In pt. 1, I deconstructured Cosby's comments. It should be clear, if it wasn't before, that Cosby's comments reveal a significant degree of disdain for black poor citizens. In pt. 2, I talked about the distinction between enslaved Africans, and black slaves. A simple way to think about it is grammatically as far as adjectives and nouns. In the one case the adjective is "African" in the other case the noun is "slave".
Steve's response can be found here. In my short comments to his post, I noted that by not asking how whites were damaged by slavery we fall into the fakelore of white supremacy. In his response, and his first Bennett Cosby quote, Steve argues that one way to see negative conditioning is by looking at the way blacks took to white standards of beauty, preferred straight hair to kinked (or "natural") hair, left black communities, and took being smart to mean "acting white."
A lot to cover here.
Albert Murray and Ralph Ellison two of the deans of black literature write about the "fakelore of white supremacy." It refers to the degree to which blacks and whites buy into white supremacy, by arguing that blacks were psychologically and culturally damaged by the enslavement.
The entire "blacks have lost their religion, their culture, their god..." argument? Fakelore.
In point of fact, slavery and oppression may well have made black people more human and more American while it has made white people less human and less American... It is the political behavior of black activists, not that of norm-calibrated Americans, that best represents the spirit of such constitutional norm-ideals as freedom, justice, equality, fair representation, and democratic processes....It is the non-conforming Negro, not the median of the white population, who now acts like the true descendent of the Founding Fathers--who cries 'Give me liberty or give me death," and who regards taxation without representation as tyranny. It is the white American who, in the name of law and order, now sanctions measures that are more in keeping with the objectives of a police state than those of an open society.(Murray, pp. 36, 37)
To the degree that America is a democracy, it is a democracy because of the actions of enslaved Africans and their American descendants. But it is these people who are supposedly crippled? Take a look at lynching pictures if you can. What stands out to me are the smiling faces of white boys and girls, of white men and women. Proud. Happy. Gleeful.
Black people were the crippled ones?
Whenever I walk behind a white woman in the night, she clutches her purse...and often crosses the street. Physically I'm fit, but I'm nothing like Steve. I weigh 155 WITH CLOTHES ON, and am 6' tall. Hardly menacing.
But I'm the crippled one?
Check out that Rodney King tape if you get a chance. Police are given the authority by the state to use deadly force. It took what? A few dozen police officers to subdue him.
HE'S the one that's crippled--even though they had guns?
People who have bought into the fakelore of white supremacy--whether they be nationalists, or integrationists, radicals or conservatives--argue that blacks are crippled IN COMPARISON TO THEIR WHITE COUNTERPARTS.
Not politically or economically crippled--an argument I agree with.
Spiritually, culturally, and psychologically crippled.
And buying into the fakelore means buying into such things as: the myth of acting white, white standards of beauty, good hair, and consumption to ape whites. I don't want to get deep into the social science literature because I don't have a lot of space. I'll just say this. The social science literature on acting white? Mostly Bunk.
On consumption patterns? Bunk too. White standards of beauty? Check out rates of black vs. white anorexia. Black female self-esteem rates (very high compared to whites).
I've been blessed with the ability to do this type of research for a living. To study, research, and write about black life. To be an expert on race and politics, and American politics. Through synthesizing the social science literature with my own experience as a product of seventies and eighties Detroit, I've come to pretty much shirk off the fakelore of white supremacy. Ellison and Murray are on point here.
Next? Steve's got some powerful ideas on thought processes at the individual level. But he attaches this to culture, and to large social groups, in a way that ignores politics and economics. I think this is what I'll talk about...and given I've got a book of my own to write, I may finish there depending.
Posted by at October 2, 2005 12:12 PM | TrackBack
On point LKS;Europe was an is a rock pile hence exploring and world domination.African's only start behaving like embecile after coming in contact with European.
Posted by: tootsie at October 3, 2005 01:32 PM