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/ How LoneMust We Watt? SHE R Y L E MER Y AND J E A NET T E S LON E t is our opinion that black deaf people have not shared equally in the benefits afforded to deaf people in general. Very few black deaf people hold key positions of power, wealth, and social status. The number of black deaf students obtaining professional degrees lags far behind that of white deaf students, and ..a.~ the quality of education is significantly lower for black deaf students. Institutional racism in both mainstream and deaf communities contributes to these disparities. Discrimination, both subtle and overt, does still exist in the deaf community, which leans toward conservatism. Where do black deaf people fit in? We are not included in the larger white hearing community. We are often not accepted by the white deaf community. We are often ignored and hidden in the black community. And just as the deaf community can be split into different subgroups, the black deaf community can be divided into prelingually deafened vs. adventitiously deafened, professional vs. grassroots, oral vs. manual, young vs. old, and male vs. female. The community can be split in many other ways, making each subgroup even smaller and possibly more isolated. Black Culture Among adventitiously deafened black adults, cultural identification is usually considered before one's deafness. However, prelingually deafened black people, especially those who attended schools for the deaf, identify with deafness first. They usually do not sense their black identity until they begin to search for mates and find that cross-racial dating is frowned upon. What is black culture? It is the food we eat, the way we wear our hair, our stories and folklore, our history, songs, and games. One of the strongest components of black culture is religion. The politics of social gospel were born in the black church, and black political careers are most often born and bred in the pulpit. Black preachers are some of the most eloquent and memorable orators. During the 1984 presidential elections, Jesse Jackson was quoted frequently as stating, ''I'd rather have Roosevelt in a wheelchair than Ronald Reagan on a horse." Black spiritual singers have also played important roles, as have the songs they sing: Steal away, steal away, steal away to Jesus Steal away, steal away home I ain't got long to be here. How Long Must We Wait? This gospel song is more than just a song; slaves once sang it to inform other slaves that someone was planning to escape. Another song, "Go Down Moses," told slaves that Harriet Tubman was leading a pack of slaves north that night. Cultural ignorance is widespread throughout the United States, touching all races and social classes, and within the black community, too few families are paying attention to the cultural needs of their youngsters. The culture of black people is just as important as the culture of deafness. Being Black and Deaf Being black and deaf is like being a speck of pepper in a pile of salt. If you see a speck, you want to remove it. That is how we feel sometimes: removed from the black community, removed from the deaf community. Society's perspective of black people is generally very negative; it is mired in myths and racism. Poverty, AIDS, unemployment, and violence exist in both black and white communities, especially those plagued by high unemployment and drugs. The media would generally have you believe that all black people are violent and none of us can be trusted. Other than the Cosbys, you rarely see a strong black family on television. The ability and strength of the black community is generally not recognized. Not all of our households are run by women, not all black men run from their responsibilities, not all black kids drop out of high school, nor do the majority of us sell dope. As a race we have had to be strong to withstand slavery and discrimination. American Indians were nearly wiped off the face of the earth, yet the Afro-American has survived despite the odds. As educated black deaf professionals, we are sometimes separated from black people who have not pursued college degrees. Although we would like to be respected for our knowledge as professionals, most often we are seen as having knowledge only of black deaf people or deafness. We are not recognized for what we know about human behavior and the human services field. Black deaf grassroots people and...

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