The Way Forward
Rob us of this power! Break the psychic chains! This may be news to you, but you can choose your thoughts. Remember your thoughts last time you heard a slur against you. You were probably angry. You probably recalled other times when this happened to you or to your friend and family. For example, a black person might have heard something racist and thought, “What a filthy racist! Whites like that have always been oppressing us! We haven’t had a chance since we were enslaved and brought over here. Since we were ‘freed,’ we’ve not had Civil Rights, justice in the courts or the same chance at jobs; the police are always hassling us, just like Rodney King. Just like at Tuskegee, we’re just animals for them to experiment on.” If you think this, you’ll experience anger and hopelessness. You will have rage against your hateful master. And you are playing exactly into the hands of the white oppressors. You are rehearsing and thus reinforcing the very thoughts you hate, impotent thoughts, weak thoughts, uncontrolled thoughts.
Imagine if the black person instead thought, “Poor ignorant person. I forgive him because he probably doesn’t know how rich my culture really is and what heroes have come from it; if only he knew of the courage of MLK, or the ingenuity of George Washington Carver, or the tenacity of Fredrick Douglass. I hope that I can be more like them, and that we as a race can follow their examples.” If you think this, you’ll experience peace and hope. You’ll have pity towards one inferior in morals and knowledge. By forgiving the bigot, you’ve defeated him. Your thoughts are directed inwardly on self-improvement, and you might use the insult as a reminder to grow. If you are able to direct your thoughts away from rage toward forgiveness, you will utterly turn the designs of your enemies on their head.
It is politically expedient to be so vulnerable, at least in the short term. Using the sympathy of good people as a weapon is effective. By putting your throat deeper under the boot of your oppressor, you can gain sympathy (Kobe) and even defeat enemies (Alexandra). But at what cost? At the cost of having your throat truly under your oppressor’s boot.
A person will never be free until her mind is free. And minorities have been persuaded that freedom of the mind, the freedom to laugh at the racist, to smile at chauvinism, to snicker at homophobes is impossible. But this is a lie. Break the psychic chains. Spit out the poison of revenge and forgive. Clean out the festering wound of un-forgiveness and let it heal. Throw down the whip with which you torture yourself. Though it will cost short-term political leverage, roll out from under the oppressor’s boot. Tear control of your mind away from the Illusionists who have cast a spell on you convinced you that you are powerless! Then, perhaps, we might be a step closer to the vision of Dr. King: “Free at last! Free at last! Thank God Almighty, we are free at last!”
Hate is just as injurious to the person who hates. Like an unchecked cancer, hate corrodes the personality and eats away its vital unity.
There will be no permanent solution to the, race problem until oppressed men develop the capacity to love their enemies. The darkness of racial injustice will be dispelled only by the light of forgiving love.
Forgiveness is not an occasional act, it is a constant attitude.
Forgiveness does not change the past, but it does enlarge the future.
Forgiveness means letting go of the past.
Forgiving and being reconciled to our enemies or our loved ones are not about pretending that things are other than they are. It is not about patting one another on the back and turning a blind eye to the wrong. True reconciliation exposes the awfulness, the abuse, the hurt, the truth. It could even sometimes make things worse. It is a risky undertaking but in the end it is worthwhile, because in the end only an honest confrontation with reality can bring real healing. Superficial reconciliation can bring only superficial healing
Forgiving is not forgetting; its actually remembering--remembering and not using your right to hit back. Its a second chance for a new beginning. And the remembering part is particularly important. Especially if you dont want to repeat what happened.
Supporting Nelson Mandela Quotations
Men of peace must not think about retribution or recriminations. Courageous people do not fear forgiving, for the sake of peace.
When I was walking out of my compound for the last time, I said to myself, they've had you 27 years. If you hate them when you get through that door, they will still have you. I wanted to be free, and so I let it go. - Nelson Mandela (as reported by Bill Clinton)
Imagine if the black person instead thought, “Poor ignorant person. I forgive him because he probably doesn’t know how rich my culture really is and what heroes have come from it; if only he knew of the courage of MLK, or the ingenuity of George Washington Carver, or the tenacity of Fredrick Douglass. I hope that I can be more like them, and that we as a race can follow their examples.” If you think this, you’ll experience peace and hope. You’ll have pity towards one inferior in morals and knowledge. By forgiving the bigot, you’ve defeated him. Your thoughts are directed inwardly on self-improvement, and you might use the insult as a reminder to grow. If you are able to direct your thoughts away from rage toward forgiveness, you will utterly turn the designs of your enemies on their head.
It is politically expedient to be so vulnerable, at least in the short term. Using the sympathy of good people as a weapon is effective. By putting your throat deeper under the boot of your oppressor, you can gain sympathy (Kobe) and even defeat enemies (Alexandra). But at what cost? At the cost of having your throat truly under your oppressor’s boot.
A person will never be free until her mind is free. And minorities have been persuaded that freedom of the mind, the freedom to laugh at the racist, to smile at chauvinism, to snicker at homophobes is impossible. But this is a lie. Break the psychic chains. Spit out the poison of revenge and forgive. Clean out the festering wound of un-forgiveness and let it heal. Throw down the whip with which you torture yourself. Though it will cost short-term political leverage, roll out from under the oppressor’s boot. Tear control of your mind away from the Illusionists who have cast a spell on you convinced you that you are powerless! Then, perhaps, we might be a step closer to the vision of Dr. King: “Free at last! Free at last! Thank God Almighty, we are free at last!”
Supporting Martin Luther King Jr. Quotations
How do we love our enemies? First, we must develop and maintain the capacity to forgive...Second, we must recognize that the evil deed of the enemy-neighbor, the thing that hurts, never quite expresses all that he is...Third, we must not seek to defeat or humiliate the enemy but to win his friendship and understanding.Hate is just as injurious to the person who hates. Like an unchecked cancer, hate corrodes the personality and eats away its vital unity.
There will be no permanent solution to the, race problem until oppressed men develop the capacity to love their enemies. The darkness of racial injustice will be dispelled only by the light of forgiving love.
Forgiveness is not an occasional act, it is a constant attitude.
Supporting Desmond Tutu Quotations
Without forgiveness, there's no future.Forgiveness does not change the past, but it does enlarge the future.
Forgiveness means letting go of the past.
Forgiving and being reconciled to our enemies or our loved ones are not about pretending that things are other than they are. It is not about patting one another on the back and turning a blind eye to the wrong. True reconciliation exposes the awfulness, the abuse, the hurt, the truth. It could even sometimes make things worse. It is a risky undertaking but in the end it is worthwhile, because in the end only an honest confrontation with reality can bring real healing. Superficial reconciliation can bring only superficial healing
Forgiving is not forgetting; its actually remembering--remembering and not using your right to hit back. Its a second chance for a new beginning. And the remembering part is particularly important. Especially if you dont want to repeat what happened.
Supporting Nelson Mandela Quotations
If there are dreams about a beautiful South Africa, there are also roads that lead to their goal. Two of these roads could be named Goodness and Forgiveness.
Men of peace must not think about retribution or recriminations. Courageous people do not fear forgiving, for the sake of peace.
When I was walking out of my compound for the last time, I said to myself, they've had you 27 years. If you hate them when you get through that door, they will still have you. I wanted to be free, and so I let it go. - Nelson Mandela (as reported by Bill Clinton)
I find it a poor use of Dr. Martin Luther King's quote in the end of your comment--King would have most certainly disagreed with your comments. The very words you speak of are the casual, easy, and cheerful words a straight, white man would use: stop complaining because it's all in your head!
ReplyDeleteIndeed that's the mentality that enforcers of many racist laws have espoused: things right now are good enough for minorities, so why should you complain? Think of how egalitarian things are now!
That smacks against everything the activist believes in. The activist stands for the minority in a world which desires to bury the sins of the past and continue on in blissful ignorance of past atrocities. The great tragedy of history is that we are doomed to repeat it. The activist thus believes we should break this cycle and never again allow the majority to trample upon the rights and humanity of the minority. It is only with the repeated reliving of the inhuman tragedies surrounding the Holocaust that all of mankind thinks twice about genocide. When we think of Anne Frank and all the untold suffering the Jewish people had to endure, we cannot possibly utter another senseless joke about concentration camps or crematoriums.
Our battle cry is "never again!" We are a proud people, stronger than what you have made us endure, but we will never let the world forget the sacrifice of generations past. Smiling at chauvinism or snickering at homophobia is pointless--it only convinces the oppressor that he is right. We must make them feel a deep sense of shame that THIS IS NOT RIGHT. Only then will the world unite in a true egalitarian society.
David, I believe your motives are good, but this is a most disturbing commentary, one that only someone who has never endured this level of persecution can provide. Only if you understand the plight of the oppressed will you truly be able to write such a preachy argument.
Perhaps a better MLK quote is: "A riot is at the bottom of the language of the unheard."
"King would have most certainly disagreed with your comments."
ReplyDeleteWell I thought that he wanted black people to be free. If he saw that the black people were not free because of a state of mind, I think he'd favor abolishing that state of mind.
"The very words you speak of are the casual, easy, and cheerful words a straight, white man would use"
Good! You've correctly identified the tone I tried to set for this article. And, incidentally, also my sex and race. I'm not sure why an author's race is relevant to the arguments he's making (unless you're suggesting that we *should* be racist when evaluating arguments).
"We must make them feel a deep sense of shame that THIS IS NOT RIGHT"
That's a valid strategy, but has it worked? You've made a lot of progress getting people who aren't racially sensitive off TV, but has this strategy freed minorities or persuaded racists to stop being racist? Do you really think guilt has the power to transform a society and create harmony? You are just rewarding shame for shame and fueling resentment.
"this is a most disturbing commentary"
Good! I like superlatives! It means I have got you thinking (or at least feeling)!
"Only if you understand the plight of the oppressed will you truly be able to write such a preachy argument."
Despite a lot of assertions, I haven't heard you attack any of my arguments. You've given me many platitudes and slogans, but you haven't given me an argument. You've psycho-socio-gendero-logically analyzed why I argued what I did, but you haven't given me an argument. You've correctly identified my race, but haven't even argued that I could never understand. Even this sentence is a conditional: "if you understand". I think I do understand. If you think I don't understand, tell me why.
I don't want to hear that my skin color is wrong. Tell me where my argument is wrong. If you want an egalitarian society, then you'll need to start judging the content of character of people and arguments, not just skin colors.
(Part 2)
ReplyDelete"Good! I like superlatives! It means I have got you thinking (or at least feeling)!"
A most, not THE most :/
"Despite a lot of assertions, I haven't heard you attack any of my arguments. You've given me many platitudes and slogans, but you haven't given me an argument. You've psycho-socio-gendero-logically analyzed why I argued what I did, but you haven't given me an argument. You've correctly identified my race, but haven't even argued that I could never understand. Even this sentence is a conditional: "if you understand". I think I do understand. If you think I don't understand, tell me why."
Ummm, I believe your single argument is that all minorities are being "wizarded" into thinking racism exists and is hurtful, and with that generalization (where are your numbers and examples?) I found it hard to make arguments of my own other than in your own general sense. Also, I find it hilarious that you claim I'm full of platitudes and slogans, because you're busy weaving a cute story about wizards and magic... My previous empirical examples good enough for you now?
And as for why I don't think you can understand, it's because your language belies the attitude of someone who isn't offended, who hasn't been angered by the cruelty of a system which judges and puts one down based on how they look, talk, or live their lives. You haven't grown up in a world that makes fun of you for the way you look, laughs on national TV about how you talk, or makes sweeping generalizations about your parents belonging to a lower social class just because of your skin color. Furthermore, these assumptions people have about you affects your ability to access higher education and jobs, stands in the way of who you can love and marry (both by racial and sexual standards), and ultimately determines how people treat you even when they don't know you. Please give me your examples of feeling and being oppressed in your life and I can let you know if they match up to what life is like growing up in America as a minority. If I may give an analogy, it is of someone who has no children trying to tell a pregnant woman in labor that it isn't that painful.
"I don't want to hear that my skin color is wrong. Tell me where my argument is wrong. If you want an egalitarian society, then you'll need to start judging the content of character of people and arguments, not just skin colors."
Your skin color is not wrong (if you think this is some bizarre reverse racism thing, please rethink... for some reason, many people think any recognition of the difference between people is "racism"--that's a common tactic people like Limbaugh or Beck use to squash discourse on race issues). Your skin color just makes it difficult for you to understand what someone of my skin color goes through. And I've given you some examples in an attempt to address your own vague arguments. I want an egalitarian society, but it doesn't begin with you telling me that I'm racist for pointing out that people are indeed different, and their differing experiences are indeed often decided by that race. I'm giving you the opportunity to lay down your own personal cards and see if they match up to what we feel.
(Part 1)
ReplyDelete"Well I thought that he wanted black people to be free. If he saw that the black people were not free because of a state of mind, I think he'd favor abolishing that state of mind."
But freedom of the mind is not true freedom. It may be from a personal experiential perspective, but if that doesn't change the mindset of the oppressor, that hasn't changed anything. Did taking the high road to nonviolence stop the Southern racists from burning black churches and burning children alive? Change must come from both fronts, and King would argue that he wants blacks to fight for a world where there are no more racists, not a world where blacks don't care about racists.
"Good! You've correctly identified the tone I tried to set for this article. And, incidentally, also my sex and race. I'm not sure why an author's race is relevant to the arguments he's making (unless you're suggesting that we *should* be racist when evaluating arguments)."
I'm saying that it's easy for someone to make "take the high road" comments if they've never experienced racism and the hurt it can cause. I take issue with the "chill out" part of your title because you're trivializing just how serious the issue really is.
"That's a valid strategy, but has it worked? You've made a lot of progress getting people who aren't racially sensitive off TV, but has this strategy freed minorities or persuaded racists to stop being racist? Do you really think guilt has the power to transform a society and create harmony? You are just rewarding shame for shame and fueling resentment."
I gave you the example of the Holocaust. When you never let the oppressor forget, the world will change its mentality. Shame worked in making Adolph Hitler the most hated, revolting character in human history. Never mind the fact that Stalin killed more of his own people or that other men in history have committed grislier and more horrifying acts of cruelty to fellow humans, Hitler has been made the example of why racism and tyranny by majority must never rise again. In fact, Germany to this day considers these acts among the greatest of national humiliations--even video games and TV shows in Germany have stronger restrictions on Nazi glorification than any other country (other than perhaps Israel). In the process, so much peace and forward progress has been established--the US has entire divisions within the Dept of Justice and Human Services dedicated to ensuring this won't happen in our country. You want other examples? Try the Freedom Riders and Counter Sit-Ins (the brutality poured on those activists, both black and white, by Southerners, changed the heart of the TV-watching generation). Try the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (went against everything people said about civil rights being quiet and taking the high road--they went to protest!). Try Mandela and South African Apartheid (his imprisonment and torture shamed the world into questioning both their trade relationships with South Africa while looking back at their own nations' race policies). Without minorities standing up in outrage, we would not have had Brown v. Board of Education, Loving v. Virginia, and Woo vs. Lockyer. This country, and indeed the world, would be a very different place if we asked our minorities to simply "take the high road" and get over the supposed injustices taking place in their heads. Will there always be rabid extremists who lash out in anger? Absolutely. I'm not so idealistic to believe that there will be a truly race-blind society. That said, I think we can do much better, and staying quiet is not the way.
You seem to be under the impression that my thoughts are out of line with people like Martin Luther King and Nelson Mandela. My major contention here is not, "Minorities: be quiet!" but "Minorities: forgive!" To bolster my case, I've added to the article text itself several quotations from notable people in this same fight. Before you challenged me with that list of people who'd disagree with me, I had no idea how much that would have helped my case.
ReplyDelete"And as for why I don't think you can understand, it's because your language belies the attitude of someone who isn't offended"
Must every doctor have been afflicted with every disease he treats? Must the psychiatrist be a schizophrenic to treat schizophrenia? I don't need to be afflicted by racism to give advice on how to not be afflicted.
"If I may give an analogy, it is of someone who has no children trying to tell a pregnant woman in labor that it isn't that painful."
I'm not saying that it's not painful! I'm saying that there are ways to deal with the pain that don't turn septic. I'm telling the pregnant woman that she should probably push out the placenta after giving birth because if she doesn't, it's going to get infected and be a lot worse for her.
"I'm saying that it's easy for someone to make "take the high road" comments if they've never experienced racism and the hurt it can cause."
You pretend like you're not a racist. But comments like these repeat. My personal experience is irrelevant to the validity of my proposed solution. You're not hearing me because of the experiences that came of my skin color. So go ahead and ignore me because I lived a white life. But please do listen to King and Tutu and Mandela (quoted above).
"Did taking the high road to nonviolence stop the Southern racists from burning black churches and burning children alive?"
Yes! It did! The road I am talking about is King's road. Forgive them! King's nonviolent strategy was founded first and foremost on the mental state which I am here advocating.
ANON - "Shame worked in making Adolph Hitler the most hated, revolting character in human history."
MLK - "we must not seek to defeat or humiliate the enemy but to win his friendship and understanding."
German racists will not be stopped by laws against hate-speech. Just look at what is happening to Europe right now with respect to Muslims. Law will not make us Good.
"...Germany have stronger restrictions on Nazi glorification...so much peace and forward progress has been established--the US has entire divisions within the Dept of Justice and Human Services dedicated to ensuring this won't happen in our country."
Can the DoJ teach us love? Can German censors correct the heart of their racists? These measures are doing little to address real racism and hatred. Forgiveness and reconciliation is the way to teach love. And the government can't do that by itself.
ANON - "You want other examples? Try the Freedom Riders and Counter Sit-Ins ... the Southern Christian Leadership Conference ...Mandela and South African Apartheid."
I'm fairly sure these guys are on my side. Reread MLK's sermon written from a Montgomery jail: http://bit.ly/mqgavV and the above quotes.
"That said, I think we can do much better, and staying quiet is not the way."
You have completely misunderstood me. Because a person has inner peace does not mean that he cannot act against it. My major contention is: forgive racists.
I'll conclude with a parting piece of advice by Desmond Tutu (who I have really enjoyed reading in preparation for this comment): "Be nice to whites, they need you to rediscover their humanity."