Engorged On Unborn Gore
Well-Known Member
A discussion that I promised to @Eenie-Meenie
We should begin this discussion with a quote from a book you are familiar with, The Souls of Black Folk by W.E.B. Du Bois:
“After the Egyptian and Indian, the Greek and Roman, the Teuton and Mongolian, the Negro is a sort of seventh son, born with a veil, and gifted with second-sight in this American world,—a world which yields him no true self-consciousness, but only lets him see himself through the revelation of the other world. It is a peculiar sensation, this double-consciousness, this sense of always looking at one’s self through the eyes of others, of measuring one’s soul by the tape of a world that looks on in amused contempt and pity. One ever feels his two-ness,—an American, a Negro; two souls, two thoughts, two unreconciled strivings; two warring ideals in one dark body, whose dogged strength alone keeps it from being torn asunder.”
-from the chapter “Of Our Spiritual Strivings”.
What is it, if not our concept of race, that sets Du Bois’ American self to be at war against his Negro self? Why is it that he is not allowed to view himself outside of the understanding of the Jim Crow racist policies that ruled the US while he was alive?
I would assert that using the terms “black” and “white” to define large swaths of American people, who are supposed to be “created equal”, is the epitome of black and white thinking. And thus these labels were never adequate to serve as identifiers of races, cultures, or the basic needs and belonging of human beings.
These are antebellum terms that Intentionally project distinct notions upon (i)slaves and (ii)their owners that were always intended to justify human trafficking as a means for building wealth.
We have seen in our history, and in world history, that false labels preempt dehumanization and the destruction of certain groups for the benefit of other groups.
The term “black” is no different in its original intent. Because many of the first European slave traders resided in the Iberian Peninsula, the Portuguese/Spanish word “negro” is the same root that produced the n-word pejorative that has persisted alongside “black” since the Atlantic Slave Trade began.
If we are going to examine these terms, we cannot go back to what was done with them in the 60s, Etc. We have to go back to their original meaning and usage.
Du Bois is describing himself in the quote above as essentially a man who is attempting to serve two masters. I agree that this task is impossible.
But those dealing with the other construct are also trying to live up to a false label that dehumanizes them just as much. The ultimate expression of describing a race of human beings as “white” can be none other than white supremacy, an idea that tried to destroy our country once before. And now we are on the cusp of that same idea attempting to destroy us again.
there is no positive gain for using these terms. They continue to erode and destroy us. They are at once the most American and the most anti-American ideas that exist.
We should begin this discussion with a quote from a book you are familiar with, The Souls of Black Folk by W.E.B. Du Bois:
“After the Egyptian and Indian, the Greek and Roman, the Teuton and Mongolian, the Negro is a sort of seventh son, born with a veil, and gifted with second-sight in this American world,—a world which yields him no true self-consciousness, but only lets him see himself through the revelation of the other world. It is a peculiar sensation, this double-consciousness, this sense of always looking at one’s self through the eyes of others, of measuring one’s soul by the tape of a world that looks on in amused contempt and pity. One ever feels his two-ness,—an American, a Negro; two souls, two thoughts, two unreconciled strivings; two warring ideals in one dark body, whose dogged strength alone keeps it from being torn asunder.”
-from the chapter “Of Our Spiritual Strivings”.
What is it, if not our concept of race, that sets Du Bois’ American self to be at war against his Negro self? Why is it that he is not allowed to view himself outside of the understanding of the Jim Crow racist policies that ruled the US while he was alive?
I would assert that using the terms “black” and “white” to define large swaths of American people, who are supposed to be “created equal”, is the epitome of black and white thinking. And thus these labels were never adequate to serve as identifiers of races, cultures, or the basic needs and belonging of human beings.
These are antebellum terms that Intentionally project distinct notions upon (i)slaves and (ii)their owners that were always intended to justify human trafficking as a means for building wealth.
We have seen in our history, and in world history, that false labels preempt dehumanization and the destruction of certain groups for the benefit of other groups.
The term “black” is no different in its original intent. Because many of the first European slave traders resided in the Iberian Peninsula, the Portuguese/Spanish word “negro” is the same root that produced the n-word pejorative that has persisted alongside “black” since the Atlantic Slave Trade began.
If we are going to examine these terms, we cannot go back to what was done with them in the 60s, Etc. We have to go back to their original meaning and usage.
Du Bois is describing himself in the quote above as essentially a man who is attempting to serve two masters. I agree that this task is impossible.
But those dealing with the other construct are also trying to live up to a false label that dehumanizes them just as much. The ultimate expression of describing a race of human beings as “white” can be none other than white supremacy, an idea that tried to destroy our country once before. And now we are on the cusp of that same idea attempting to destroy us again.
there is no positive gain for using these terms. They continue to erode and destroy us. They are at once the most American and the most anti-American ideas that exist.