From my limited white perspective, I have observed that African Americans often treat unfamiliar African Americans as kin. There is a difference between friendliness and a sense of
kinship. Though many whites are friendly towards other whites, a sense of
kinship is rare. Conversely, I have found that many African Americans have a
comparatively greater sense of kinship and closeness with unfamiliar African
Americans.
I propose that this kinship stems from the historical forces
that shaped the way African Americans think about other African Americans. Such
kinship was formed during times of severe oppression, though some historians
suggest the beginning was further back in history. The book “Ethnicity and
Family Therapy” claims that African Americans can attribute their kinship
tendencies all the way back to ancestral African tribes. “Various tribes shared
‘commonalities’ that were broader than bloodlines.” These strong kinship
networks were then strengthened through people joining together to protect
themselves against subjugation and cruelty during the eras of slavery and Jim
Crow laws.
In Remembering Jim
Crow, Ann Pointer speaks of meeting a man on a train and feeling
instinctively that he is related to her. She speaks her mind, saying, “You
know we are some kin.” Ann goes on to say “You see people all the time. You
just don’t know who is who” (66-67). Never knowing whether or not you are
related to another person of your ethnic group because of forced separation can
cause a person to adjust the way they treat others of their own race. African
Americans of this era considered all other blacks as kin because theoretically
they could have been family. This
tradition carried on through generations and was furthered by ties that
developed between non-biologically related peoples of the Jim Crow era who
treated one another as if they were family.
My argument is that these networks still exist today. The
African American mindset of 2012 has been shaped by previous generations to
include treating other members of the culture as if they were family because
two hundred years ago, the same people very well could have been genetically
related. Families were forcibly separated so often, it was not uncommon to meet
someone that may have been a relative. Because this was a possibility, African
Americans began to treat other African Americans as if they were family,
because one never knew their true history. This mindset of communal, familial
closeness with those who may not otherwise been categorized as family has
continued on through generations, with African Americans never losing the
friendliness with which they treat people to whom they are not physically
related. The editors of Remembering Jim
Crow call this type of behavior “collective self-sufficiency.” Leroy Boyd
mentions, “If you was a neighbor and you had got behind, my family would just
go and help you [for] free” (123). This support network combined the with
family sentiments perpetuated the kinship developed between African Americans
that has lasted for generations.
The scars left from familial separation run deeper than a
single generation, but rather span hundreds of years. Such scars are ingrained
into subconscious thought and practice. Attitudes towards other members of the
race remain analogous to kinship decades after initial motivation to act so
much like family has passed.
This is not to say that blacks today believe that every other
African American is their long lost 3rd cousin, but that treating
another person of your race as well as if they could be biologically related to you is the socialized, normalized
custom that has been established into the everyday etiquette of African
Americans over centuries.
Would you agree or disagree that kinship is greater in
African Americans who are unfamiliar with each other than in American whites? If you agree, what are
some other potential causes of this kinship? How do you see this kinship
developing and for how long do you believe it will last?
Source:
Shelley, first of all this is a great post. I would agree that kinship or a feeling of closeness is greater in African Americans who are unfamiliar with each other than in American whites. As you aptly stated, this is probably attributable to the fact that the familial separation of African-Americans during the days of slavery have left scars, subconsciously, in the thoughts of African-Americans over centuries. Another reason which might explain the “closeness” but not the so much the feeling of “kinship” among African-Americans is the idea of being in the minority. This is not specific to African-Americans only. In general, minorities are more inclined to build closer relationships with other minorities since they may feel they share something in common: their minority status. So an African-American man who meets other African-Americans, whom he does not know, in a predominantly white society may feel a sense of connection and relatedness, not attributable to “kinship” exactly, but to fact that they are also minorities.
ReplyDeleteShelley, I also happen to agree with this post. Likewise, I agree that a feeling of "closeness" is created due to at one point being a minority. Although this bond can be replicated for many minority groups, I believe what differentiates African Americans is their naming process. After reading Soul by Soul, we discussed naming practices. In class we made the point that when your child was born, you would not know where they would end up later in life because they could be sold. In order to be able to find them, if your name was Charles Smith, your son and grandsons names would also be Charles Smith. I believe that this point of not knowing where your family will end up and the naming practices used also play an important role in this "closeness."
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