One Response to “The Human Race toward Self Realization”
Sam Smith Says:
September 12, 2007 at 12:12 am e
You know, I’m at something of a disadvantage in that I don’t know your field well enough to formulate a coherent opinion on your work, but it sounds as though you have managed to impress credible people. And the whole world of research can be insanely fucked under any circumstances.
But I’m wondering something. I know that we sort of have this (bad, I’m sure) stereotype of people from “the islands.” I’ve had friends from places like Jamaica and T&T, so I have personal experiences to weigh against the stock image of the ganga-smoking dreadlocked boy with a perpetual don’t-worry-be-happy smile glued to his face.
But what I don’t know is whether this stereotype is held by American blacks. If it is, then it might explain why you aren’t accepted, if that’s even the way to put it. Have you thought about this issue or talked to others about it?
Yeah MON!!!
Seriously though I have a Rasta friend from Jamaica who, although he doesn’t smoke weed, feels the same way as I. You are also touching on some things that a black colleague of mine and I have been discussing over the last three years during our sojourn together on this ‘plantation’.
Although I am a part of society, I am trying to be as objective as I can about situations. This is not always easy for a group under oppression. I mean seriously, three weeks ago I went to a white psychologist and tried to get a professional opinion on ‘why do black people act this way?’ His cry of innocence and plea for mercy was, “I’m just a clinician!” I think it was either a cop out or fear for saying something that would cost him his professional reputation, so I have tried my best to analyze it from a psychological perspective without being taken in by the under currents of my own emotion.
As far as the stereotype goes, there is a lot of that. Most people tend to look at anything outside of their unusually small minds as a curiosity. If I were running track or playing basketball, I probably would be there with the rest of the ‘Negros’ thanking Jesus for bringing me thus far, etc. But I have to admit that science, especially physics and blacks are not thought of as synonymous, and I am probably something of a societal anomaly.
It would probably take a biography to describe the kind of environment that shaped my current worldview before I came to the United States. I remember playing with a model general lee with my first cousin on the kitchen floor. I always tried pretending to be the blonde-haired Bo Duke, but my older first cousin would over rule me, suggesting that our ages dictate that we chronologically ‘stick to the script’ as he would say. This always bummed me out as I quickly realized I would never out age my older cousin, but I never wanted to be Bo because he was blonde or white; I simply reasoned from the nuances of the character interaction between he and his brother that he was the ‘better guy’. It’s kind of like the way a turbocharged Chevy 350SB engine with nitrous and a free flowing mandrel bent exhaust system is better than a stock normally aspirated counterpart.
With regard to African American perceptions of blacks, let me tell you a story. I was sitting with a group of men during a workshop on aids awareness here at campus. There were five of us, and we were waiting for another member to show. In the mean time the director was making light conversation and, hearing my accent, decided to use the fact that I was from the ‘islands’ as a conversation piece.
Ever the willing ambassador to explain why I would love to wag my grass skirt but can’t because I left it at the cleaners, I began to talk a little about what it was like in my country.
Then one of the young men there, about twenty, obviously inspired that the conversation had descended to the level of his comprehension, decided to share his profound perspective about how life the islands was better in some ways than life in the United States.
“They may not have the things (conveniences perhaps?) we have here, but I think its better there because thier life is simpler you know what I mean? Like, you know, a simpler life is better.”
I was taken slightly aback at his comment, thinking that I would be allowed to give a sufficient exegesis concerning island life, especially as I was from there and he wasn’t. Also, I felt uneasiness as his remarks; it sounded like he for one, could give a credible assessment of someplace he never visited. Secondly, thing that caught my attention was the fact that he mentioned ‘things’ and ‘better’ in the same sentence, as if he was equating in his mind that possession of the first ensured the second.
Of course, he could have been giving his honest explanation, without the slightest tinge of malevolence or condescending air. But to be absolutely sure that he wasn’t I decided to bring a sharp edge of realism to the conversation, and rake his tanned-beaten-into-submission rear end over the bed of hot coals heated by his own ignorance.
“Well for one, I would say its better because at least, compared to blacks here, we have the right to vote! Ain’t nobody dangling the right to vote over our heads as if we’re slaves, threatening to take it away. I mean, having rights must be the most significant thing to have, because without rights, my dog is better off than me. Am I right or am I wrong?”
I could tell that they were in total agreement with me by their silence, and by the fact that the director quickly changed the subject. The example of voting is something that was not completely true. There was a prevailing perception among staff and students that the United States would to take away the right to vote from blacks if not enough of them turned out. It was unusual to me that the concept was part of the verbal propaganda that was literally being spread around campus during the “Vote or Die” rage that occurred during the last election. In fact, a black student told me that this was one of the ploys Democrats used to get blacks out to vote. I’m not substantiating any claims, occurrences or threats, real or imagined here, just reporting what I heard. For a more likely case of voting rights, I asked around and got this response from a friend:
Skepticalbrotha Says:
October 21, 2006 at 1:18 am e
From Congressman Jesse Jackson, Jr’s webpage:
Most Americans believe that the “legal right to vote” in our democracy is explicit (not just implicit) in our Constitution and laws. However, our Constitution only provides explicitly for non-discrimination in voting on the basis of race, sex, and age in the 15th, 19th and 26th Amendments respectively.
Even though the “vote of the people” is perceived as supreme in our democracy – because voting rights are protective of all other rights – Justice Scalia in Bush v. Gore constantly reminded Al Gore’s lawyers that there is no explicit or fundamental right to suffrage in the Constitution. The Supreme Court majority concluded: “the individual citizen has no federal constitutional right to vote for electors for the President of the United States.” (Bush v. Gore, 531 U.S. 98, 104 (2000))
Voting in the United States is based on the constitutional principle of states’ rights. The 10th Amendment to the Constitution states: “The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the State, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people.” Since the word “vote” appears in the Constitution only with respect to non-discrimination, the so-called right to vote is a “state right.” Only a constitutional amendment would give every American an individual affirmative citizenship right to vote.
What’s the difference between a citizenship right and a state right? The First Amendment contains individual citizenship rights that go with you from state to state (that is, they are the same wherever you are in the U.S.); and they are protected and enforced by the federal government – theoretically you have equal protection under the law by the executive, legislative and judicial branches of the federal government. Therefore, as a result of the First Amendment, every American citizen has an individual right to free speech, freedom of assembly, and religious freedom (or to choose no religion at all), regardless of which state you are in – individual rights that are protected by the federal government. A state right is NOT an American citizenship right (that is, not protected by the federal government), but a right defined and protected by each state – and limited to that state.
Our states’ rights voting system means there are approximately 13,000 separately administered voting jurisdictions in the United States. Our “states’ rights” voting system is structured to be separate and unequal.
According to a joint study by Cal-Tech and MIT, somewhere between four and six million votes were not counted in 2000 because many states had similar problems to what occurred in Florida.
Without the constitutional right to vote, Congress can pass voter legislation – and Congressman Jackson supports progressive electoral reform legislation – but it leaves the “states’ rights” system in place. Currently, Congress mostly uses financial and other incentives to entice the states to cooperate and comply with the law. It’s one reason there have been so many problems with the recently passed Help America Vote Act and why many states still have not fully complied with the law.
To fulfill the democratic ideal, an affirmative voting rights constitutional amendment still lies in the future. According to Harvard’s Constitutional Law Professor Alexander Keyssar 108 of the 119 nations in the world that elect their representatives to all levels of government in some democratic fashion explicitly guarantee their citizens the right to vote in their Constitution. Both Afghanistan’s Constitution and Iraq’s interim legal document contain a right to vote.
The United States is one of the eleven nations in the world that doesn’t provide an explicit right to vote in its Constitution.
In closing, let me just say that I don’t smoke ganga, although I may take up the habit if I run for office, and I don’t have a perpetual-happy-go-lucky smile on my face, partially because of the antics here. What I have experienced, if I can put my finger on it and properly articulate it, is that from a group that is constantly put in their place, there exists a social inclination for that group to do the same to anyone else ‘different’. If anything, I would venture to say that in ‘the islands’ one is judged more by their character than their color of skin. So, to reminisce…
Just the good ol’ boys,
Never meanin’ no harm,
Beats all you’ve ever saw, been in trouble with the law since the day they was born.
Straight’nin’ the curve,
Flat’nin’ the hills.
Someday the moutain might get ‘em, but the law never will.
Makin’ their way,
The only way they know how,
That’s just a little bit more than the law will allow.
Just good ol’ boys,
Wouldn’t change if they could,
Fightin’ the system like a true modern day Robin Hood.
HEEEEEEEEEEEEE HAW!!!
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