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BIFOCAL PERCEPTION USA

Recently, Michelle Obama was asked about the metrics of the opinion polls showing that African Americans favored Hillary Clinton over her husband. In her response, she stated that black folk soon would shake out of their lethargy; that they had had a history of limited expectations. Some might interpret her remarks as being ethnocentric and out of place in the discussion of a presidential candidate whose responsibility encompasses the whole of the nation.

Mrs. Obama had just discussed her husband’s vision for the country in general. Her response to the question about the polls was in explanation of a national phenomenon little known to those who do not experience it personally. She was describing the survival second vision long ago adopted by African Americans as a way to deal with a society which, on one hand, did/does(?) not see them in the normal course of events, and, on the other hand, saw/sees(?) them as an annoyance, an interruption of (their concept of) the status quo. In other words, African Americans perceive their environment as it is, but also through the necessity of their bifocal vision. For, without that extra vision—depending upon the point in American history in question, from 1619 through the present day—the result could be death, injury, humiliation, embarrassment—or merely discomfort.

It is well known that the ethos of a people is based upon its history, environment and experience. For black people in America, that history has been bleak; the environment hostile; and the experience regrettable. There is no need for African Americans to explain their loyalty (although it contravenes logic) to this country and the tenets upon which it is (ostensibly) founded. This is indelibly evident through their participation in the three great wars and all the others in which this country has engaged. Although they were fighting for the good of the United States, they had to endure segregation and humiliation on the battlefield, and knew they would return to the same degrading treatment once returning to the home-front.

Even with all of this heavy history, as to the security of the United States there never has been a whiff of disloyalty (again, contrary to logic) uttered against African Americans. This is especially significant in a day when we must be on the lookout, at all of our ports and entryways, for those who would destroy all of us.

This is necessary to be said for the benefit of those who do not understand Michelle Obama’s remarks, which our modern news sources must frame within the parameters of the sound bite. All she did was merely explain the acquired bifocal perception of America, without which African Americans would be at further disadvantage in this society.