America Behind the Color Line by Henry Louis Gates Read Free Book Online Page A

happened in a place where we were once slaves, nothing more than property. It happened in a place where at the time the Constitution was written, we were considered three-fifths of a white person for voting purposes. And it happened in a little over a couple of hundred years. Now that may be a long time by some standards, but by comparison with what’s happened in other countries around the world, it’s quite remarkable. When you also think that it happened to a guy whose parents just showed up in this country as immigrants off a banana boat back in the 1920s, it’s remarkable.
    I hope it gives inspiration to African-American youngsters, Peruvian youngsters, and white youngsters who might not have come from a black background but came from a poor background. Back when Desert Storm ended and there was all this celebration, parades everywhere, I went back to the Bronx, where I was raised, and I went to my high school, still in the inner city—and to this day it is bringing along other kids like me. I talked to the kids there, essentially Puerto Rican and black kids who were in the audience, and they were looking at me and they started to ask questions about me being a role model for them. And I said, well, I’m glad that I’m a role model for you, but I want General Schwarzkopf also to be a role model for you. Don’t limit yourself by saying, if that black guy can do it, I can do it. If General Schwarzkopf can do it, you can do it, I tell them. Don’t limit yourself any longer on the basis of your race, your color, your background, your creed. We’ve come too far to create our own limitations.
    I tell young people a bit of a joke when they say, “Well, gosh, you’re the black secretary of state.” I say, “No, I’m not. There ain’t a white secretary of state somewhere. I’m the secretary of state who is black, you know; there’s a difference.” I refuse to be limited by my race, and you shouldn’t, I tell young people, allow yourself to be limited or stereotyped. Don’t use your particular distinction as an excuse for you not to do your best. Take advantage of all the things that have been done for you over these 226 years. I wouldn’t be secretary of state if I hadn’t done that.
    I was raised in a family that never felt constrained by their poverty or by their race. That had nothing to do with anything; we were as good as anyone. And I was raised in a community that had blacks, whites, Puerto Ricans, minority, you name it, we were it, a melting pot of the New York City environment. So I never really knew I was supposed to feel in some way constrained by being an inner-city, public school black kid, the son of immigrants. I just went into the army and I found an organization that said, no, no, no, we’ve changed, we’re ahead of the rest of the society. We don’t care if you’re black or blue, we only care if you’re a good green soldier. And if you do your best, you watch, you’ll be recognized. If you don’t do your best, you’ll be punished. And I started out as a black lieutenant but I became a general who was black.
    I want to continue to be a role model for the kids in the neighborhood I grew up in, and for other youngsters in America. Not just a black role model in that stereotypical sense, but an example of what you can achieve if you are willing to work for it. And second, those of us in the African-American community who have been successful financially ought to give some of it back to the community. You can do it through scholarships, through donations, through mentoring, through adopting or sponsoring a school. There are lots of ways to do it, and everything I’ve just mentioned I have done, or try to do. You don’t have to scream and shout about it but just get it done, reach back and help these youngsters who are coming along. And to the extent we have benefited from this society, we can’t just walk away from these youngsters.
    In fact, so many African Americans have been