Those who have been in intimate company with me know the intricacies of my conclusion that the US is a nutty place to live. It is ceaselessly astonishing to me that this daring land of the We the..free, should still be today -despite a litany of admirable efforts and results consistent with 'the dream'- so obstinately shackled in old societal clashes of race, gender, and gun violence at the near 50% dividing line in the population! And - that the sluggish transcendence of these issues seem to go unnoticed as harbingers to our pervading inequalities in health and education, that would nurture a more autonomously creative society truly free to pursue that so-called right to happiness without these mind-reducing and soul-crushing tensions.
But - to the matter of this persisting social construct of 'race' in this our 'Black History Month' - it is a rather inadequate recognition and inspires far less reverence in me than say a Date of Remembrance or any single historical event. I therefore rarely arrive at an answer that satisfies, because it is to me - the absence of this specially named month that might remove the stigma of "Black" as something that is the victimized "Other" and still in need of special recognition.
Some words by James Baldwin (guest of honor at the National Press Club [CSPAN 1986]) serve for me as the best summary of the urgency of this absurdity. Drag the player to listen [from 38.16 - 40:50] where he answers questions on race relations in America today... "A modest proposal: How about White History Week?!"
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Yes. Change,...in modern history, is certainly here, but so hypocritically welcomed that it appears as a hallucination of ironies at best. Note that in researching for this post, I found a bare few reports from any of the world news orgs on the Black Pope headliner...but much more on the international political vying over which country the next Pope will come from. Yeah - so much for separation of Church and State... This paired with premature news fodder on who will be the 1st Woman President of the United States. Could it be Michelle Obama who is both black AND a woman?! And on that matter - as we head towards the next Women's History Month - dare we dream that:
1) the leading religions - the heirachal power structures between Man and God that have rewritten a lot of history (ironically)in the name or preservation of God's kingdom - may consider allowing Women to participate, and lead...too?
2) the two most powerful imperial entities -America and the Vatican- will disabuse their delusional right of power over the natural, social, and spiritual worlds and allow equality and validity of all existence?
THIS could eradicate the need for a month of head patting!
I indeed understand how the necessity these special History Months came about, I just wish we no longer had need for them. The growing up simply isn't happening fast enough for me I guess...
Suffice it to say - this month I celebrated nothing. But I did find James Baldwin.
Children have never been very good at listening to their elders, but they have never failed to imitate them.
~ James A. Baldwin
PAST RELATED POSTS:
A Response to Dispatches from (A)MENDED America (December 2008)
What it means to PRIORITIZE!!! (March 2009)
"Why Do You Talk So White?!!" - (Uh oh - it's a race rant...) (March 2012)
