“This problematic dynamic extends beyond closed -off communities, or even the confines of a coffeeshop, to impact virtually every fragment of our broken socioeconomic framework. Only witnessing white people fulfilling the specific roles leads to the confused, equally damaging belief that only white people can fulfill certain roles; this brutal falsification is integral to marring Black advancement across a wide spectrum, while marshaling in mediocrity and impugning progress from the business world to the world of sports. Only seeing white CEOs or white head coaches, or, applying such clinical perplexity, are more qualified for these positions. The whole notion of “quality” has hence become synonymous with white skin. Where those attempts to redress discrimination will almost certainly inspire ballyhoo about reverse discrimination – or the belief that more qualified persons will thereby lose out – it suggests that diverse hires will always suffer from those fires of deformation. It is this intrinsic stigma that subjects us to perpetual setback in the supercilious eyes of the majority.
Conjecture that quality, not race, should solely determine opportunity hints at something even more revealing than any babble that Black folks must therefore be inferior. It lets on that those entities enjoying unfettered opportunity cannot bear the thought of standing in the shoes of those whose race has impacted their opportunities or lack thereof. By all accounts, such an exercise, contemplating the idea that, due to unfairness, one could suffer a staggering reversal of fortune, is scary to the point of panic, a prospect that most individuals find truly foreboding.
By expressing pique at the idea their own person could be devalued due to such a superfluous matrix as race indicates that the answer staring them right in the face, that true lightbulb moment, need not be unplugged through indignation – as such umbrage comes at the expense of enlightenment. Primacy always has a funny way of tripping up progress in these moments, with hubris lapping humility in mere seconds. Yet such a flagrant lack of logical thinking is to me, and most marginalized people, incomprehensible. It means the resultant lack of representation in American spaces is nothing but illogical yet, given their unabashed petulance, likely to persist.
What this really means is that even an overqualified African American cannot contend with such chronic unconscious bias and widespread resentment. We could set ourselves on fire and still not be able to compete with these contortions – try as we might, we still cannot actually be seen, or rather accepted for both who and what we are. Because our world, rife with imbalance, continues to reflect a particular, even peculiar reality, many boldly choose to accept that outcome, ignoring iniquity because of its personal benefits, preferring instead to view this warp as happenstance not habit, or inconsequential when it is all too encouraged.”
~ Cyrus McQueen, ‘Tweeting Truth to Power’
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