How Does it Feel to be a Problem?

There is in this world no such force as the force of a person determined to rise. The human soul cannot be permanently chained. - W.E.B. DuBois

In W.E.B. DuBois famous book “The Soul of Black Folk,” he utters this phrase: “Do you know how it feels to be a problem?” Growing up as a young African-American male in a traditionally racist nation, one begins to know how it feels to be a problem. We are constantly given images of black men being hauled off to jail in daily newspapers and reports that there are more black males in prison than in college. This type of coverage gives little hope to many African-American men simply trying to survive. Over the past few weeks I have been given constant reminders of the color of my skin. While the individual(s) who are responsible for giving me this stark reminder were honestly doing it out of sheer ignorance, it made me think of Dubois’s famous statement.

I know how it feels to be a problem.

No matter how high I rise or how far I go, I will forever have a reminder that my skin is darker than others around me. While I consider my skin color to be a strength, others may consider it as a quandary. With the onslaught of racist political programming that we have been subjected to over the past few weeks, I figure that I would give the perspective of how a black man feels to live in America . The nation that Jeremiah Wright described and was then accused of hate speech and racism. The country that we are supposed to love so dearly yet we are treated so un-fairly. When John Edwards ran for President he spoke of a divided country. Two America’s he called it, one for the haves and one for the have nots.

This my friends is how it feels to be a problem.

Many Americans fail to understand the sentiment that Dr. Wright speaks of and speaks from. An example of his pain can be found in the hearts of many black men and women that have a tough time finding work. Filling out numerous applications and attending countless interviews when you are qualified for the job, but fail to gain the position. Many turn to crime or to selling drugs as a means of getting by. While I in no way condone turning to illegal means to achieve capital, I understand the mindset in which this behavior comes. We are trained to believe that if we fail to hold jobs then we are ultimately failures in life. While many of our nation’s richest individuals have garnered wealth by unethical ways such as lying on tax returns, flooding our neighborhoods with poisons such as drugs and alcohol, and stealing millions of dollars from those that hold stock in the company in which they work. Feeding our children unhealthy foods and subjecting our minds with images of fancy cars and large homes. Killing our most beloved leaders and feeding our people untruths of equality and fairness. Why should we believe in a country that still treats us as less than a human being?

The way that this nation has treated Jeremiah Wright conjures memories of pain for many black Americans as they revert back to the racism that our parents and grandparents were forced to endure. It also serves as a stark reminder that this nation still has a deep racial divide. The separation between races is evident; just study the latest reports on education, sexually transmitted diseases, and prison populations. African-Americans are affected the most. As long as our education system remains segregated and we treat our children as separate individuals this country will remain steeped in isolation.

While I can only give examples of how some African-Americans feel toward this country and why we believe substantiated inequalities still exist, we still love the nation in which we live. We still have faith that our hopes and dreams will someday prevail over bigotry and narrow-mindedness. We are determined to make this country and this world a better place for our children and grandchildren; which is why we will not allow the ills of this nation to bring us down. Love will conquer all evil, though cliché and simple, is a creed that we must believe in. Some of us may be problems to others, but we are subjects of love to one another.

-JH