The Many Shades of Civil Rights

***ASIDE: I just want to note how delightfully gleeful I am (still!) that I get to say “President Obama” about a million times within the next four years (at least!).***

Amongst all of the cheers erupted and tears shed for our first Black president, there lurked a shadow of our country’s intolerance. That shadow’s name it Proposition 8. It even has a nickname: Prop 8. Now there have been countless articles, blog entries, and YouTube videos addressing the opinions of both sides of the fence. Though, today, I’m not going to get into a detailed analysis on why I’m for or against Prop 8. I’ll just state – for the record – that I’m fully against it. And that I’ll never understand how one group who knows what it’s like for their rights to be stripped from them can then turn around and take away someone else’s.

With that said, I want to address this simple idea uttered by many: “ We have a Black President! Progression! Yet, Gay Marriage was banned in California! Retrogression! That means that racial issues are dead yet sexuality issues are still alive and thriving!”

…

NOPE! You can’t even fathom how much I wish it were that easy. For a single event – even an astronomically huge one such as Mr. Obama being named President-elect – to erase five hundred years of racism. While Obama’s victory is a major step, it is a step. One. Of many.

Now, the passing of Prop 8 did reek of “one step forward, two steps back” in terms of discrimination and civil rights in general. And while, I do agree that, in general, it does negate the “let’s all hold hands around the earth” vibe that Obama inspired, it bothers me when these two facets of civil rights are compared inaccurately and unfairly.

Let’s take the following scenario. A Black straight man (Man A) and a White gay man (Man B), both from California. Both have their share of prejudices against them as well as their privileges in society. For one, both are men. Not much needs to be said on their obvious “shark” ranking in the “food chain” of our society. Now, let’s take what’s stacked “against” them. Man A has to withstand acts of discrimination from the jump. He doesn’t have the “privilege” of hiding his “minority” status as Man B does. To the naked eye, Man B is still just another White man, in all of his “majority” glory. Now, all hell breaks loose when his secret is discovered. Now he has to withstand hate crimes and other acts of discrimination. Thing is, Man A is still withstanding it and has been withstanding it from the moment he was born (sometimes not as overt as Man B’s discrimination, but discrimination is discrimination). Okay, so let’s say both of these men fall in love. Man A can definitely marry the person he loves legally, while Man B can’t. So, while Man B can cohabitate with the person he loves, he can’t share the same benefits with his partner as Man A. And to top it all off, there are homophobic and racist themed tensions between Man A and Man B themselves! Hmm, the phrase “divide and conquer” comes to mind.

So, above I’ve pointed out an example of what one oppressed group has to suffer and the other group doesn’t. I did that because; frankly, this game of “which is worse” between Black folks and gay folks is ridiculous. It’s incredibly insulting to the respective histories of each group to compare the two beyond the fact that they are both discriminated against and that both seek civil rights. To use the overused idiom, this issue is not “black or white”. The many elements of oppression within each group cannot be defined using a blanket generalization. The ways in which the oppression was born as well as the way it is implemented is very distinct for each group. This post would be even longer than it already is if I were to get into all of it. And even if I did (which, I’m not… my fingers are cramping), the song would remain the same: When it comes to Black and gay civil rights, there are many shades of gray.

And with that, I’d like to pose this question: How about spending less time on fighting over which one is worse off or more progressive than the other and spending more time fighting together to obtain civil rights for all?

Love ya like Bush loves oil,

Cheekie