Not Black Enough

There's a beautiful soft flower sculpture outside of San Francisco City Hall. I surmised it is part of an exhibit at the Asian Art Museum. (The exhibit runs from May 18 - September 2.) A woman asked about the sculpture, and I told her my discovery. As we walked toward BART, she said (1),

I've noticed there's a lot of celebration of Asians' contributions here, but not a lot of recognition of African-Americans'.

Oh. I hadn't noticed that.

I understand having a month to celebrate, but through September? That's just too long.

Well, it looks like a museum exhibit. I think that's normal time frame for exhibits.

I don't think we get enough recognition.

There's an African American museum.

And where is the African American museum?

Well, there's the African Diaspora Museum on 2^nd…

(I didn't know exactly where the Africa-American museum was, but I'd been to the Diaspora one.)

It's just too much.

What about Picasso? Um, the D'Orsay? When they came to Legion of Honor it ran from October? through January? (2)

That's different. That's a person.

No, the D'Orsay was a collection. But I see your point, I finished, as we parted ways.

Seriously? You complain about Asians being recognized while walking in front of the Asian Art Museum? In San Francisco? Where Angel Island was the Ellis Island of the West, ushering many Chinese into California?

I'm not saying African Americans didn't play a prominent role in the city (the Fillmore district comes to mind), or that more recognition isn't warranted. But there's been a significant Asian presence in San Francisco since Gold Rush days. It should not be minimized.

This is why some folks don't think I'm black enough.

(1) Not verbatim, of course. My memory's not that good. <snort> My memory's not good at all.

(2) Yea, I know I have the details wrong. But you get the gist, yea?