DACA’s Repeal Shows the Two Disconnected Sides of African Americans Today

By:  H.T., Podcast: Kuroi And Youth

As I watch the debates on DACA being repealed, I notice there are two arguments going on.  One of the black man that says we should care about our own first and forget about the plight of immigrants when we as black men are still suffering.  Then there’s the other argument that if we start with the immigrants, we’ll be next and that we can’t just sit by and let minorities be persecuted.

On both sides, I hear their arguments.  There’s the argument that Latinos often begin to identify as white after a certain point, Latinos often don’t like to associate with black people in certain instances, and yes, black people have many of our own issues to worry about.  On the other hand, plenty of Latinos DO identify by their born race, many do associate with a plethora of different races, and the fact is that some issues do intersect between black people and Latinos.

What I believe is going on here is it is two sides of of the same coin fighting to be its own currency.  The black men often labeled as hoteps want the black America back that they saw their grandparents have, with money, and businesses and women who weren’t so promiscuous.  The woke side of things wishes black peoples could merge into American society and we live in peace while understanding that not everyone shares the same experiences.

The problem is that these two schools of thought more often than not clash on the immovable grounds that the other side’s way of doing things will destroy black people.  One side believes that Black Lives Matter hates straight black men and that the hotep movement is straight black men going out for themselves, however these men, more often than not, argue for black people to live by the same uber right wing policies that oppressed black people by way of labeling men as inferior for saying they aren’t masculine enough, saying women need to meet a certain level of morality to be respected and that children need to build their lives in the image of their parent’s hopes and dreams.

I believe this is why people like Black Lives Matter exist, because this generation, however ostentatious the display of it, fights to be its own people.  People will argue that these are misguided children, but I believe they are what happens when one generation tells the one it raises that part of them is insignificant, broken, and a lost cause and that the ones that can do or bring less are praised just for not being them.

Fact is, the millennials that join forces with minorities besides their own people do this because people like the other group alienate them with extreme prejudice.  Nothing, and I mean nothing makes people alienate one another from each other like the lack of compromise.  So what is the solution?  Sad truth, there isn’t one.  Fact is, people like this will stay who they are and won’t budge much if at all.

The authoritarian black man can learn tolerance and the alienated black woman or gay or trans person can adopt some of the trappings of traditionalism, but the fact is these people will stay who they are.  Where do I fall?  After times and changes, I fall left of the center of it all.  There is not much I can do or say to convert people who insist on digging down in their beliefs.  People can say identity politics isn’t helping, but it seems to help those who identify with oppression of others and genetic superiority.

Maybe just maybe, those weird kids are onto something.