There is something I think is far too often overlooked in the current debates about racial justic and institutional privilege. Social norms and cultural beliefs are just as real as the brains that hold them and the thoughts, speech and actions of each of those human actors. Moreso, when we talk about any sort of collective thought, speech or action we are necessarily calling on some sort of shared cultural narrative and that narrative is a monomythical construct with as much independent power as it is given by its creators, the collective. So when we talk about racism, were talking about a particular facet of that monomythical construct. In reference to that construct and its conspirators, race is a real thing. So when we confront racism, when we talk about it at all, we have to take the reality of race as a given and work our way FROM there TO the more universal, transcultural narrative of our inherent unicity, oneness. We have to be careful to draw a clear line between PREJUDICE and RACISM. The prior is something everyone experiences in some form, the basic understanding that humans try to hold on to data they deem true to prevent having to think about it at the next encounter, hence stereotyping, profiling of all sorts, religious hatred, etc. The latter, racism, is a sociocultural construct of a hierarchy of racial worth embedded in the beliefs and institutions of that culture/society. This is why there is no such thing as reverse racism, since the pattern of hierarchy is unidirectional. So, in a very real sense, there are many uss and thems in our society and to recognize those distinctions, form a dialogue on their nature and then cocreate a vision for transmuting that narrative into something more sacred is the highest path to Justice. This goes for any angle at which we confront this: gender, class, religion, hair color, fashion style, etc. Ill leave you with this quote by C.G. Jung: There is no coming to consciousness without pain. People will do anything, no matter how absurd, in order to avoid facing their own Soul. One does not become enlightened by imagining figures of light, but by making the darkness conscious.
Posted on: Sun, 28 Dec 2014 20:26:08 +0000
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