Profiles In Discouragement

Lrey over at The Conservative Brotherhood (an ad-hoc group of black center-right blogger of which Booker Rising is a part) blog opines about Michael Eric Dyson's commentary in CNN's "Black In America" series: "Reverend Dr. Michael Eric Dyson, a member of the faculty of Georgetown University's Sociology Department has elicited more responses and comments to his interview addressing the 'Life Choices' made by himself and his brother than I usually see drawn from the cyber public. For those who didn't see the interview or read the transcript, Dr. Dyson indicated that the choices made by his brother, after a stint in the Marine Corps, involving drugs and leading to murder and a life sentence, grew from his involuntary ingestion of the poison fruit of American society. He was a victim of subordinate free will overwhelmed by the compulsion of this society to direct the course of life of people afflicted with his dark pigmentation, via the limitation of choices and opportunities to which a person such as he is allowed to aspire. Dr. Dyson, being of a lighter hue than his brother, as is not uncommon arising from the genetic stew of American families, especially those with ancestors once held in involuntary physical and sexual servitude, feels he wasn't similarly encumbered because of the aforementioned lighter hue. The inference is that his intellectual abilities were given a fairer hearing by the judges of academia, not because he had a unique ability to display them, but because they wouldn't have recognized articulation and intelligence from a 'chocolate brown' person."

The commentary continues about personal responsibility vs. biology: "So the questions become, is Dr. Dyson the beneficiary of 'light skin privilege' because his intelligence allowed him at a relatively young age, to merely realize such a faux advantage existed and exploit the situation, or is his intelligence an actual genetic benefit corresponding with the biological mechanism responsible for his pigmentation, or is his Princeton PhD. an affirmative action trophy, or is there a real, debilitating pigment penalty that for whatever mysterious reason, as I don't believe young Michael was ever in doubt of his social ethnicity, never reflected back at him in the communal mirror? Does it mean Dr. Dyson will and must defer to 'chocolate brown' scholars and professionals because their accomplishments, unaided by color preference, are therefore more legitimate than his?"

And more: "Dr. Dyson may have grounds to question the mindset of juries and their willingness to tilt [t]hem is when those accused, particularly of violent crimes, are black. But it could be argued that judges and juries, black and white, are simply following in the rutted path traveled by Dr. Dyson, with his socio-ethnic rather than individual etiology of crime. Poverty and unemployment are age-old and historic progenitors of crime, and no ethnic group has been immune to their unbiased combination, but as a sociologist Dr. Dyson is in a better position than most to discover a less nebulous reason for the divergent paths of two siblings, raised together, than a variation in pigmentation that cause neither to be separated, in the mind of the greater society, from one particular and the same ethnic group. It may be he is suffering the guilt of the prodigy, or that experienced by the survivors of urban or other tragedies. Could his success, or that of others, stem from components of individuality such as reaching a level of mental-emotional maturity at an ideal age recommended by the configuration of society, personal competitiveness, innate talent, attraction to material acquisition and social status, personal morality, ego, good fortune, the chance encounter with an influential person or idea, or an intrinsic compatibility with cerebral life? There is an obligatory reference to race considering the history of this nation, but I question the helpfulness and validity of using Dr. Dyson's impressive academic standing to suggest to the young and uninitiated that a variation of pigmentation is the difference between a PhD. and prison. There are many paths on the landscape leading to either of those destinations, and where a person arrives, exampled by Dr. Dyson and many others, is more a function of personal navigation than social narrative. If not, the twenty-first century is destined to be hopeless for too many."

My response: Professor Dyson's claim is nonsense. While I agree that lighter skinned black can and often do get more favorable treatment (even from fellow blacks), it is not such that only light-skinned blacks can succeed in America. I was shaking my head when I saw Professor Dyson - whose own brother had a much better understanding of how his life choices led to his current situation while Professor Dyson was making excuses - in that CNN segment. I'm not light-skinned, but yet I've attained a Master's degree and professional employment. My late paternal grandfather was quite dark, was born in Mississippi under Jim Crow to boot, and yet got a Master's degree and professional employment. My maternal great-great-grandfather (b. 1862) was the quite-dark-skinned son of ex-slaves who grew up dirt poor down South, but yet was the first in the family to graduate from college and became a teacher and minister...all under Jim Crow. Oprah Winfrey ain't light-skinned either. We can create quite of list of other folks. So there is no excuse for Professor Dyson's brother on this front when folks who faced far higher barriers did it.

What got me more than Professor Dyson's comments in that interview with him and his convicted felon brother in prison, was the CNN footage of him preaching to a black congregation that they will be held back big time because of racism. Yes, racism exists, but say what?! You've got a professor who probably makes a six-figure salary, who has worked hard to come out of the projects to succeed with fame, made solid choices in his life, standing before said congregation as a model of success. However, he won't preach what he practices - yes, preach what he practices - in his own life but instead preaches victimology.