Do not bother dismantling anti-Black or white supremacy. Rather establish opportunities for general human supremacy. Black and white color markers for right and wrong or fair and ugly is part of a heritage carried over from Europe. Powerful far impacting infrastructure, has been in place for many years to elevate white and burnish black. Don't waste time in "fighting" differentness. Rather embrace it. Embrace diversity.
Black and white is a dichotomy so steeped into the deliberations that took place at Nicene a long time ago or to a time before that. It will be like asking a repainting of God Almighty (White) and the Lucifer (Black) into other colors.
Queen Elizabeth (I) presided over a long, relatively stable and prosperous reign for 44 years. The Elizabethan era is named for her (Woody Harrelson). She expelled ‘negars and blackamoors' from Britain in 1601. Color plays an important part in the book The White Devil (Color Symbolism). Towards the end of the play, when the action moves towards the final murders, black is used more frequently to accentuate the atmosphere of evil and despair:
Francisco talks of Brachiano’s imminent death:
‘Now to the barriers.
This shall his passage to the black lake further,'
(Act 5 scene 2)
The words of a very old nursery rhyme extracted from colorism by Nadra Kareen Nittle, go as follows:
“if you’re black, stay black;
If you are brown, stick around;
If you’re yellow, you’re mellow;
If you’re white, you’re all right.
The impact of religious beliefs upon the reading of colors cannot be separated from historical influences, as world events like the crusades and colonization went hand in hand with the spread of missionaries. Symbolism associated with light and darkness was probably derived from esoteric tradition—astrology, alchemy, Gnosticism and forms of Manichaeism. In the fifth century C.E., black became the color of the devil and demons (Nederveen Pieterse, 1992).
There is a tendency of patronizing instead of actually taking time to hear other people's stories. A side (courts and police) dismisses the complaints of mistreatment of another as if the complaints never occurred. Police, government, media and schools – all with histories of overt racism, brutality, and segregation – continue to operate behind mythologies of urban danger and destruction that lead to veiled policies of discrimination locally (Robert E. Gutsche, 2012). One side preaches religions whose theology continues to paint black as fallen and white as angelic. People still think the mark of sophistication is to be street-wise or driving a car and primitivity is to be laughed at. We miss the story of the one who is said to be "primitive." One may not be street-wise but that does not mean they lack a certain sophistication which enables them to actualize in a familiar environment.
I would encourage an alternative called human supremacy for those who genuinely want to build firm bridges. It delineates its objectives and does not encourage ambivalence. This is no smiling discrimination or 'now you see it, now you don't' aspect. Exclusionary discrimination written in a code only white people know is meant to perpetuate classicism and racism (Eduardo Bonilla-Silva, 2006). The examples of coded language embodied in the World Bank and IMF deliberately keeps say, African countries subscribing to what are termed development programs. Africa up to now only has one kind of Cape Town or Johannesburg and those cities cannot be replicated in 10's or 20’s. White people talk of their European heritage with pride. Many US-born Black Americans can not counter misinformation about Africa (sensationalized by mainstream media). The news about Africa goes on and on about how it is riddled with wars, a desolate place with poverty every where. Many do not question whatsitsname media house’s legitimacy of such news. Chained by fear and lack of economic wherewithal to travel keeps blacks in their small communities. Worse, Diaspora black African-born immigrants who would have demystified given angles of the news are busy earning what they need to use to pay for subsistence. No room for conversation. Meanwhile. white people can afford to visit Oslo, Copenhagen, Athens, Rome, Florence, Stuttgart, Moscow and Edinburgh or wherever they feel they have roots frequently.
Human supremacy addresses economic, social, intellectual, cultural and technological empowerment. These are the true tools used to break barriers that stoke wistfulness and inequality. All races have places they call holiday destinations or ancestral destinations. Arabs have many places in Africa and Arabian peninsula. Asians have many in the different Asian countries. South America has very beautiful well maintained destinations. To change the image of who a black human being is will require making alliances. Likely alliances will be made with cultures that are emerging from countries such as the BRICS to bring about this. Perhaps instead of racism we proactively engage in developmentism, empowerment and emancipation. We need to start narratives where support, empowerment, building thriving communities and things that work are chronicled.
We should teach people to chronicle the things they do better, inventorying reward systems and celebrating accomplishments are aspects that need to be introduced to all communities. Mental/intellectual, social, physical and cultural preparation builds a critical mass of people who can be trained to be self sufficient. Skills are a leveler as far as race relations go. Skills promote interpersonal relations at intra and inter race levels.
To lead a quality life, we need to have good roads, good doctors, good police, job security for all employed people, good schools and we have to be able to treat our mother Earth with conscientious regard. We need to maintain the schools, our communities and empower as many people to do so. Knowing this and preparing as many black, whites, Asians, Latinos and Native Americans as possible is what matters. We need to have ladders put into wells to get those at bottom to the top. We need each other but we need to be well prepared and skilled to be marketable as well.
Free speech allows derogative language to sip through well censored platforms. Privacy too allows bigotry and subtle separatism to continue. But, we cherish free speech, privacy and sustainable communities. If we are to uphold privacy, we need to empower as many people to enjoy their private homes. Free speech, privacy have a third sister who is sustainable communities. People who are empowered will be able to live in sustainable and thriving communities.
After 5, 10, 70, 80, 90, 100 years we shall be dead. We need to lead productive lives and not be bogged down by a naughtiness to always load it over those who are different from us.
References:
Color symbolism. Retrieved from: http://crossref-it.info/textguide/the-white-devil/32/2243. Retrieved on July 2016.
Eduardo Bonilla-Silva. 2006. Racism without Racists. Rowman & Littlefield Publishers Inc.
Nadra Kareem Nittle. Race Relations Expert. Retrieved from: http://racerelations.about.com/bio/Nadra-Kareem-Nittle-60956.htm. Retrieved on July 20th 2016.
Nederveen Pieterse 1992 Jan Nederveen Pieterse. White on Black: Images of Africa and Blacks in Western Popular Culture. New Haven: Yale University Press.
Woody Harrelson. Queen Elizabeth I: Biography. Retrieved from: http://www.biography.com/people/queen-elizabeth-i-9286133. Retrieved on July 22nd 2016.
Robert E. Gutsche. 2012. “This Ain’t the Ghetto”: Diaspora, Discourse, and Dealing with “Iowa Nice.” Retrieved from: http://ir.uiowa.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1140&context=poroi. Retrieved on July 20th 2016.
