Well, tut - tut to those who feel that way. There are those of us who use blogging as a means of self-expression. We are not connected to a commercial enterprise where we are compensated by the word, post or article. So we may not have the sign of the blogger embedded in our forehead. Does that make us bad, insincere or unappreciated and unwanted? I suppose for the hardcore maybe. But I would hope that there are those similar to me who think that such an attitude is just a hissy fit.
Since last posting the world has spun wildly on its axis tilting towards the sun and circling the moon. Both domestic and international politics have given those of us who pay attention to such things quite a start. I was reading an internet article just this morning about a Pakistani legislator who justified "honor killings" as honorable and appropriate based on tradition and culture. That sounds like the rationale used by Russia to invade or maybe just annex part of Georgia. I mean afterall the part annexed was by tradition and culture as least as much if not more Russian than Georgian.
With the success of Barak Obama attacking both tradition and (Washington insider) culture and having smashing success doing it, his antagonist, John McCain, must have been reading his mail as evidenced by the Republican vice-presidential pick. A woman. A young woman. An outsider who has already done to a few good ol' boy insiders what the Right Reverend Jesse Jackson was caught suggesting he would like to do to Obama. Will it shake-up the race? Will it blunt McCain's attack against Obama as being too new and inexperienced or will Obama's camp give new life to that particular analysis by trotting it out as a weapon against the new Republican V.P.?
I am telling you the world is a ghetto of ideas and opinions. The American public are aware that the ills of the economy are beyond the borders of this country and stem from transnational corporate capital. None of the candidates are suggesting they can or want to do anything about that. But there are those who hold their breath and hope. They are doing such a good job keeping hope alive that common sense may be dead on arrival. We say what happened to the closest thing recently to Obama's mad dash to the Presidency. That was Gov. Deval Patrick's stand against the forces of evil in his triumphant battle for the Massachusetts governor's office. Those who backed him and humped to help him rise have been deflated, dejected and disappointed. The point is not that either should not do what they can or be where they can but rather we need to be a little sober about the potential benefits and impact of a Gov. Deval Patrick or a Pres. Barack Obama.
The African experience is embedded in American culture through the long twisted, sick history of human trafficking, murder and treachery we collquially refer to as "the slave trade" rather than the horrible, cruel, unimaginable grotesque and horrible experience that it was. Our souls sick and our character crippled from the degradation required of both parties in the evil enterprise of dehumanization that still resonates in the international and American political economy today. So what is the big deal? What can't a Black man represent the interests of American society just as well as a white guy? Well, the concern and doubt stems from the foul, decaying odor of white supremacy that still permates that halls of American life. We don't want to trade a White slave driver for a Black one.
But the terms of the discussion are such that we have lost the opportunity to bring wholeness and health to the conversation when we accede to the idea of race! Of course people look different from different parts of the world. Culture and tradition probably results in some people having more exposure and experience in a certain areas or with a certain thing than others. But none of that establishes a scientific basis for the spurious notion of race. Why are we holding to this idea. Me thinks it smacks of White supremacy. While there are those who get the crumbs from the masters table because they live in the big house of White supremacy and grin and shuffle their feet or dance a jig every now and then, that is not enough. We have to slowly back away from the feast laid before us and shake off the hangover that hangs over us from imbibing a little too much and lot too often from the jug of White supremacy. Like white lightening (or just about anything and eveything white that we consume) it provides a heady effect but in the long run affects our head.
This means that unless our fellow Americans can get to the point where it is O.K. that Obama is Black (or not) and that he believes that America has sinned (or not) we are not better off and possibly worse for wear regardless of the elections outcome. White supremacy is embedded in American life and European culture. It is a dominator culture that is based on power over. The economic marvels that European culture represents is based on their major technological innovations, killing machines. It is a losing game to seek to be the head man of a tribe of thieves and murderers. We have to take a look around and in the mirror. We can't do good by doing bad.
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2 comments:
Wow. White sumpremecy. It's sad to know that these kinds of ideas are still here.
On another note, I think I am a bit of a slogger myself.
While not backing away from my basic analysis, I am not making a skin analysis nor lightly pointing fingers when I use the term "white supremacy." i am sure it probably can be closely aligned or identified as something else. But the interests of the major beneficiaries of the existing social and economic system are undoubtedly and unquestionalby of European descent. This bring to bear the question posed by many who say "what about the growing Chinese financial aristrocracy?" Even the success of the Chinese economy is built on the existing social and economic arrangement. Globalization as commonly understood today is in many ways is consistent with the economic ideas espoused by Wallerstein when he proposed his world systems analysis.
The connection of social and economic factors is clear especially when we move up the economic ladder. The demographics do not lie. However, I concede that correlation is not causation.
But think about how the social system of ancient Kemet (Egypt) is viewed. Great temples and pyramids were built by workers who had homes, families and jobs building the monuments of people who reclined in leisure awaiting the ribbon-cuttings. How different would a future people look at contemporary social and economic arrangements with the interlocking corporate boards of directors and the beneficiaries of inheirited wealth who glean the benefit of the sweat and labor of executives, managers, down, down, down to the Mcjob employees?
Thank ou for your comments. I like to read too.
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