The piece I found the most striking was the Rogers piece on Raced-based coalitions. I feel as if in so many cases we all think that it comes down to two races, black and white. However, this piece exemplifies that things are not that simple. Race divisions lie across the board, even with two groups that seem to be extremely similar in needs, desires, and political activism such as the Afro-Caribbean’s and African Americans.
Rogers goes on at length about their similar viewpoints, how they live in the same neighborhood and fight against the same discrimination and yet have yet to form a steady alliance. This to me is so strange, but at the same time, I say to myself-Why should we be making alliances at all? Why should we have to group ourselves together in order to fight against each other due to something as petty as the color of our skin? Rogers says
“Their worry is that conservative political interests will look to exploit or even sow divisions between African-Americans and these new immigrant constituencies, thereby dousing any potential for a liberal rain- bow coalition led by Blacks.”
We are all so focused on our differences and on getting “our share of the pie.” But in doing this, we alienate ourselves from one another and don’t get anything accomplished-the case of the afro-Caribbean’s and the African Americans being a prime example of this. They are so similar, they want the same things (when it comes down to it, don’t we all want the same thing?) but they are still vying for power. This isn’t how it should be.
We should accept that we are different, and embrace our differences; I have no arguments against that. How we are all different makes up who we are and diversity is a wonderful thing. But we should also embrace how we are the same, and work together to achieve our goals.
