As we all know, over the past 4 years, the subject of race in America has been on full display. I've already touched on a number of subjects in which race has played a part in the perception of Black Americans, our Black President, the reasons why people voted for and against him, etc, etc.
A friend of mine commented on one of my blogs and mentioned that even though the race issue isn't, by any means, a moot point in the year 2012, it's not as cut and dry as that anymore. He mentioned it's more about economic status; simply put, the wealthy vs. the poor; the working class vs. the elite. And while the wealthy elite in this country is comprised more of white Americans, there are a vast number of white Americans who are not in that group. They are working class citizens just like everyone else who must go to work everyday to make basic ends meet. Many of them have been affected by the unemployment crisis as well. Whereas for a time in our country's history it was mainly minorities who were not afforded opportunities to have access to 'The American Dream' (whatever that is supposed to mean, nowadays), it seems now that color no longer is the end all be all to whether or not you may end up poor, already be poor or are on the verge of being poor.
Comedian Katt Williams made an interesting, if not already well known, observation concerning this matter in his stand up performance, Kattapacalypse (which is probably the funniest social commentary that I've seen since Chris Rock's Don't Kill The Messenger). During one segment of his routine, he said that it was no longer going to be about race in 2012. In reference to how black people in society, of course, are often referred to as 'niggers', he said that "we are all niggers now". Then he made reference to the '99%' and asked: "You heard about the 99%? That's niggers!" Now some may view Katt's choice of words as crude (as he acknowledges by saying that the white people in the audience were like "We're niggers?" "Oh, yeah," he went on, "we're all niggers now!") there is an amazing about of brutal truth in that statement. In our nation's history, it was widely acknowledged that white citizens had the best opportunities to be successful and to become rich or wealthy. They had better access to education and better chances of being able to earn top dollars in their professions. Many will argue that this is still the case and they still have a pretty good leg to stand on when it comes to that argument. But when this country went into it's recession around the end of George W. Bush's 2nd term in office, white Americans found themselves in the same situations that many Black Americans had been dealing with for generations. The housing market was sent into a tailspin, forcing many already poor Americans as well as a significant amount of Americans who were considered to be well off to scramble for the survival of themselves and their families. Shortly afterward companies started laying off workers in all sectors when the financial markets approached crash status, trickling down from high paying executives to manufacturing workers. The need for a government bailout for the auto industry saved those companies from going bankrupt but didn't save nearly enough jobs. Subsequently, we would eventually see unemployment numbers rise to 10% in 2009. Needless to say this affected Americans from all backgrounds, with some still struggling to recover. So while Katt Williams' interpretation and the use of the word 'nigger' when referring to Black and white Americans might not be politically correct, it does show the vast separation between the working class and/or poor Americans and the wealthy elite. We're all grouped into somewhat the same category. It is truly us, the poor and working class 99% versus them, the wealthy elite 1%; race, color nor creed have no bearing in one's inclusion into the 99%.
One may ask, why is knowing this important? Well, and of course this is my opinion, it may help some of us understand a bit more some of the issues our country is facing and will face in the near future. With the election and recent re-election of Barack Obama, our country has been forced to deal with the sensitive topic of modern day racism. Many once thought that it could have been said that racism no longer existed in the modern era, due to the acceptance of more Blacks and other minorities into arenas where they were once prohibited. As I grew up during the 80's and 90's, there were few areas where poor inner city youth could say they could strive to excel in and know that they could be successful. Entertainment (mainly music) and sports (predominantly pro basketball) were the two major areas that had examples of people that looked just like us becoming and remaining successful. As these individuals broadened their outlooks and saw that there was more that they could accomplish, we now see former NBA superstars like Magic Johnson excelling in the business world, aside from his successes in the NBA. Michael Jordan, (obviously) well known for his exploits as a basketball superstar, became the first player to have a majority share in an NBA franchise. In the entertainment world, we see actors like Will Smith and Tyler Perry owning production companies and studios (in Perry's case) and branching further out into the film making industry. Rapper's like Jay-Z, who was once a protege' of the late Christopher Wallace (better known as the Notorious B.I.G or Biggie Smalls), have figured their way into many areas of the elite world. From holding the title of CEO of his own record label, Roc-A-Fella Records to spending time as the president of the largest Hip-Hop label in the world, Def Jam Records to brokering a very substantial merger of his label with the promotional company Live Nation and forming Roc Nation to owning a minority but very influential stake in the now Brooklyn Nets, Jay-Z has taken on the look of a man who sees no area where he can't get into and be successful on some level. His example alone has been, pardon the pun, the blueprint for many young aspiring entrepreneurs trying to find their way through a world that may soon not show fruitful benefits to a blue collar worker. Sure, there will be blue collar workers who are able to make a decent living and support their family, but those opportunities seem like they will be far and in between in the future. The new reality is that you have people who are making between $80,000 and $250,000 per year and many of them are struggling to make ends meet. The lines between the elite and the poor are no longer blurred. They are clear, stark. Red.
So what happens when there is a very small, elite group of individuals who own and/or control a huge portion of a nations wealth? In most other countries, those individuals usually are the ones in power, the ones who run the government. In our country, we like to believe that those who run our government truly do have our best interests at heart. But as each election cycle passes, we see that most, if not all, of our elected officials have their own agendas that have very little to do with the average American citizen. More and more often, we see companies and huge financiers influencing our lawmakers. Just during this past election we listened as Mitt Romney flat out told those who had attended one of his fundraisers that he didn't care about the 47% of Americans that was projected to vote for Obama. He mentioned that these were people who didn't pay taxes, who felt like the government owed them something, who felt like they were victims. He was obviously talking about poor Americans, black and white. That fundraiser was hosted by Marc Leder, a hedge fund manager. The people who attended paid $50,000 to be there, obviously pretty wealthy people who agreed with Romney's ideals. And even though President Obama seems to have a heartfelt agenda in wanting to give every American the opportunity to succeed, he's backed by some pretty heavy hitters in the financial world as well. So instead of our government being totally run by the wealthy elite, they are at the very least the influential powers that be.
So in 2012 and beyond, we can expect color lines to be replaced by financial ones. Whereas there may still be, as Nas said in his song Durags "…a lot of nigger calling in the corporate offices…", there may be less of that downstairs on the street where people from all races, color and creeds may be finally joined and equalized by one thing: Poverty.
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