Tenants council (EHTC), made the point that the working class Puerto Ricans should be in control of the antipoverty funds and distribute them in a way that they see fit since that is the neighborhood that they have come from. The established white people had no business representing the poor Puerto Ricans in East Harlem, especially because they did not have the same life experiences and struggles.

The idea of race and its hierarchy in Harlem benefits the white man in politics, economics and psychology in America (Garcia, 2012). The book, Psychology Comes to Harlem : Rethinking the Race Question in Twentieth-Century America. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, describes this when Kenneth Clark acknowledges James Baldwin’s idea that there are “subtle forces which are significant in our social structure.” These subtle forces are what keep the white man in the higher positon and all minorities in the struggle.

By, Brotha Wolf Nov. 13, 2015 “http://www.rippdemup.com/race-article/mizzous-problem-black-college-students/”

Citation:

Garcia, J., & Project, M. (2012). Psychology Comes to Harlem : Rethinking the Race Question in Twentieth-Century America. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press.

Lee, S. S. (2014). Building a Latino Civil Rights Movement : Puerto Ricans, African Americans, and the Pursuit of Racial Justice in New York City. Chapel Hill: The University of North Carolina Press.