News Flash…All Black People Don’t Think Alike!
There have been those times when my White brothers and sisters have suggested that my perspective couldn’t possibly be right because some other Black people didn’t hold that same view. The idea that Black people have to have a single unified view on some perspective is fairly pervasive. Part of this belief about unanimous opinion may come from the fact that many times we are undifferentiated in the treatment we receive. Regardless of class, regional and generational differences we can all be subjected to the same hurtful racism.
One of the places where we are accused on group think is around politics. Since the major party affiliation of African Americans is the Democratic Party we hear people intimate that we cannot think for ourselves. Those same people forget that we used to overwhelmingly be members of the Republican Party. Yes, when it was the party of Lincoln we had good reason to affiliate with it. Segregation and Jim Crow was a hallmark of the Democrats (aka Dixiecrats). We could not get into trade unions that northern Democrats controlled. We switched parties when FDR presented the New Deal. Like other people we vote our self-interests, not our race!
People presume group-think among Black people when they ask one of us to speak for all of us. I can recall numerous times when a White person has asked me a question that begins, “Well what do Black people think about…?” to questions concerning OJ Simpson, President Obama, school choice, Michael Jackson, and any number of issues. I have learned to respond to that question with, “I don’t know, what do White people think about that?” That response always draws that weird look when the questioner realizes how ridiculous it is to ask one person to speak for every member of a group that makes up almost 14 percent of the nation.
The other aspect of group-think we confront is being “checked” by referencing another Black person. I recall being in an academic discussion and expressing my opinion only to have a White colleague say, “Well, empathyeducates – News Flash…All Black People Don’t Think Alike!:
