11.04.2009

Response

Recently, on a post that I wrote about the current Alicia/Beatz scandal, follow the link to read that post and the comments on it, Dear Alicia.There was ONE particular comment that I wanted to address with an entire post. I felt, at the time that it was too much to address, there were so many ignorant assumptions and blasphemies, that I knew it would take me a while to get my thoughts together. So here I am, ready to go in on this chick. I already had some other people comment, and they did a pretty good job. Some people may wonder, why I didn't just delete the comment, however, if you read my 'side note' you will see that I don't believe in over-zealous censorship, especially when it can spark a intellectual conversation. Even though homegirl's response was just plain dumb, it also exemplifies, the racism and stupidity that is still prevalent in our society. We should use this as a point to educate her and others that think like her. She was
being honest with her thoughts; meaning that she actually believes what she wrote is true,even though she was also being cowardly too.

So with my response, even some of you who, may disagree with her response, will probably disagree with my response to her comments. I ask that you, first, try to engage in what I am writing with an open mind and also do your best to educate yourself about issues that might be foreign to you.

First, race. Race was the main point in which Anonymous(#2) decided to address. We need to understand that NO ONE, can fully comprehend race, it is too difficult a subject to decihpher. Race is a CONSTRUCTED identity. One that was INVENTED. It is not a natural concept. White European colonizers divided people up according to cranium size, and visual aspects. There is no secret that people on this earth look differently. However, who says that race means what people look like? Race in its purest definition, simply means, a group of people. A RACE of people with big feet, a RACE of obsese people, etc. Why are our minds constantly wrapped around a subject that was carelessly and recklessly invented by some of the greatest idiots of our time.

This is not to say that we should ignore that we all have some type of connection with people who look the same as us. If we look at a group of people who we have never seen before we will automatically look for fimilarity. "Oh, I'm black, so is she, yay!" We do it all the time. Also, we look for differences between ourselves and others. "I'm black, she's black, but I'm light skinned and she's dark skinned." Yes, we do that too. It all depends on the situation we're in. If we feel we are in a position of power, we will differenitiate ourselves, this is just what colonizers did, they were/are in a position of power and wanted to keep and maintain that power, by any means necessary. So, they differentiated themselves from people who they deemed were different from them. Just the same, when people feel they are NOT in a position of power, they will try to create common ground. As people who are currently NOT in a position of power, ALL minorities, we need to try to create some common ground.

As corny as it sounds, we are all the same at the most basic level. We all feel, think, etc. We need to stop trying to differentiate ourselves by visual, meaningless ways.

I cannot address the general assumptions made by the commenter, as we should all know how untrue they are. I can address, however, the foolishness of making generalized statements. In ANY way, generalized statements about ANY population are a doozy. Just like it would be dumb to say, "all black people are loud", its the same to say, "all men cheat". You don't know ALL men, you don't know ALL black people, so how can you judge or make biases on them. You don't even know a fraction of ANY population. We also need to understand that even statitics are made to be damaging to certain populations and stay in line with the status quo.

Also, it is unfair to compare one population to another. Our cultures and belief systems are most likely different and you cannot use a measuring stick for one set of people for another, your measurements won't line up.

The end.

No comments:

Post a Comment

leave it here.