Pseudo-intellectuals Pt. 1- Stagnating Thought Progression

Okay, so this is going to be the first in a multi-part series of things that I am feeling regarding the intellectual capacity of our generation and how we can improve certain aspects of it.

So lately, there have been a lot of deeper level conversations/forums/discussions/etc. that have opened my eyes to a variety of mindsets amongst the members of my generation. Many of these individuals are very well read, have studied many different philosophies, and are very articulate in their speech. But I am noticing a trend in the progression of the thought process, and that is that students nowadays are stagnating that progression through what I call pseudo-intellectualism. We do it in many ways, and in part one, I am going to discuss what I call "deifying your elders".

Many of the famous philosophical minds, particularly in Black history and culture, have been revered for their eloquence and sophistication in the evolution of thinking. They were men and women of great mental and conversational prowess, and their legacies have been time-honored contributions to our current methods of thinking. But what I tend to notice is that people in my generation have so much reverence and respect for these icons that we rarely ever challenge anything that they say or espouse. Rather, we often accept their word as law, and treat their words as irrefutable proof of our own arguments. And it shows the most when you see students quote W. E. B. DuBois, or Benjamin Mays, or Martin L. King...and everyone in the audience starts clapping as soon as the quote is finished.

But what did YOU contribute to that rationale that those men espoused? What are YOUR thoughts aside from what they have said? How does this relate to YOUR intellectual development?

This is a major problem to me, because it hits at the very core of what makes academia so great...our ability to agree, disagree, align, and depart with other mentalities, so that we all are making contributions to the whole of the educational and intellectual process. And for the Black community in general, we are trained that way from the jump in many cases. (How many times have you been told not to question your parents, or felt that because mommy said it, it must be true?) It's innate in our upbringing to show respect for those who come before us, but few of us ever toe the line to say, I respect what you say, but I respectfully disagree as well.

I make it a point, nowadays, to try and decipher not only what a person is saying in a text, or in the scripture, or in any body of work, but to understand why that person said it. Maybe the times during which the body of work was written have changed substantially, making it a anachronistic message. Maybe the person lacked a well-rounded view of the situations about which they argued. Maybe they simply saw one point of view, and that there is another new point of view that is relevant now. Either way, I try not to deify my predecessors to the point that I cannot think for myself or express anything that goes against their contributions.

Contribution of our own intellect is valuable to the progression and movement of intellectual development. Each generation must do their part to add to the whole, so that the we do not stagnate the development of these thoughts and ideals. By deifying our elders, and having fear of challenging them because of our respect for them, we essentially miss out on our chance to contribute our own thoughts, and to one day be elevated to the same level of admiration and respect by future generations.

Regular Black

Okay, so at the forum the other night (Black Caribbeans vs African Americans) I told the story of how when I got to FSU, and I introduced myself as African American, the Caribbean students said that I was "regular black" and all laughed. I told the group that it was one of the most offensive things I had ever been called, and people looked puzzled. Last night, at another workshop, I overheard some of the girls from the forum discussing my comment, and they said "I don't understand why he was insulted, there are so many other things he could have been called."

Here is my explanation, for those who need it...

Many Caribbeans are taught by their parents and culture that African Americans (i.e. non-Caribbean, slave descendants) do not have culture. That we lost our history through slavery, and so, we don't have knowledge of self. That notion is one that pervades the minds and conversations of many Caribbeans, and though they may not say it for political correctness, it affects how they view me and others who identify as African American.

So to call me "regular black" in my mind suggests that I am generic to them. As if my culture is bland, and that I have no cultural flavor simply because I can't name an island to claim as my home. It is tough enough in America knowing that other racial groups think lowly of African Americans, but for other Blacks to make a distinction like this is demoralizing, no matter what other terms I could have been called in its place.

Let's face it...the major reason why people claim their cultures so much in America is because they are not in their homelands. No one who lives in Jamaica is trying to prove to everyone that they are Jamaican. No one from Trinidad has to really brag that they are Trini while they are there. It is when you get immersed in a land that is different from yours that you have to identify yourself. Hell, it wasn't until I got to Florida State that I felt the need to SAY that I am African American due to the large number of Caribbeans...before then it was just understood. And because of that, it seems that there is so much MORE pride from Caribbean Blacks, but that's not because of a lack of culture or history for African Americans, but because they HAVE to identify themselves since they are not in their homelands. (And I know African Americans are not in our homelands either, but for now, America serves as our reference point.)

The other thing is that I feel Black Caribbeans often view African Americans through the same channels as other races do, and that is through the exaggerated and exacerbated stories in the media. To be honest, when Caribbeans are in America, and they are surrounded by African Americans, a lot of times, they feel the need to talk about their history and their culture because it is novel to the listener. But if you try to tell them about African American history, they assume they know it. (This adds to that generic notion about where African Americans derive.) So the conversation is usually one-sided, with Caribbeans speaking about their food, music and stories, and African American stories being shelved as understood.

I wrote all of this as clarification for why I felt insulted by being called "regular Black." To reduce someone's history and culture to a generic story, to me, is harmful, especially when that mindset is what led to most of the history that group has. We have to be careful with the words that we speak, and what we are really saying when we speak them, especially as it relates to race, culture, and history.

United as Blacks (I apologize upfront for any feelings I step on)

Last night I attended one of the most interesting, and probably the most thought provoking seminars I have seen in a long time. It was a discussion on the cultural differences between Carribbean Blacks and African Americans. Although a lot of the comments I heard last night, in my opinion, were either shallow attempts to sugarcoat real feelings or major appeals to emotion, I found a lot of useful information in the process, so I enjoyed it overall.

There was one particular statement that bothered me, and it kept being repeated over and over again by the students that were in the room. They all kept comparing Black Unity, or the lack thereof, to the perceived "unity" of majority society. And it was said in a variety of ways. One person said," You never hear white Germans beefing with Polish Whites." Another person said, "White people never have this problem." I heard one student whisper, "Neither do Asians." No matter how it was presented, it came off to me as "Other groups have it together, why don't we?"

I have a MAJOR problem with that notion, and I will tell you why...

Historically, any group of people that have arrived in America, be it by force or by choice, have had internal strife in some way, shape or form. The Chinese and the Japanese, as history will tell you, fought each other for land and conquered many lands in Asia. The Mongols of upper Asia did as well. A lot of that has carried over to America, though Blacks may rarely see it. The people of India still participate in active slavery of its own people. Italian Americans beef heavily with Sicilians, even though they are from the same basic region of the world. White Americans (some, not all) dislike White Canadians, Irish, etc.

Which leads me to the following conclusion...

ALL RACIAL GROUPS ARE DIVIDED. PERIOD. You wanna know why majority society doesn't seem have the same problems we as Blacks think we have? You know why they don't have forums on how to be unified? It isn't because they have it together and are unified...it's because they don't give a damn about being unified. Same goes for Asian Americans to some extent, although they do tend to bond a little more than the majority. Since Blacks are actively seeking unity, and constantly keep this as a forerunning thought in our existence, we tend to be critical about how this gets accomplished. That manifests itself in different ways, but the reality is, we are the ONLY group that cares about being unified as a whole people. That is what makes us SEEM as though we are fighting to be unified...cause we are the only group that cares.

I think this point, if valid to you, needs to be internalized for several reasons:

1. If we constantly think we are behind, then we will never get ahead. So many of us dog ourselves when we talk about our lack of unity, not realizing that we are actually the only group that could possibly achieve it, if we keep actively seeking it. And I think we should embrace that distinction, since ultimately, it will be our strength once we are faced with another crisis against our own.

2. Once we get on one accord, we can see where the real problem is...and that is money. Race relations is a by-product of a class/economic issue that plagues EVERY group. When we look at the White race, all we really see are the iconic members of their race. The wealthy and the affluent. But to be honest, there are Whites that have the exact same struggles that we have, and I submit to you that most of the hate Blacks receive from White America is perpetuated by the middle and lower class whites who feel we are a threat to their entitled legacy. Affirmative action, for example. doesn't matter to the super-rich...their children will probably get into whatever school they choose because they can afford it. But the people who are fighting it are the ones who are in the same position as most of us are in terms of class. (And I don't mean all Whites, but those select ones that do feel this way, it applies to them. No offense to anyone reading this.) Unity, for us, will allow us to start becoming forerunners in progression in America, and if we realize that we are on the cusp of this, then we would feel more empowered.

3. America thrives on the fact that we are all different, and cohesion of similar groups could be detrimental to the fabric of this country, at least in the eyes of those in power. So as Black people, if we understand that we could be the first to break through that, we would actually be elevating ourselves past many other racial groups in terms of forward progression of the whole, instead of forward progression of individuals. (It was happening with Black Wall Street, and we see how that turned out. )

I guess my whole point in this blog is to point out the inherent self-loathing that we do in an attempt to catch up with others. Once we assess where others are in their movement towards unity, we will see that we may be setting the trends, instead of catching up to the pack in terms of our oneness.

Protecting Our Women

Women are the strongest creatures I know. Point blank. I realize that physical strength is something that is usually dominated by men, but mental and emotional strength is something that is very powerful in our women, and it is this strength that I admire so much. With that said, I am writing this with tears in my eyes as I think about what our women have to endure.

I saw the short film "Bid Em In" on BET, which talks about selling of slaves, and they showed how a Black woman would be advertised for their bodies and abilities to produce children. Yet in 2007, not much has changed. So many of our women have been exploited, both commercially and locally, by us...men. And in all honesty, we do it without realizing exactly what the impact is that we are having on the esteem of women as whole.

In talking with many of my female friends and colleagues, it really amazes me how many of them have been victims of sexual/emotional/physical abuse at the hands of a man. About 90% of my female friends and family fall into being victims of one of those three categories, yet to look at them, all you see is strength and that smile that hides the pain that they have endured. I'm talking more than just a bad relationship, but rapes, and molestation, and domestic violence, etc. And they may deal with their past in many ways. Some may suppress it and push on. Some may develop a profound distrust of men. Some may accept this as their fate and become allow themselves to be used in these fashions. What's even more disturbing to me is that many men approach women in these same traumatic ways without any regard to the possibility of what they may have gone through in the past (and I used to do the same thing, so I really understand how mindless it can be to come at a woman that way without thinking about the repercussions). And though we may get responses that seem positive to us, it may be that we are adding to the trauma that was placed on them during their innocence.

So I guess this is my plea to my brothers to change the game, and how we treat our women. Being a sincere gentleman (not just the gentleman that is nice until he gets some) is a small gesture that every man can do to add to the security of our women, and to support them through what they are going through. Letting our women know that we are there for them for more than just how they look or what pleasure they can provide will go a long way towards helping rebuild our social and mental bond with the female gender. Uplifting women who may have even forgotten their own self-worth could start the trend towards better dialogue and stronger relationships between both sides. Because the bottom line is...whenever you approach a woman for what may seem like playful chase, you never know what wounds you are actually in danger of re-opening.