It's 2007, but that does that really mean anything?

Growing up amongst the WASPs in the third richest county in America, I didn't really get in touch with my "black side" (if you will) until a year or two ago. I blame it on my environment constantly, but anyone close to the Downbeat camp will agree that I've made far strides in the past few years. A black guy I dated introduced me to Spike Lee movies like School Daze. Baby steps. Then a Korean guy I dated introduced me to hip hop a few years later. Step step step. None of that, however, prepared me for the mass gathering of "my people" (the Black Student Union) in the center of my college campus in the middle of the night, which one of my girlfriends will tell you left me clutched tightly to her in horror and amazement at (in my words at the time): "that many black people in one place at one time." Clearly, I'm no militant black woman. I prided myself through my more naive years in transcending race lines. Then I learned a little about the world and the people in it and prided myself instead in just looking past race lines... not making them important, citing that it was indeed the year 2007. Now at the decrepit and jaded age of 23, I've prided myself in being unapologetically irreverent (bordering on inappropriate)... taking little to no shame in finding the most possible humor and levity out of all things "color"-related. Laughing through Imus. Rolling my eyes at Tyler Perry. Making jokes out of the NAACP's highly publicized funeral for the N-word. After all, life isn't nearly as fun if you're not laughing hysterically through it with the people who bring you joy.

So at any rate, I decided to take a break from Perez and Michael K this morning at work when the idea popped into my head to reacquaint myself with The Boondocks. Today's strip was just too hilarious to pass up. It satirizes the very real fact that Bob Jones University just recently recinded its long-standing policy against students dating across race lines. HILARIOUS! I immediately e-mailed it to my very Irish boyfriend, my black girlfriend who married a white man, my BFF with a penchant for making slightly racist jokes, and my open-minded mother (whatever that means). And then I sat back and prided myself in how far I've come: I could laugh at race-related satire and share it with others.

I went through the majority of the rest of my day at work when one of my co-workers walked into my office and asked me if I was wearing black tomorrow. I'd completely forgotten-- tomorrow, September 20th, has been set aside as a day for thousands upon thousands of people across the nation who are disgusted with the situation in Jena, Louisiana to wear black. To show their protest with the modern-day Jim Crow law enforcement and to stand in solidarity with the young men and their families who are being unfairly prosecuted by a heavy-handed District Attorney. Everytime I read more about the developments, my heart breaks a little more and I question what statements like "we've come so far" really mean. That there could be something called "a white tree" at a public high school in this country in the year 2007 makes me think we might as well be in 1930. And it also makes me question every time I've found levity or humor in a situation that's racially charged. If things like this are still happening in this day and age, maybe we haven't come far enough to be able to make jokes. Maybe it really is a big deal that Imus called some girls "nappy headed hoes." I thank God that I've never been put in a situation like that... and at the same time, I'm afraid that if we've regressed this far in 2007, enough progress will not have been made in 2027 that my children won't risk being put in a similar situation.

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