Vision Circle

Part of representing the Old School is conservative, well maybe it's mostly conservative, but I am convinced that there is some wisdom that African Americans have been unable to communicate effectively to their own folks as well as the nation at large. There isn't much debate about the fact that Ward Connerly himself did not hear the beat of that drum. But what we are about is sounding it.

Connerly is talking about race, I am talking about identity, but something interesting happens.

Those of us who have been invested in re-creating black identity, as Baldwin rightly suggested we should, have not done so in a vacuum. We understand, as he did, that undoing the Man's version of what we were supposed to be required some thought. So we scoured the planet and came up with some answers. In the end we found ourselves not to be what the Man was saying and we could prove it. But if the Man was wrong about who we were, he was also wrong about who he was himself. It was in investigation of this duality of black and white that the contradictions of white supremacy became evident. Many people wrongly assume that all of the thinking of the 50s and 60s was done just in terms of civil rights. It was much more than that.

But not everybody came to consciousness at the same time. There are still many lessons that remain to be taught. It may be hard to believe but even today, after all the showing and proving that was done to show how wrong white supremacy is, there are still people in this nation who are attracted to being considered white. There are a lot of explainations for that which you are bound to hear, but not from me. What I'm saying is that it took Negroes changing themselves to black, having investigated the black/white dualism, that changed what America could be and what identities were valid here. That was all good.

You cannot come to understand your value as a human being without knowing what strengths arise from your history. It sounds cliche, but one really has to accept the pain of the past in order to transcend in the future. And when people overcome, as Negroes did in becoming black, they recognize how important and fundamental liberation is. Liberated people share their liberty. They recognize how close they had been to losing sight of their own humanity, and they refuse to allow it to happen again. They look in other peoples faces for the signs of pain they once suffered, they beat the drum and lead the way. This is what will always remain inspiring and grand about the Black Arts, Black Consciousness, Free Speech, Women's Rights, Gay Pride, Civil Rights and Chicano Movements of 20th century America.

So we started counting noses. You can't look into peoples faces without doing so. The liberated people demanded that they be counted, and that the government of the people started recognizing the people for whom they wanted to be. The census form doesn't say 'Colored'. It doesn't say 'ex-slave'. It doesn't say 'dark complected'. It says black and African American because that's who we have decided to be.

They said things like "My mother had diabetes and lived in a black neighborhood all her life, there was no hospital in that neighborhood. So the next time the government builds a hospital, it better take care of black women like my mother." And you will find at the bottom of reasoning for everyone who wants to be recognized that there is a need for service where there was no service before. Where people are outside of the mainstream of America and they know one of the reasons is race or ethnicity, they will demand recognition of that race or ethnicity for the purposes of social justice. People who have been liberated and people who await their due are on the same side in this matter.

There are many things for which no need exists to talk about racial or ethnic identity. I think that multicultural ethics has won and we are much better prepared to talk about Gay issues or latino issues when we need to. But we are also much better at knowing when ethnicity and preferences are not useful and get in the way. There aren't black and white lines at the movie theatre. Nobody is asking for Affirmative Action at the supermarket, despite the fact that was where it started.

Where the extraordinary needs and the demands remain are for services outside of the mainstream. This is where the burden of proof lies for those who would suggest that a blinded government provides best. Where there is uncontroversial equality, Americans won't stand for resegregation. But whereever race, ethnicity, national origin, sexual preference, religious creed or primary language is a barrier to mainstream goods and services, people will continue to demand that they be served and recognized, and a government of the people best be about that in the form the people demand.

As the political spin starts up, I expect the Old School to be disrespected and the notions of mainstreaming and liberation as I describe them to be cast aside. I expect majoritarian sentiment to be fueled by real white bigotry. I expect minority resentment to forget their independence from the Man. I expect a befuddled middle to guess without thinking outside of whatever boxes are drawn by partisans. Quite frankly, I expect that the wrong things will be done for the wrong reasons, just as was the case in support of Proposition 209. I expect that the money behind Connerly will make a complete mockery of the English language.

What I don't expect is for the need to make special recognition of special circumstances to go away. I don't expect to shut up about it either.

Posted by mbowen at July 30, 2003 02:01 PM | TrackBack