As Black as we wish to be
Many anthropologists claim that race is constructed culturally rather than biologically. The lived experiences of the residents of East Jackson fully support this claim. The community is African American, and occasionally they have been discriminated against for being Black, Biologically they pose all the elements that would make them identify as white; Blue eyes, fair skin and red hair (2:06). In other communities in the US having a great grandfather who was Black would not make one be considered as Black but here in this community being part Black no matter how small that part is makes one Black. For some of these families being Black is about history, character and love and nothing to do with Biology (30:10). Despite Ally’s parents being Black, she makes a personal choice and chooses to be White. Being Black or White comes down to one's choice to the residents of East Jackson (48:09) it is a choice they did not have in the past, but now they do. Sometimes the choice is to honor tradition, one was raised Black, and they would have to continue being Black to honor tradition (48:58) or to honor their allegiances (49:01).
Racism in the county was very much evident even before the 90s. Every county in Ohio had its issues such as prejudice although East Jackson was faced by double prejudice and poverty (8:47). From 1860 to 1970, racism was at its worst in East Jackson. The process of eliminating racism in East Jackson was a slow process. Despite the fact that all were of the same social status, some groups in the East Jackson received special treatment simply because they were from another race that wasn’t Black (9:29). Before the 1930s or 1940s there was a sign that was placed at the city limits of Waverly town that warmed the Blacks to be out of town by the time it was dark the sign read “Negros get out of town don’t let the sun go down on me” (9:27).
Ally who identifies as Black in school is discriminated in school by White boys who at one point threw a deodorant at her and told her they thought she needed it since Black people need deodorants, it was in the middle of class and no one even the teacher defends her (20.00). She was regarded as dirty because she rode the Black kids’ bus. While joining high school, she was forced to identify herself as White in order for her to fit in with the rest of the teenagers. She was forced to lie every time she had to talk to her sister or any of her cousins at school, and this greatly damaged the relationship she had with her sister who identified as Black in high school.
The experience of social stratification of the residents of East Jackson was explicitly racist and not a matter of wealth, as mentioned earlier in the podcast. The White were more privileged than the Black. At one point Ally brought a White boyfriend home and when the mother told him that Ally was Black and not mixed-race the boyfriend dumped her because he was White and could not be in a relationship with a Black woman. The White relate to each other how nasty Black people are (30.33). The social identity that is ascribed to the residents of East Jackson by outsiders and the people of Waverly is Black. This status has also been ascribed to them by the government (41:06). Normally in the US race is about color but the lived experience of residents of East Jackson has proved that this is not true, race goes beyond the color of one’s skin.
References
Pike County, OH: As Black as We Wish to Be. Retrieved from; https://beta.prx.org/stories/85361
