« Chicanism@, the boat ride. | Main | Progress »
27 de Septiembre, 2006
The White Lens
Categorized under El Malestar Pálido , Frontera , Hipnotismo , La Lente Blanca | Tags: The White Lens
LET ME TRY TO SKETCH OUT what I mean with all my talking of White vs. Non-white, and what that means to me. Because I'm stepping on some toes. And if we're going to bump into each other, let's make it nose to nose.
When I say "White,"I don't mean people who are the color of a sheet.
When I say "White,"I don't intend to levy a judgment that no person of European descent can ever wriggle away from.
When I say "White," I don't mean my mother, personally. I don't mean mi ruca, personally. I don't mean you personally.
You tell me "White" is a political construction, and I agree. but it is one that has not served me well. And if you are apparently of European American descent, than it is one that has served you well.
Let's begin there.
IT IS AN ODD STATEMENT to hear, from Whites, that "there is no such thing as race." And I will try to address it here. But first, let me talk about what I mean when I use the words "White Power Structure," "Dominant Culture," and "Non-Whites." Going by various comments, I feel that some Caucasian readers are feeling attacked personally, and I want to be clear. I don't want to be counter-productive, and I don't want to be exclusive. Just honest in my views, and effective in my journey.
When I speak of the White Power Structure, or the Dominant Culture, I speak of a matrix of thought and images and unspoken assumptions and laws and biases and consequences, and it is very real. Yet, it is also somewhat intangible. As in when you look at it at any one point, the intent of that item may be arguable (the effects are not). But when you cast your eye loosely and look for a larger pattern, you cannot miss this matrix. (f you want to see it, that is!) Before you learn to see it (like one of those visual puzzles you stare at cross-eyed), all of it is up for discussion, and not a discussion you can make sense of. This is a discussion that very often gets "White" people angry. (And that is a clue for you.)
When I say "White," I speak of a system of oppression and bias and judgement that is inculcated into our minds from the very first days, and in ways that are amazingly subtle. All the more subtle is a teaching when it is never stated directly, and all the harder to root out. (Ask Rove about this, ask Bush and Cheney. They use the same methodology in connecting Iraq and 9/11. They have taken the evil heart of internal/psychological colonization and put it to work as a device they can use to bring about hundreds of thousands of graves. The dark, ashy ghetto from which there is no escape.) For what point do you look at to excise? We speak of something that is more a system of preferenced routes of thought that bring you to certain predictable destinations of judgment than an actual discernable creed or philosophy that can be cut out whole, or met with a counter-argument. Part of the "why" is because were you to set down an actual list of tenets that construct this "White" bias, you would be faced with a stark and ugly list that no self-respecting person could stand behind (just ask George "Macaca" Allen). But given an unspoken system of switches that reflexively turn only one way; given a train shunted—by dusty and well-worn programming—to the same old track, it's easy to sit back and relax into the ride without ever looking directly at the scenery.
Some European-Americans counter their own history by claiming that their ancestors didn't own any slaves, captain any slave ships, or whatever. But the wealth that bankrolled the Industrial Revolution and the establishment of the United States as the richest nation in the world came directly out of the ruinous rampage Europeans visited on people of color for several hundred years. We would not be the nation we are if this had not occurred. Moreover, every social institution in the U.S. was built to benefit European-Americans and has since the beginning to the present continued to be controlled by the group that they were built to benefit. You don't have to know it's there for you. It's not personal. It's a system. And it's working just like it's supposed to."
—changeseeker (A "White" American), Why Am I Not Surprised?, How to Become an Ally, Sep 23 2006
BECAUSE OF THE SUBTLETY OF THESE SYSTEMS that privilege those perceived to be "White," it takes an actual about-face in translation, a swivel of the mental lens to become aware of the lens, itself. It requires a dramatic change in orientation, we may even say a breaking of the lens. The very tool of analyzation has been perverted to channel distorted information, because (again) were sane humans to meditate upon the situations required today to continue the American lifestyle, they would be shocked and disgusted. If I return to the train metaphor, I could say that were the passengers to actually sit up and look out the window, they would be horrified at the corpses along the ground. But the line to our hearts has been detoured past mirrored cul-de-sacs so that we can only see beautiful scenery.
I used the word "matrix" earlier, and it is a good word. It is good in the way I meant it—as a lattice, an interweaving of connections and routes— and it is good in a way that references the metaphor of the film, The Matrix. "A wool that is pulled over our eyes," this illusion of equality, in a land that was built on slavery and exploitation and conquest and dehumanization. We truly are like Ancient Egypt, you see. And this mind-blowing pyramid of American Life that we have constructed places the priests and the pharaohs atop the hierarchy, but (just like in Hatshepsut's day) without the masses of often-exploited slaves and laborers, that pyramid would still be sand in the desert. Today, as we grow ever more Socratic in our self-image, the slavery and exploitation and dehumanization gets increasingly "outsourced" to, or disguised as, less obvious forms, but it is an element that cannot be divorced from our nation's appetites.
Once you begin seeing past the illusion, the mirage starts to fall. But not without pain. This is why you see people fight so hard against seeing the issue of "race" in America; why you'll hear them yell so loud, and so senselessly. The more their reason loses ground to their frustration (Because inside they sense there is a flaw and it is one that points their way) the more crudely the attitude is displayed; the more vulgar they may become. To use the metaphor of the film, The Matrix, itself—it hurts, getting sucked out of that warm pod where you are floating, and fed your nutrients by cables and hoses. The cold air hurts, and looking for the hidden layers hurts the eye or the heart sometimes. But the effort and the pain is worth it, because once you make that decision, you feel the truth of what you see, now. And you can build yourself and your thinking into something honest, something that takes into account all types of people as worthy of the same love and same respect as if you were seeing your mother in their place, or yourself, or your child.
I know. I have traveled this same path, you see. Like many Chican@s, I am the border, itself. A blending of heritages, and a conflict in flux. It may seem that I did not have the struggle of culture, because one gave way to the other completely. Yet, you carry ownership of your people with you, and their culture is yours by a belonging you cannot give up. If it is denigrated or ignored, so are you. If the language that formed your name is deemed freakish, so are you. And I was taught to see wholly through the White Lens by the media and by my adopted White father and by my White schoolmates. And in doing so, I learned to hate myself. To hate my name, because nobody understood it, could speak it, or knew why it had a funny mark on it. To hate the sound of the word "Mexican" because it meant the bad guys in the movies. To hate my height, measured against Caucasian growth charts. To hate the whole idea of MEXICAN.
But it began to change here and there. And it begins the day you see others with Mexican blood. You say Hey! They are short. Like me! And so they are. Read about it, they even talk about bodies that are built like mine. Shorter, stronger up top. They give reasons for this, for work done and behaviors performed over thousands of years in a race's history. But I was a freak when I was little; the Doctors wanted my mother to put me on growth hormones because by their charts, I was so small. My nanita was 4' 11". Did the doctors know? Mexicans are not tall. But until I knew that, I was comparing myself and failing badly. Why? Because there is no such thing as race? Because there is no White Lens in America?
Though I am darker than my mother, I am lighter than my father. I fall into an area where if you don't notice the olive base, I could blend in skinwise with many European Americans of mixed lineages. If you don't notice my skin has no pink to it. If I stay out of the sun all year. Perhaps.
But even so, I was taught by this insidious matrix to hate my appearance. My nose. It is too wide, compared to mainstream American magazine models, and the movie stars I saw, or the people around me in the White suburbs, or the White woods. It is the wrong shape, the nostrils seemed large to me. I grew up often practicing not to flare it; I feared that like a "muscle," it would grow larger. I feared I would grow into the one picture of a Latino senior in my highschool, P. Hernandez, who had a stupidly wide, flaring nose. The entire rest of the high school, as far as I can remember, was White. And, yes, when I say "White," here, I mean the attitude that goes along with the concept and racial implications. This was my experience.
There are many people darker than me in this country. And in this world on the whole, I bet most are darker than me. And in the right setting, a much darker person might never even think of their skin or their race. But in the photo I'm talking about, you'd see how I stood out if you were holding a yearbook of eighth grade in your hands. But not my yearbook. Because shortly after I got a copy of that yearbook in my hands, I took a pencil and erased my face from the class photo. I sat shorter, and darker, and I looked like some fucking pygmy, I thought. And I was ashamed of my self. It was a terrible photo, I thought.
Again, many years later, I saw Mexicans. And pictures of the Indians my father had photographed on his trip to Mexico. This was revalatory! The Lacondon remind me of some of my childhood pictures. Especially with the choppy bangs and long hair! The noses! I don't feel so freaky....
So why do I feel a warmth when I see these faces, these features, these people? Because there is no such thing as race? Because there is no White Lens fitted upon every face in the nation?
And why did American Pop superstar Michael Jackson change his appearance to one of light skin, tiny narrow nose, and dangling hair? Because there is no such thing as race? Because the media sees through no White Lens?
There IS a dominant image in America, and it has been painted by the Dominant Culture. There is, messaged relentlessly, a preferred way to look, to sound, to be. There are consequences to be levied behind this evaulation. Many have suffered those worse than I. But like Che said, I feel them. If Mexicans are suffering, I feel that. If Blacks are being beaten by cops because the cops hate their color, I rage at that, it affects me. If a man is belittled across the street by a person in the room in which I sit, that pisses me off and I will say so.
I hate the Lens, not White People. I resent the self-loathing, no thanks. I resent the heirarchy—I've got my own, thanks. I resent the whispered lessons. The lesson you are never taught that is always being taught to you. Anybody can be fooled; anybody can be mistaught, all of us can be blinded. If you are White, you have to know that you probably are blinded to the fitting of this lens. If you have been raised defaulted to the mainstream culture, or even to one of the mainstream's subcultures (of which my family was, hippies), you are going to have some degree of this thinking embedded into your mind so strongly it feels like your mind, itself!
But it is not. Begin to question. You'll have to question with more than your eyes, because by the nature of the White Lens, you won't see what you see. Especially begin to question angry feelings that fill your belly during any given conversation on Race. Zach de la Rocha of Rage Against the Machine told us that Anger is a gift. And it is. For many reasons. One reason is that it is an indicator of hidden feelings or thoughts. Your own. Another reason is that, like high burning fuel, it is a good wick; a good starter impulse. Good to use to begin work.
I was taught by this White Lens to view my body and my lineage through a prism that could only divide me up and find the whole lacking, or ugly. I didn't even know what was bothering me about my identity. Much of this has been healed since I have become more acquainted with the literature and history and images of the Mexican people. Now I make sense, now I have a context, now I have switched the comparison. Do you see, now, why my love for Mexicanos, or for Puerto Ricans, or for Dominicans, or for Latinos, or for Blacks? Do you see, now, why I advise against blind assimilation? Do you begin to see what a web of harm can fall upon our minds without us ever feeling the prickling of a fence against our thinking?
I do not feel hostile to "White" people in general. I am hostile to the White Lens. The White Lens is why people like Michelle Malkin and Alberto Gonzales are dangerous. They still see through it. Yet they have the credibility of the non-White skin. They are the most dangerous.
The White Lens is why I feel an affinity toward any brown people. They have suffered behind it.
I am not hostile to "White" people as a rule. But I am wary of them until they have this conversion of thought, until they understand that their own lenses are skewed. Because I know how I look through those lenses, see? Because I have worn them. And I did not like myself through them.
IT IS AN ODD STATEMENT to hear, from Whites, that "there is no such thing as race." This immediately gets my wind up. If it were brown people coming to me in droves saying "Oye, 'mano, there is no such thing as Race," I might at least stop and consider it. Otherwise, I want to say "oh? really? you don't say! no such thing?" I want to tell these people that it is a wee bit late now to say "there is no such thing as race." After all, what criteria did the slave-owners use to tell their fieldworkers from their neighbors? Did they know who to chain by engaging in conversation? Or did they look at the skin, the nose, the race? When la migra is busting down doors and deporting families (or deporting halves of families), do they move in on people with blonde hair? Do they begin watching those with blue eyes? Or do they zero in on those with browner skin, dark hair, speaking Spanish? Do I hear hate these days for "Americans descended from Indians who lived on the continent" or for "Mexicans"? How did George "the Noose" Allen distinguish Sidharth from the rest of those standing around him? Because of the way he wore his shoes? Or because of his skin color and obvious racial difference?
Right.
If there is "no such thing as race," then it's too late now to say so. You should have said so many, many, many years ago. Before the "race" of people who lived here was killed en masse, replaced by the "race" who landed in ships. The "illegal Europeans."
FINALLY, let me say this:
I like that there are different "races." I like that. I find it beautiful. I don't want to discount these differences that have either naturally selected themselves, or are part of tribal genetic traits. (I don't personally care which one, or if there are other reasons for the visible signs).
I love the curving, slanting, smooth-lidded eyes of so many Asians. I love long, black, straight, silky hair, and wide, flat moon faces. Please don't "fix" your eyelids. Please don't bleach your hair. Please don't get surgery to make yourself look "less _______." Celebrate those things. I do.
I love the dark skin of the African. The bright teeth, the huge smiles, the eggplant sheen of the sky on their cheek; the black eyes, the pools of onyx. I love the well-defined lips, full and warm. I hope you love these things, too. And I love the look of their American relatives. No matter how dark or light you are as an American of African descent, know that I love those features about your people.
I do find beauty in the clear blue eyes and pale skinned races, too. These are all parts of our humanity. And these races have many very beautiful people, as well. True, the lack of melanin means you don't age so well, or hold up under the sun so well, but aesthetically, you can be very beautiful as a group (when younger). Perhaps it will take a few hundred (or a couple thousand years) to adjust to the sunnier lands, now that, over time, you are migrating to warmer lands. The political and social issues with the Aryan appearance are, of course, some bad associations and bad history. If you want, you can help change those associations. It will take effort. But aesthetically? I don't mind that there are nationalities/ethnicities that share this blue eyed, light skinned, blonde or red-haired look. I've been in love with girls who looked like that. I've had children with them. And I don't need to see it disappear.
Just the lens.
I hope i don't need to mention Latin@s! Hell! And anyway, I could go on and on and on. I love the Russians and the Poles with their sturdy cheekbones and their hardy frames (but more for their dramatic, romantic literature); I love the look of their strong noses. I love the Iranians, I love the Iraqis, I love the Arabs, the Hawaiians, and I love the Indians. Forgive me forgetting or not knowing all the many, many, many different looking people. Or for assigning traits I've personally witnessed that may not fit you. It's dangerous to begin trying to define these things, I hope you'll forgive any missteps. I wanted to make a point. and the point is that I love the differences. I don't want to pretend they are not there. And on different days, I want to be all of you. You are all beautiful to see when you are smiling.
LA RAZA COSMICA Through both love and war, we will all eventually blend. I am a blend. My children are blends, My parents are even blends, though not such a drastic or obvious a blend as I am. Yes, I feel a bit sad to watch the individual characteristics melt away over time. Why? Because I do not mind or dislike the distinct characteristics that make up each race! Not at all! Nobody is as confused as Americans on this issue, and that is because we have begun an experiment here of disregarding our backgrounds in the name of assimilating to a New Normal. In Romania (part of my heritage), everyone is Romanian! In Mexico, most people are Mexican. But here in America, being "American" means nothing, ethnically. And while many have been comfortable because in this grand experiment where we let our heritage fade into nothingness the New Normal favors them, many are not comfortable at all with the New Normal. No, I will not abdicate by heritage so that I can adopt your lower tier. I will hold up my family line and my racial heritage with pride. Con mucho orgullo, vato!!! Mucho orgullo!
It is not the color of your skin or eyes that will bother me. It is the lenses you may see through. So when I speak of "Whites" and "Non-whites" in this blog, let it be a given that while I do speak of blood ("melanin-lacking race" and "melanin-laden race") I mostly refer to the lenses that are typically found on each type of person. And if you can take those off for a minute, I think you will see what I mean.
I do want what you imply with your idea that "there is no race." I do want a world where we all are just people, and we are all loved equally, and all respected and judged by our deeds. (Speaking of which, aren't there a few cases waiting to be ruled on, still?) And I am working to get there. And you may work to get there. But the world is not there now. And to reach the end of a journey and a goal, one must first admit that a path stands between them and that goal. That they are not there yet. Only when they admit where it is they stand and see from, can they begin moving toward that goal, making that journey.
| 
| 
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
Comentarios (22)
Lyn_2 dijo:
unapologetic... interesting piece! My theory (as a white female) is that people (all people) are basically "tribal". I think it's hard-wired in the genes. Biologically speaking, it's a defense mechanism. For instance, babies are often frightened by people with mustaches or glasses. They scream when picked up by a gray-haired grandparent. Only later in their development are they able to "learn" to be comfortable dealing with the "differences".
Even school kids and adults remain tribal. They hang with people in their own likeness...jocks with jocks,liberals with liberals, Mormons with Mormons, etc. Face it, most people (mediocre) don't leave their comfort zone.
It takes a lot of intelligence, and confidence to cross the boundaries.
09.27.06 - 8:12 pm |
Palabras por Lyn_2 spat forth on el 20 de Enero, 2007 at 09:16 AM
nezua limón xolagrafik-jonez dijo:
Hi Lyn. The questions of instinct vs. will...intelligence vs. hardwiring...these are interesting, too. I wonder when all the people of the world will have the collective "intelligence and confidence" to overcome this tribal instinct that still hurts so many. Or if we ever will. Or can.
09.27.06 - 8:28 pm
Palabras por nezua limón xolagrafik-jonez spat forth on el 20 de Enero, 2007 at 09:17 AM
XP dijo:
Beautiful man, beautiful.
09.27.06 - 9:22 pm
Palabras por XP spat forth on el 20 de Enero, 2007 at 09:18 AM
nezua limón xolagrafik-jonez dijo:
Thank you, brother.
09.27.06 - 9:43 pm
Palabras por nezua limón xolagrafik-jonez spat forth on el 20 de Enero, 2007 at 09:18 AM
Charles dijo:
What people mean by "there is no such thing as race" is that if you pick a given characteristic like IQ, there's less variation between groups than there is within any given group. In other words, if you had to decide who was who without seeing them or hearing their accent, you would have a very hard time.
Another way of seeing it is looking at what happens to children who are raised by adoptive parents of another racial/ethnic/economic group. They adapt all the characteristics of the culture in which they find themselves, desirable and pathological.
Foreign leaders corrupted by the US provide a perfect example of how cruelty is universal. The death squads operating in Iraq may have US equipment, training, and guidance, but they have made Abu Ghraib look like a vacation spot by comparison.
The basic attitudinal difference, I think, should be drawn between Anglos and Indios. Anglos, in general, emphasize the individual over the community, hold property private even when that damages the community, and see success as acquisition of property. They have greater faith in the power of reason and science, and a short-term temporal understanding. Indigenous peoples have a greater emphasis on community in all matters, place more reliance on tradition, and view time as extending beyond this moment or their own personal existence.
As with race, there is variation within each group. But this time, the difference within the group is smaller than the difference between groups.
The disparity of income in Anglo society causes friction. Envy. Animosity. And so means of control beyond shame must be devised. Racialism is one of the tools. While I can do a little better than just imagine how inculcation of a sense of inferiority can shape one's life, ultimately it is just one more phantasm to be shaken off.
What may be most difficult in looking out from Mexican eyes is that one is white, the other indio. So, who is the good guy, and who is the bad guy? How can I get away from the bad one, whoever that is?
When one sets aside race, then they're both good guys. They can shake hands, share some red with no beans, and a tragito to celebrate the friendship.
09.27.06 - 10:17 pm
Palabras por Charles spat forth on el 20 de Enero, 2007 at 09:20 AM
XP dijo:
Speaking of IQ the origins of modern day practice in racial and cultural bigotry actually began when people started using IQ tests here in the US back in the 1920s. The founding fathers of today's modern testing industry were big advocates of eugenics.
H. H. Goddard, a nativist of the Know Nothing Party and eugenicist, developed the first IQ test in the US with rankings for "idiots, imbeciles, and morons." His test was used at Ellis Island in which he "discover[ed]," except those from Northern Europe, that large percentages of the new immigrants are "feeble-minded." As a result, the immigration laws were enacted in the 1920s limited the number of immigrants allowed from Southern Europe. He also argued that society should be dictated by IQ scores.
Lewis Terman, another nativist and eugenicist, revised the Binet-Simon scale for "American populations," now known as the "Stanford-Binet," which became the standard intelligence test in the US for the next several decades and still being used today.
The original Simon-Binet Scale was designed for identifying children who required special instructional attention in school, but the nativist transformed them into a “race superiority” confirmation test and sadly, is now an integral, part of the American educational structure. This is how the US can continue practicing American apartheid. How can people say that racism is over here in the US when American apartheid only began when people stopped practicing segregation in public facilities ranging from parks to colleges to eating establishments in the late 50s and 60s? The idea of segregation is still fresh in today’s baby boomers. It would take generations before a true color blind (the one MLK talked about) is in place. It is a lot easier to declare its destruction in South Africa because Blacks were the majority minority, now that it is over; it is harder to institute it. But here in the US, we do not have that luxury - minorities are the minority. Maybe in some states, minorities will soon become the majority, but that is still years away.
In 1962, Banesh Hoffman tried to tell in his classic book "Tyranny of Testing." And 14 years later, the National Education Association, with membership of almost 2 million teachers, called for the abolition of standardized intelligence tests because they are "at best wasteful, and at worst, destructive."
Even in todays use of IQ tests, "minority and economically disadvantaged students tend to score lower than other students and, consequently, are often underrepresented in gifted and talented programs."
The testing industry is one of most powerful industries in America and one of the most overlooked industries too. If you see who is behind the No Child Left Behind, it is them who continues to push for more standardized testing. The testing companies are also very secretive and nobody can touch them.
In fact, my father who is professor in the college of education told me before the whistleblower of the Houston Miracle was run out of town, he told him to buy stock in the testing industry because they are going to make a killing now that Bush is President. When I say ran out of town, the powers that be, the Bushies and their buddies, made sure he could never get a job in a university in Houston.
Until people are willing to look itself in the mirror and acknowledge we still have a continuing an apartheid, we can start moving forward. Children tend to grow up with the same characteristics – warts and all – of their parents; that’s why we call them cycles. Children who are raised in an abusive household tend to continue the practice as adults because that is who the saw as they grew up, it is called modeling. Abusive parents do not grow up saying I can’t wait to have children so I can beat the shit out of them, yet they do because the only parenting skill they have are of their parents. So the cycle continues. Baby boomers (both minorities and non-minorities) grew up in a time when segregation was still in practice and desegregation was just beginning. Because true desegregation never occurred, the “separate but equal” ideology was still instilled and they passed it on to their children. Lyn_2’s comment confirms it – “people in their own likeness...jocks with jocks, liberals with liberals, Mormons with Mormons, etc.” It is the same practice of hanging out with our own kind when we walk in a cafeteria, the cycle of “separate but equal” continues.
09.28.06 - 5:55 am
Palabras por XP spat forth on el 20 de Enero, 2007 at 09:23 AM
nezua limón xolagrafik-jonez dijo:
Charles,
What people mean by "there is no such thing as race" is that if you pick a given characteristic like IQ, there's less variation between groups than there is within any given group.
That's very scientific. And it makes sense. But it doesn't feel like "what people mean" when they say it, and even if so, I don't see how it affects anything I've said in this post. Regardless of the range of variation of a mean when testing in or across groups—or the theory arrived at thusly, there are still different groups of people from different lands who look differently and who are treated differently in this society, which was built on treating them differently due to their racial characteristics/appearance. The argument of "there is no race" sidesteps this problem with an alternate discussion, it seems. While it is a kind contribution, and well-intended, and perhaps true (because is IQ realllly the way to test this thing?), it doesn't address the problem that instigates the original complaints of racism. Additinally, it's not the people of color you need to tell this to! It's other people. If there were any such thing as "White" people, well. It's them you need to convince of this one. Good luck! The GOP and their stripe dont even think blacks can swim; as in genetically deficient. So you have a big fight on your hands convincing them of your theory.
Another way of seeing it is looking at what happens to children who are raised by adoptive parents of another racial/ethnic/economic group. They adapt all the characteristics of the culture in which they find themselves, desirable and pathological.
What is the conclusion to this bit of reason? That because a teaching can be given to a child, they are tabula rasa? And that there is no stamp carried over from the genes that can be attributed to race? Again, this doesn't address the fact that that child will still look like other members of their race! (You did read this post, right?) And even if we hold true what you say, the results don't bear out the hypothesis. Because a child given this adoptive template may still feel it is not them, and develop a schism, a conflict. They may adapt these characteristics of which you speak, and yet these characteristics may never sit well with them. They may find other ways of being rising up and overwhelming...and they may not even know why. After all, that is the story I tell here, over and over. Consider that, along with these other time-worn theories you have.
While I can do a little better than just imagine how inculcation of a sense of inferiority can shape one's life, ultimately it is just one more phantasm to be shaken off.
Careful, my friend. You are skirting Condescensionville with that ride. You make it sound so damn easy. Free the mind, free my mind. Just shake it off. I wish that were so. I wish it were that easy. Especially when a good part of one's life has already been lived, and the "phantasm" has already helped shape other parts of the world and the self. It is this "phantasm" that so many cannot shake off because they don't even know they have it riding shotgun. Perhaps it is this "phantasm" that so many Whites see fit to keep perpuating on the rest of the world. Right before telling the rest of the world that there is no phantasm.
The phantasm is so prevalent in this culture, that it may as well have a tag on it sayin Made in the USA. The word "phantasm" implies a lack of substance, but ask all the people who have been hurt or killed or who live in pain under this phantasm how much substance it has.
Thanks for your thoughtful comments, Charles. Here, I think we do make effort to get past these obstacles in humanity's path. But it's a long path, hermano. And we'll be walking it a while.
09.28.06 - 6:52 am
Palabras por nezua limón xolagrafik-jonez spat forth on el 20 de Enero, 2007 at 09:25 AM
nezua limón xolagrafik-jonez dijo:
XP that is some fascinating info, man. Anyway, I gave up on those tests a long time ago. Even if you do well, they don't tell you a damn thing about yourself except you're good at soaking shit up and reflecting the stain. Like most tests.
09.28.06 - 6:55 am
Palabras por nezua limón xolagrafik-jonez spat forth on el 20 de Enero, 2007 at 09:26 AM
Charles dijo:
don't think that measurement of IQ is inherently bad, XP, although you are perfectly correct in relating its racialist history. Maybe it should be paired with EQ, the emotional quotient, which measures the ability to work constructively with others. We certainly shouldn't be honoring and placing in positions of high responsibility people who lack either.
Or both.
There is an irony in The Bell Curve, you know. The data show both white and black IQ rising over the last century. But black IQ is rising faster. If trends continue....
Nezua, when I say, "what people mean," it's true that people mean different things when they say there is no such thing as race. But they also mean different things when they say, "God" or "democracy" or "development."
I've had an unusual life, Nezua, and I know what it is like to be the disdained minority. There's no attempt to condescend, merely to avoid overstatement of the difficulties I have faced. I've seen enough to be aware of what goes on but, fortunately, not enough to be seriously harmed by it.
Whites of course do need to reject notions of racial supremacy. And, while they are a significant offender, they are not the only ones. Japanese, for example, have intense racialist tendencies.
There's no question that there are real and direct consequences of racism that are completely beyond the control of the affected individual. But racism is also internalized, so that individuals discriminate against themselves.
It is this aspect that can be changed without waiting for empires to fall.
09.28.06 - 8:25 am
Palabras por Charles spat forth on el 20 de Enero, 2007 at 09:30 AM
nezua limón xolagrafik-jonez dijo:
Charles, you make good points here. Much of this is internal. In fact, even when power is levied from one race over another, it is an internal reality (and feeling of superiority) that the aggressors have adopted. All forms of this "phantasm" are equally dangerous. But some parts of it we have the power to affect, is what I hear you saying. And it is a good point to stress. Whites need to check out their internal biases.
Whites of course do need to reject notions of racial supremacy. And, while they are a significant offender, they are not the only ones. Japanese, for example, have intense racialist tendencies.
Well. They need to do more than just "reject notions." A whole lot more. But you're right. That's the first thing they need to do in order to accept that there is more to do. And actually, I've never suffered any racism at the hands of a Japanese person. Which is why I focus on Whites in America. Makes sense, I think.
Thanks for adding to the discussion.
09.28.06 - 8:32 am
Palabras por nezua limón xolagrafik-jonez spat forth on el 20 de Enero, 2007 at 09:32 AM
Leesee dijo:
Nezua:
You have distilled the idea of race and the "white lens" into a poetic discussion of race and racism.
Explaining racism to a person who has never suffered it is very difficult, some say near impossible; to the uninformed it could come across as an excuse or a crutch. Those of us who have lived it know it is very real and it gets really OLD to try and explain it all of the time.
I work at a university, a place where institutionlized racism is in flower, lately these days I have stepped back from trying to adjust the "white lens", sometimes I have to say "fuck it". It's a matter of survival.
Most of the time I turn my gaze to those I can assist in becoming succesful because at this point I'm throwing away energy if I'm not concentrating on those that need my assistance the most.
Working with my students is the only thing that gives me hope things are getting better. My students come in all colors, white, latino, african-american, it is the ethnic students who feel the opression of the "phantasm".
It doesn't matter if it isn't real what matters is that it feels real and that's the bottom line isn't it?
Anyway, life is but a dream....
09.28.06 - 2:35 pm
Palabras por Leesee spat forth on el 20 de Enero, 2007 at 09:39 AM
nezua limón xolagrafik-jonez dijo:
hola leesee...you are not the first one today, actually, to tell me something like this...that it is a fruitless attempt. (not in a bad way, i am not saying these were unwanted).
i guess hearing this makes me realize that i was really mostly doing it for myself. and perhaps as an entry i can link back to later and say "see this page." at least, it can prove useful now that it is done. i am honestly amazed that anybody could argue these points, actually. i felt like once it was laid out, people would understand at once. ah, the eternal optimist underneath my caustic despondency.
i feel good having written it. and i feel good that i have had people (like you) come to me and say, "i know what you're saying.'"
careful with that Life is But A Dream stuff. you may just inspire me to take a long nap. and i have some stuff to do today! PAZ
09.28.06 - 3:09 pm
Palabras por nezua limón xolagrafik-jonez spat forth on el 20 de Enero, 2007 at 09:39 AM
Charles dijo:
This is an interesting discussion I have been having for more years than I care to think about, Nezua.
When this nation last seriously-- honestly-- discussed racial issues, it made progress. In that brief shining moment, more kids went to school and rose higher. A new crop of young, passionate professionals was seeded. Income disparities were reduced. Communities developed a vision of the way they wanted the world to be.
But the time when the sun shone clear was very brief. There were two years and six months between the time the small rivulet of money feeding positive change burst forth from the stone and the time that the leak began to be plugged.
It's almost impossible to get results by going to another person and saying, "You must change." We can illegalize overt discrimination. Even if the law fails, we can use the power of shame to force racialism underground. But as we see with George Allen, what is forced underground doesn't die.
The way to get lasting change is to create an attractive alternative. The day in which a white racialist sees that he is hogging the Rocky Moutain Horsewater and missing the good stuff is the day when lasting change begins within him.
Anyway, a nap sounds good.
A nap always sounds good.
09.28.06 - 5:37 pm
Palabras por Charles spat forth on el 20 de Enero, 2007 at 09:40 AM
Arcturus dijo:
I must say that as a young person 30 years ago, I had great hopes for the Dream of a truly diverse, multi-cultural society taking root. Those hopes aren't dead, but they're lying pretty low these days.
I can tell ya this though as a privileged white male: self-reflection, education & empathy don't do shit in the world-at-large.
But I'll still argue for a politics of diversity, not inclusion.
I didn't see the button to click, but since you asked, I'm in Sacramento, CA, home to one José Montoya (of the Royal Chicano Airforce fame). I've got a particular interest in language issues.
09.28.06 - 5:55 pm
Palabras por Arcturus spat forth on el 20 de Enero, 2007 at 09:42 AM
nezua limón xolagrafik-jonez dijo:
Charles:
You sure are right about getting someone else to change! A fruitless attempt if there ever was one. I like what you said about attraction rather than aggressive recruitment or demand. Myself, I wonder if the America experiment just can't work as it's been pitched. That is, the whole "melting pot" thing. I guess it makes a bad start when you chain the carrots to the cutting board to get 'em to join, tho....
____
Arcturus,
I hear you. I am in love with language, always have been. Your blog looks like it does some original stuff, so I'll be checkin in on ya.
I didn't see the button to click, but since you asked, I'm in Sacramento, CA,
Actually, it was the "Sign In" link in the upper left corner but you're right—it was a little confusing, so I've changed the link to take a clicker right to the sign-in form. Thanks.
thank you both for adding to this dialogue.
09.28.06 - 6:32 pm
Palabras por nezua limón xolagrafik-jonez spat forth on el 20 de Enero, 2007 at 09:43 AM
Richard Grabman dijo:
When in a hole, stop digging. --attributed to Molly Ivens.
Ok, Nezu... "Race" as a construct is illogical, but none of us are Mr. Spock, either.
Mexico isn't a perfect country, but it's the comparison I use. Mexicans who are not your standard 75-80% indigenous, 20-25% European are still Mexicans, and think of themselves as such. They use cultural, rather than "racial" definitions. And are real assholes when it comes to cultural snobbery. I once heard a blond, blue-eyed Mexican called "estupido indio" by a very brown, short, huge upper bodied guy. Señor Güero was drunk as a skunk and had shit his pants on the Metro. Señor Indigeno was basically saying "what a fuckin' low-life," but the old words haven't died out yet.
Are Mexican-Americans, "Hispanics" in general, and African-Americans enjoying complete eqality with "white guys"? Of course not.
I'm disappointed, but semi-optimistic in that "white folks" has replaced "Anglo-Saxon Protestant" as the top dog. Given enough time, maybe we'll finally get through the color thing, too. And just be a "normal" country where our assholes complain about class differences.My Mother can remember KKK threatening Catholics when she was a kid. My dad was the white officer in a "Colored" unit during WWII. And Catholics marrying Lutherans still was shocking when they married. I've got Italian and Jewish in-laws... kinda neat to see "white guyness" encompassing even my cousin's adopted "Indio" kids.
What bothers me is that I know (and I'm guessing most people know) guys with names like Billy Bob Garcia, or Truang O'Reilly. I worry that OUR obsession with bloodlines will carry through to these kids, who shouldn't have to decide "am I Vietnamese or Irish, or both or neither?"
09.28.06 - 11:19 pm
Palabras por Richard Grabman spat forth on el 20 de Enero, 2007 at 09:45 AM
nezua limón xolagrafik-jonez dijo:
Boy, that's a lot of digging after such a fine quote!
09.28.06 - 11:26 pm
Palabras por nezua limón xolagrafik-jonez spat forth on el 20 de Enero, 2007 at 09:46 AM
Richard Grabman dijo:
Para cotizar el gran filósofo de la cultura burgesa norteamericana (Homer Simpson).... "¡DOH! :)
09.29.06 - 11:48 pm
Palabras por Richard Grabman spat forth on el 20 de Enero, 2007 at 09:47 AM
Ome.Quiahuitl dijo:
"And I was taught to see wholly through the White Lens by the media and by my adopted White father and by my White schoolmates. And in doing so, I learned to hate myself."
Picture this: A undeniably brown-skinned girl, face painted white, sitting in her Goth garb, wishing her skin wasn't so dark- that her eyes weren't so brown, and that she wasn't so Mexican...
I almost don't want to admit it, but it was where I was as an adolescent.. Hating myself, gobbling up all that bullshit of being inferior...
The lens is there, for sure... Thank god for acceptance, for awareness, for awakenings and new perception!!..
10.06.06 - 5:02 pm
Palabras por Ome.Quiahuitl spat forth on el 20 de Enero, 2007 at 09:48 AM
nezua limón xolagrafik-jonez dijo:
Ome, I know you hate to admit it. That's just how it feels to write pieces like this, admitting so much of the same things. It hurts to look back and admit you can be so hypnotized, that you swallowed the dominant culture's aesthetic, internalized it, punished yourself. But we get it out, shed the shame, acknowledge the change, and help each other feel strong and proud of who we are. And here we are. And we can say "I know what you mean." Because if you say these things many other places you get labeled as "oversensitive," or even as you see in some comments above, people can unintentionally denigrate your experience by telling you the whole thing is "just another phantasm" to shake off. But I know what I lived and still do battle with. And you do, too.
Thank you for adding to these conversations.
10.06.06 - 5:16 pm
Palabras por nezua limón xolagrafik-jonez spat forth on el 20 de Enero, 2007 at 09:49 AM
ROCKERA TULíPAN dijo:
Hi! I really enjoyed this well written, thought provoking piece.
Thank You.
Palabras por ROCKERA TULíPAN spat forth on el 20 de Abril, 2007 at 09:07 AM
abw dijo:
I LIKE THAT THERE ARE DIFFERENT RACES.etcetera-etcetera!
I cosign 'this'!!!!!!WELLLL!!!!AMEN!!PREACH BROTHA PREACH!!!!!!!!!!!abw
Palabras por abw spat forth on el 2 de Abril, 2008 at 09:40 PM