Winning the race race ***UPDATE***

***Update***
Click here for a video on race after reading this post.
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I remember running a race in 3rd grade. It was the 100 yard dash. I had to run against Rob, a boy who was considered very fast. At the same time, I had shown that I was pretty fast myself.

As he and I were getting ready to run, stretching out our legs and all, he looked at me and said, "I'm going to pace you."

"Huh?"

"Yeah, I am going to pace you."

"What does that mean?"

"I'm not telling you, but you can't win when I do it."

"Tell me what it means."

"I'll tell you after I win."

I didn't have a chance in the race. All I could think about during the race was "what is pacing? Is he doing it now? Can I do it to someone else once I learn how to do it?" And so on.

He beat me by a couple of steps.

Pacing, as it turns out didn't really mean anything. What happened was that I was placed into a situation in which I didn't understand the rules. Yes, I knew where the start and finish lines were and to run when the gym teacher blew the whistle, but those are not the rules that made the difference. There were interpersonal rules that I was not aware of. The "psyche the other guy out" rule was not within my realm of understanding.

OK, take this example and change it a little. Now let's say I had to begin running this race from 30 yards behind the starting line giving Rob a 30 yard advantage. The 100 yards are the only ones that count, but I have to run 30 yards in order to get to the first yard that counts.

Now image that everyone in my family had gone to that school for as far back as I knew (great great granparents) and they always had the same set of circumstances, and always lost. The only real difference is that I get to start at 30 yeards back while they had to start 50, 70, or 100 yards back. Before that, they didn't even get to run in the race at all. Imagine I had heard these stories about racing and losing races my whole life. I knew I was going to lose. My best hope was to lose by less than my family had lost. But really, I felt like a loser. I hated myself for being a loser (even before I ran the race) and I had hatred for my oppoent, for the people who made the rules and for the people who had done this to my family and my ancestors.

Now imagine, in a twist of events, that I won the race against Rob, even though he had a 30 yard lead. Would that be any proof that the race was equal? Was equality achieved? Of course not. It only proves that I am not only faster than Rob, but that I am incredibly faster than Rob. To make up 30 yards is an almost superhuman feat.

But then think of how insulted I am when people see me win and say that I am only faster than Rob. "Faster than Rob? Are you kidding? I'm Superman!!!"

Think of how insulted I am when my superhuman efforts only make people arrive at the conclusion that things are equal. "Equal? That's what my think of my superhuman speed? That things are equal?"

Think about it. That is theft. Credit is paid to the people organizing the race that things were equal when they were not while credit is not given to the person who made the incredible achievement. The message is "Look how equal we made things," and not "WOW! That runner overcome the injustice and won anyway. That is incredible."

Claiming proof of equality when, in some cases, the oppressed find a way to win over the unjust system is a further layer of oppression. Claiming eqality when you don't do the work, sacrifice, and pain it requires to actually achieve it is merely advancing the oppression and making it even more nuanced, more confusing for the oppressed, and more powerful for the oppressor.

We are not even close to having equality in America. The fact that things are better than they were is not good enough. The fact that there are other countries who don't even try is not good enough. The fact that there are powerful people of color in the political arena (conservative and liberal), on the athletic field, and in the art galleries is not good enough.

Neutralizing the legacy of American Indian genocide and slavery takes more than a few generations. It will take another century to really feel the impact of civil rights in more than a token manner. And perhaps another century after that for these inequalities to wash out.

And that will only happen if:

1. American demographics keep changing toward a non-white majority. (Not that there is inherent badness is whiteness, but rather there is blindness in power).
2. American apartheid does not reassert itself in law.
3. Backlash from oppressed people does not "justify" further oppression.
4. Inequalities are more recognized by the people in power and these people are responsive.
5. Counrty music is more influenced by the Dixie Chicks and less by Toby Keith.
6. Patriotism is defined in terms more open to unique and diverse cultures unifying on a few important things than everyone becomes like the dominant culture.
7. Several people of color impact Nascar in the same way Tiger Woods impacted golf.
8. Americans find something of value we can all unify on. "All [people] are created equal" is something we already have and is a good one to go on.
9. We realize that we cannot exist forever on exploitation.
10. We love our neighbors as ourselves.

When race is a race against each other, many lose, few win, and the winnings are hollow.

When race is a race against hatred, oppression, fear, poverty, hopelessness, and shame, then every single person has a chance to win. When we define the enemy in these terms, then no person has to lose in order for another one to win.