Subject: Re: On interracial relationships, or anything
Date: Thu, 5 Feb 1998 17:47:43 GMT
David C. Waters (mbanet@netcom.com) wrote:
(big snip)
Let me try to refocus. From my side, I will summarize as follows:
You do not fight racism by denying race as a premise.
That position disarms the oppressed, and entrenches the
oppressor even further in his practice of race-based
oppression. Rather, you acknowledge the clear reality
of race which is the basis, however delusional, insane,
or morally bankrupt, for racism (white supremacy). What
I am asserting is that there is a neutral, value-free
dimension to race and racial difference that exists,
or can exist, quite independently, qua concept, from
the odious practices of racism which proceeds from a
value-laden overlay of a value-free, neutral concept.
Once you have clarity on that point, what you then do is
attack the moral debility in those who predicate the
ordering of society, in *all* areas of societal activity,
in such a way that they seek always to have white on top,
moreover stooping to theft, coercion, brainwashing,
falsification of history, false propaganda, etc. etc.
to achieve it. I want the focus placed on the rac*ist*
and his ignoble behavior, rather than on futile talk
about Caublinasians, Puerto-Rican/Filipinos and the
unbearable arbitrariness of *race*.
Now, just so it's clear, I do not disagree with you that
where one draws racial boundaries in a world with a
large and expanding "grey" area, is arbitrary. I have
given you examples which you blithely ignore, of Haitian
"blancs" who would be Black in America, and of South African
"coloreds" who likewise would be Black in America.
Arbitrariness of classification does not however translate
into inability to classify: racial differences remain
(varietal if you prefer), and are classifiable. In a white
supremacist world, it is sufficient for those who classify
themselves as white that there be but two categories, namely
white, and non-white. (Sorry Tiger. Sorry your Puerto-Rican/
Filipino friends). I am all for a world where the only
classification category, for any purpose impinging on justice
and fairness, would be "human". But I will keep on acknowledging the
simple reality of race and racial difference for as long
as there remains the corresponding reality of a global
system of racism (white supremacy).
As to your hypothetical Black physicist, let him not adopt
the ways of the oppressor. In a white supremacist world, he
has more in common with his fellow-oppressed, however exalted
he may feel having a union card proclaiming brotherhood with
his fellow white physicists. This reminds me of
a story I once told on this group, which I now repeat:
"I am reminded of the days when South Africa was still living under
Apartheid, and the boycott was in effect. Certain (Black) West Indian
cricket players were persuaded, for money, to go on what was dubbed
in the West Indies the 'rebel tour' of South Africa. They were
even granted visa status as 'honorary white' for the purpose. So
when the news got back that one of the players, Colin Croft, was
thrown out when he attempted to take a seat in a 'whites only' compartment
of a train, there was a lot of mocking laughter in the West Indies.
To be 'Crofted' became a new term in the Caribbean lexicon. South
Africa has made a lot of progress since then, and America has made a
lot of progress since Jim Crow, but whenever you start thinking that
race doesn't exist, all I would say to you is I hope you never get
Crofted." I would say the same to your hypothetical Black
physicist: he has more in common with his fellow white physicist
only until he gets "Crofted". (At which point, like O.J. Simpson,
he'd probably turn to his lesser, but true brethren, for support).
Your choice of "physics" as a marker of merit is revealing, by the way.
It reminds me of the Nobel prize winning physicist, something-or-other
Shockley, the fellow who "discovered" the semi-conductor. He was also
a notorious racist. Now, in my scale of values, there
is no degree or attainment within the Western educational establishment
which, in and of itself, stands as a marker of merit. I am not
impressed by a value structure that can give us a Dr. Mengele,
or the American doctors that performed the Tuskegee experiment,
or a Dr. Schockley. Moral values must lie at the foundation of
a civilized society. The West has not yet attained to that state.
Attainment to rocket science is not what makes a barbarian society
civilized.
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"Adopt ye not the ways of the oppressor."
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