The Real Problem with Black Men and White Women

The second-place syndrome

It has been shown that the happiest Olympic athletes are the gold and bronze medallists and the unhappiest are the silver and fourth places when talking about top rankers. It comes as no surprise that the fourth is unhappy, I get it, but why the second; I mean, come on, that's a damn SILVER medal.

But then I came to a realisation that people behave like that in real life too, it that no one lives the second place as an almost victory but as losing first place.

I suppose you are confused by my nonsense and wonder how I would be able to insert -again- societal issues with something that has nothing to do with it. To understand where I am going, we need to dive deep into how society treats people of different backgrounds: racial hierarchy.

Racial hierarchy is a system of stratification that is based on the belief that some racial groups are superior to other racial groups[1]. There are slight differences depending on where you are or the social and racial network of the country/region we are considering. We will focus on western countries[2] and the present oversimplified pyramid I have made. I do not think that anyone would disagree with that “gradation”. Another important fact to take into consideration is the internal gradation happening, it is safe to safe to say that the added “woman” to a title just decreases one’s value.

We are able to say that the only way to win life’s lottery is to be a white male.

Yet, it is still unclear why the black man and the white woman are so bitter.

When considering the different circles in which each of them interacts they are often at the pole position, they are listened to, they hold power and value. The white woman is the best mom in the parents association, at least over her other race counterparts and the black man is the most powerful being in his family unit and is given more lenience as well as privilege in the functioning of a household. For a while, both of these characters live life as the predators, the gold medallists. Until they encounter a setback. Something that has never happened before, for them a faraway tale, very foreign to their entitlement. Our dear lady is being shut down because she is a woman and our strong fellow because he is black.

And it is hard.

They lived in a reality where they were the winners and that no one could mess with them, just to later realise that they were overpowered by someone. The only problems were the absence of penis and the surplus of melanin, both elements completely out of their control. And it is maddening. Because there is nothing you can possibly do about it. Just as the difference between a silver and gold medal is luck, so is race and gender.

As for the others, the fourth place could be a double “unlucky”, in the graph labelled “the rest”, sometimes privately called “spicy”. For them it is a little more complicated, most of the time they are aware of their, let’s call it, not optimal position in society but still, they have hope that maybe it will pass. Well, it doesn’t and that is kinda disappointing. The main reason why they are not completely ravaged by the thought of not reaching the podium is that they know they’re not last, which is consolation enough.

Then there is the black woman, and as Malcolm X said: “The most disrespected person in America, is the black woman. The most un-protected person in America is the black woman. The most neglected person in America, is the black woman.” And let’s be honest, not only in America. Disregarding all the hate, I suppose the fifth place is not that bad when you weren’t supposed to get into the competition at all.

[1] Racial hierarchy. (2022, September 23). In Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Racial_hierarchy

[2] Namely, European countries, the US, Canada, and Australia but consideration has to be given to countries previously under the former’s influence.