So, the fact that it is so nonchalant that, unlike the other First Ladies, Michelle Obama can so effortlessly be genetically tied to an escaped gorilla tells me that race still matters, and humanity has a long, long way to go. And even though big money has hijacked our political system, this goes beyond lobbyists. The idea of the one and only human race is a great idea, and it often works very well in theory or in some sort of a genetic catch 22. When JimBob needs a liver, it wont matter from whom that liver is supplied by, welfare liver, Black liver, Chinese liver, India liver, liberal liver, socialist liver, atheist liver, gay liver and so on. As my father is always quick to point out, color and race are strictly political, and they are. But, politics have everything to do with everything. And in the real world of capitalism, struggle, and most importantly power, humanity takes a backseat in a hurry. Hell, most times common sense and decency/a conscious will also take a backseat in a hurry. Because, the lust and the distribution of power has nothing to do with being a part of humanity, but it has everything to do with humanity being a part of the world we have always lived in, and politics are no different. This is the main reason why I no longer subscribe to organized religion, because this fickle idea that people are going to cut each others throats in life to preserve their status quo through the denial of others, but will magically emerge from all of that in a post-racial, humanity based heaven where we will all finally realize how to love each other, even though that realization was something we already knew and understood here in regular, old life is plastic to me. So regardless of how foundationless one color or one group being pitted against another often proves to be, it keeps on happening because of the ideology of who should or should not have power or be allowed to attain it and the systematic schemes designed to orchestrate that plan. The belief that the quote, unquote “rich and powerful” have every desire to separate themselves from the poor and the powerless/less powerful runs hand in hand with the belief that a White complexion/light complexion is the gold standard of good and desirability, while a Black complexion/dark complexion is the rust standard of bad and undesirability, as the need to separate the quote, unquote “good from the bad” is imbedded deeply in all of this, with humanity trumped by the capitalist hierarchy of: We are better than them, I am better than you, he is better than her, straight is better than gay, rich is better than poor, tall is better than short, blue eyes are better than brown eyes, skinny is better than fat, employed is better than unemployed, insured is better than uninsured, intelligence is better ignorance – even involuntary ignorance, athletes are better band members, celebrities are better than non-celebrities, Christians are better than non-Christians – which includes atheists, Muslims, Buddhists all others, young is better than old, beauty is better than less beauty or whatever is deemed to be ugly, winners are better than losers, America is better everything, quote, unquote “real Americans” are better than Americans by default, the coasts are better than fly-over states, blue states are better than red states, red states are better than blue states, gun lovers are better than pacifists, the mega-church is better than the little church, White is better than Black, Brown and so, and most importantly, my God can whip your God! People, along with the institutionalized systems of our society, will spend a lifetime trying to position their interests into being on the right side/good side of that better than equation. I would argue you that we spend more time with that better than desire than we will ever spend appreciating our humanity, especially in politics –which is just as shallow as these superficial values most of us do not assign, but simply buy into. Even if there is an ideology that you don’t buy into, let’s say racism or fascism. If that ideology is so well ingrained institutionally, systematically, and societally that it totally effects your life, whether you believe in or subscribe to that ideology or whether you do not, your reactions to the power that has been attributed to that ideology will be virtually the same as the person who has subscribed to it, because the same specifically designed barriers lined up in front of the person who believes will be the same barriers lined up in front of you. And it is human nature to fight against the better than equation values and privileges when you have been unceremoniously drafted onto the wrong side of that equation through no fault of your own. So whether you fight to get on the right side of the equation, or you fight to destroy the manufactured power given to the equation, you will still fight the same opponent that only has one goal, and that goal is to make sure that tomorrow is exactly like today, where they are up and you and me are still trying to figure it all out while we jockey each other for the last position on the good side of the better than equation. And regardless of who wins, neither of us will make any real progress, but one of us will be able to pacify ourselves and our enablers by holding up a paper trophy that reads: “I am better than!” Sybille Williams Dubois, Julie Kindle Driscoll, Rita L. Bryant, Shannon Kern, Frederick Jackson, Heather Barclay, Gene Revoner, Cathy McCollum, Natalya Wolf
Posted on: Sun, 09 Nov 2014 20:49:04 +0000
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