WP's Being a Black Man Series: A Path All His Own

snip>
At 33, Motley occupies a huge State Department office in Washington. He is an obscure but influential Bush administration official who heads an international visitors program. He supervises a staff of more than 100 and oversees a budget that exceeds $80 million. How Motley arrived at this station from Madison Park is the tale of one man's journey through the labyrinth of racial expectations.

For years, a battle brewed for Motley's political soul. Here, in the cradle of the civil rights movement, the black community in which he grew up was populated overwhelmingly by Democrats, men and women who reached out to nurture and inspire him. They put Motley on the ladder of success. But in time, as his experiences broadened, whites -- mostly Republicans -- embraced his promise and pulled Motley up that ladder.
.....
As a student at Robert E. Lee High School, which was approximately 40 percent black, Motley avoided black cliques. Many of the black kids were into sports, and sports held no interest for him. He watched the Clarence Thomas confirmation hearings in the fall of 1991. The proceedings turned into a hurricane of sexual and racial politics. Motley, who had to write a class paper on the confirmation process, fired off a sympathetic letter to Thomas.

His thoughts about politics were beginning to crystallize. "I think it was also the first time I became truly illumined that I was expected to think a certain way, given my race. It was countering everything my grandparents taught me: Think for yourself. Use your own mind. Be your own person. All these retired black persons who had been tutoring me said: 'Stand on your own two feet!' I didn't need the Negro College Fund to tell me a mind is a terrible thing to waste.".....

He had made the transition to independent thinker..........

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/06/10/AR2006061001040_pf.html

You read the whole thing, and you come away with a portrait of an outwardly successful empty shell. No personal life. Lives in a museum. Awkward. Climbing a ladder, but to what goal?

Sad.

As I read through this article, Eric's life was very similar to mine, growing up in Arkansas in the 70's and 80's. He felt like an outsider because he didn't fit into the black status quo of his contemporaries. I felt many of the same dynamics but decided to attend a state univeristy full of diversity. It challenged my pre-concieved notions about black, white, asian, etc and I set about trying to find ways to learn more about those cultures and my connections with my black heritage. I fear Eric decided to jettison his active connections with contemporary black community for social climbing. At least he has a lot in common with Condy Rice...maybe they could hook up? Seriously, I will be interested to see how his life progresses over the next 20 yrs...