Stakes is High: Life After the American Dream

“There is no place where we have not been marked as other, where our otherness has not been used to justify our exploitation, and where our lives have not been defined by the limitations placed on them by whiteness.” 

Smith raises the insight that for Black Americans, the condition of otherness is the means and end of white supremacy in America. In the context of the 2016 presidential election, this is a reminder that Black Americans are stuck in an all-too-familiar historical cycle.

“No matter the method we choose to fight back, they are ready to chastise us. Our op-eds are too angry, our organizations too militant, our political demands too divisive, our votes wasted.”

Here, Smith laments America’s perspective of the Black community. When Black Americans stand up for their rights, speaking out against oppression, they are dismissed on the basis of extremism and emotionally-charged hyperbole, which limits the possibilities of real change and progress.

“There is a future that is not as grim as our past. But it is a future that depends on a bravery this country has never exhibited.” 

Smith believes that the cyclical nature of American history can be disrupted, proposing that the future of America is not tied to its grim past. He conditions this future, however, to a change in posture and attitude on a national scale, a change that he considers unprecedented within the context of American history.