Posted on 02/19/2019 2:47:46 PM PST by yesthatjallen
In his autobiography Malcolm X described racism as a psychosis in the white psyche. White people, he said, were able to function in all other ways as human beings should, but on the question of race white people lost all ability to reason rationally and instead deferred to insanity. As a result Malcolm asserted that for the non-white peoples of this nation, there was never an American dream but rather an American nightmare. Malcolm would never live to see the horrors of mass incarceration, he never lived to witness the massive wars of imperialism in non-white nations that the U.S. would wage overtly and covertly in the 21st century, he never came to know for himself the absurdity of the neo-fascist government that we have in our current administration. Yet in our current racial climate Malcolm’s diagnosis reads just as true now as it did then.
The backlash from last weeks op-ed “Should White Boys Still Be Allowed To Talk?” points once again to the unfortunate reality that Dickinson College, from its alumni, to its student body, to even its sitting president, have failed to mature beyond a remedial understanding of the racial question. For those of us who have experienced the brutality of a nation that declares people of color expendable, the article read not as an offense but a declaration of an emotion many of us feel every day. But for those who have come to believe themselves to be white, the article provoked an anger and an immaturity that reveals to all of us that we still have a long way to go in seeing each other as human beings.
Of course the history of human liberation in the United States is littered with similar forms of backlash. If there is one thing an individual can learn from the history of this nation, it’s that on the question of the liberation of human beings, white people, and white men more specifically, will not respond rationally. Peaceful and rational requests for just treatment have time and time again been met with nothing but extreme violence and repression. For some reason, white men have chosen to respond to calls for equal justice as being an existential threat to their existence. As a result of this, the conversation continues to be stifled as oppressed people are forced to continue to make the same arguments for their humanity as white men continue to refuse to understand.
The reality remains that the marginalization of human beings is a reality in this world, and as a result of it people die every day. Whether white men want to face it or not, many of their words and assumptions about the world are pushed through a prism that only allows for them to be understood as fully human. As a result, many of their contributions tend to reassert structures of oppression and inequality that have a physical effect on the lives of human beings.
From racism, to sexism, to heteronormativity, to even climate change, the need for white men to have their narratives be central to all conversations poses a threat to human beings everywhere. So when a woman of color writes an article suggesting that this group of individuals, who have yet to demonstrate any collective competence in treating people as human beings, take a step back and shut their mouths for once in history, it might be in the interest of everyone.
So the question then must be asked, if white men and their ideas post such an existential threat to progress, how do we save the world from the white man? We save the world from the white man by understanding that the idea of the white man has become obsolete, and it is in the interest of the humanity that challenge and dismantle it wherever it tries to manifest itself. We must never forget that race is a constructed identity, that serves the function of perpetuating a status quo of inequality.
The idea of the white man is one that asserts that the lives and stories of one group of individuals is normative over all others. Where do we see the idea of the white man at Dickinson College? We see it in comments that suggest that a challenge to whiteness as being reverse racist. We see it when people assert that the intersectional injustices that exist in the world are not present on our campus. We see it when people’s material experience of racism is written off as an over-reaction. We see it in admissions pamphlets that treat diversity as a selling point, rather than a commitment which has life-long ramifications for those who are labeled “minority.” We see it in an email from President Ensign, that sides with the backlash of angry white men who don’t understand the humanity of others, rather than the historic lived experiences of marginalized people who do and have attended Dickinson College.
If there is any hope for real progress at Dickinson College, it will be in our ability to save ourselves from the idea of the white man. If we do not dare everything in this pursuit.
Then we will continue down the nihilistic path of gradual change through conversation which cannot produce real change. Humanity and whiteness cannot exist in the same space without conflict. The challenge to all of humanity will be which side of the conflict we will choose to stand on.
But of course the writer doesn't need to recognize anything inside him. Just another racist rant.
Nobody hated white liberals more than Malcolm X who saw them as the phonies we all know they are.
While I disagree with many of the positions Malcolm X held, I do agree with his view of his people having the right to self-determination and not having to live on the white liberal plantation. He’d be horrified at the state of affairs today and how his people fared since his passing.
What is this feeble marxist garble and why is it here?
Because the African continent has done so well.
That's great ... begin your article with a racist quote from a deranged follower of the false prophet. I bet it goes downhill from there ...
That's a perfect description of the NAACP, the Congressional Black Caucus, and all the people who follow their way of "thinking".
Well, I would say the first step is to stop using all of the White Man’s evil technologies. Especially the Internet. :)
Go back 5,000 years!
That's pretty much what I was thinking. While it's good to know what the enemy is up to; we don't need this garbage trashing up the FR in my humble opinion.
There's a vile site called democraticunderground dot com if someone wants to read this nonsense.
The only thing worse that reading the ramblings of this block head racist, is knowing that his school Dickenson College has allowed him to publish with their approval and under their name. Stupid, ignorant and quite dangerous.
Small minds love being given an excuse to explain their own personal failures in life. They fell validated in their
barbarity.
Training camps are open and available in Somalia.
Pack your bags, dude.
The black nationalist piece of garbage (yes, I googled him) that wrote this swill wouldn’t last the walk across the street to the parking structure to retrieve his car if the world he envisions came to pass. He’d be one of the first doused with petrol and necklaced by his own kind.
The winners of racial and cultural win by force, determination and persistence.
Nonwhites, go for it!
They can quit using (in no particular order) Portland cement, fired brick, any petroleum products, iron, steel, aluminum, gunpowder of any kind, filtered and treated water, electricity, internal combustion engines, refrigeration, external combustion engines, vacuum tubes, bipolar transistors, field effect transistors, antibiotics, synthetic fabrics, silk, linen, wired electronic communication, wireless electronic communication, incandescent lamps, gas or kerosene lamps with mantles, gas or kerosene lamps without mantles, heavier than air flying machines, lighter than air flying machines, electric guitars, acoustic guitars, brass instruments, woodwind instruments, the 12 note scale, plastic vuvuzelas (everyone should quit using those), ball-caps, football, basketball, baseball, soccer ...
Translation: white men are good at getting stuff done. As a result, white men have accumulated wealth and power. The people who are NOT good at getting stuff done want to take away white people's stuff. White people should not dare to object.
The nightmare of people like this, would be if white men decided to stop being deferential to such people and their plans.
I am very racist when it comes to the WHITE LIBERAL. They ARE the DEVIL.
It is the rantings of a racist communist. It is here, so that we will know what those people are thinking. They vote, and they teach, and they get elected to Congress. They're dangerous.
No mention of how white Christian men built the modern world?
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