I've had it.

You know, sometimes it dawns on me just how much I can only ever really know about what it is to be Black in America.

No, I didn't just watch the CNN special of the same name, and no, I didn't just take an African-American studies course. I'm actually finding out more of how it seems Black people must feel in regards to their place in American society the more I study white society.

Because some Black people are featured as rap artists, sing and rap about things considered lewd and base, any black youth that listens to it is not only considered the rule for all black youth, but that music alone is what is stapled to their identity (even if they also enjoy jazz, punk, metal, techno, rock, or country). Meanwhile, the suburban white youth who buy the same rap CD's are viewed as "also listening to rap" in addition to their other, 'normal' and at the same time 'appropriate' artists, like Hawthorn Heights or Alan Jackson.

Loud, obnoxious bands like Blink 182 are primarily the listening products of white youth, contain lyrics that can easily be shown as lewd and inappropriate on the same grounds, yet are not tipified with white youth as being a problematic culture. Instead, it's seen as a mere nuissance that kids "grow out of" or "can turn down when it's too loud". Even in extreme examples like Marilyn Manson, it's a "contaminating" culture that makes victims out of it's listeners. With rap and black youth, the black youth "embrace" it as their culture. No victim status is awarded for them. There is a clear cut racial double standard, yet it is never discussed or challenged.

White youth who attend frat partys, drift by through coursework with a sub-par GPA, and have a higher propensity to binge drink and abuse alcohol are "experiencing college", yet if by chance a Black person walks into the store to buy a 40 oz., a less than flattering stereotype is placed upon them. And people wonder why Black Americans are not as quick to go grab a flag to go wave around, ready to march into a country for war?

Watching Chris Matthews say on TV after the State of the Union that "he forgot Obama was Black for an hour" as an attempt to prove a post-racial society makes me both laugh and feel sorry for our country. Why the fuck does one have to forget that somebody is Black in order for them to make a good speech, come across as a uniting figure, or have serious and substanative ideas for our country? What would it mean if Matthews had all of a sudden decided to think of Obama as Black during the speech? What if Obama had said or done something stereotypically "Black", if even for just a few seconds? Would that have erased any certainty that he was capable of doing what he does?

Anyone with a degree of common sense already knows the answer to those questions, so there's no sense beating around the bush with this: America is far from post-racial. Yes, MLK was right when he said "We all came on different ships, but we're in the same boat now." He just forgot to mention that we still, though it is lamentable, sit in different seats.