Dunbar and DuBois

We all "wear the mask"; don't get me wrong, I think Dunbar's poem speaks about the plight and "twoness" of the African American community in the US, especially during the turn of the century and after the lost opportunities of the Reconstruction era.  Booker T. certainly wore the mask when he sat down to dinner with TR (the first African American to be invited to the white house) and Dr. WEB, though he proudly rejected the need to conform to the white power elite, was tinted by the paint of oppression as well. 
     However, I think the poem resonates with all of humanity from the most oppressed among us to someone who is just feeling depressed, sad or low on any given day.
      The Hispanic and Native Americans wear the mask (see B. Kingsolver's "The Bean Trees" for a great ending plot twist involving race!),  the Asian Americans wear the mask, the Maya be it Quiche or lowland(yes, there are still Mayans and they are greatly oppressed) wear the mask in Mexico and Central America, the speakers of Quechua and Aymara wear the mask in South America, the Aborigines wear the mask in Australia (see B. Chatwins "The Songlines"), the Hazara wear the mask in Afghanistan (see K. Hosseini's "Kite Runner"), the Dalit or "untouchables" wear the mask in India (see A. Roy's "The God of Small Things"),  the Turks wear the mask in Germany and, yes, women the world over wear the mask -- literally! It can be a burka or mascara.  Ask yourself does a woman in a job interview wear make-up to make herself feel better or because she's more likely to land the job?  Maybe both but, societal pressure is there. 
      The best advice I can give about why certain people of the world have to "wear the mask" comes from a scientific book that was seminal in understanding human history for me.  Jared Diamond's  "Guns, Germs and Steel "  This book (possibly my all time favorite) explains why global societies developed the way they did -- where the largest pockets of domesticable animals and plants were and why.  How societies could use these advantages to gain comfort and power; with a scientific lens we can, then, understand how natural and true racial equality really is before luck, power, politics and dogma come into play.  A solidly factual refutation of Charles Murray's controversial book "The Bell Curve" which is quite interesting and scholarly but gets the question of race and IQ incredibly wrong in two of its chapters. 
       The next book (one of my all time favorites) that speaks directly to this notion of "twoness" and  the "mask" is Harper Lee's "To Kill a Mockingbird".  I love this book and have to admit I did not read it(or much fiction) until I was almost 35, about five years ago.  But ingrained in my brain since then, has been chapter 12 and, specifically, the character of Calipurnia, the African American housekeeper.  I have often thought a whole spin-off novel could be written about her and the wisdom she imparts on young Scout and brother Jem.  Jem speaking at the end of  chapter 12 after having gone to a black church with Cal for the first time:   That Calpurnia led a modest double life never dawned on me. The idea that she had a separate existence outside our household was a novel one, to say nothing of her having command of two languages. (12.138)  
In Sociological circles this idea of the "mask" is also called 'fronting'. Some of my favorite people to listen to and learn from on the issue of race are Henry Louis Gates, Maya Angelou, Cornel West, John McWhorter, Michael Eric Dyson, Toni Morrison and Annette Gordon Reed. I also love this quote from a Jay Z lyric about his awareness of the wider world while growing up in the insulated federal housing projects that I think may also apply loosely to this topic: "There are more important things in the world I know, but first I have to deal with the world I know."
Sorry this is so long, I know some -who am I kidding - most of you "May Not Get There With Me!"(what a speech! in Memphis the day before his death) ; I could have made installments like Nate but I had to get it out -- really just getting started too! Peace.