"Our" race? Please define same. Though we all are descended from sub-Saharan West African territories, there are likely countless cultures (not to mention lost languages) lumped into one category. There is no unbroken cultural tradition, but rather bits and pieces, if that, combined yet unidentifiable no matter whether we use that as a starting point, or invent some Kwanzaa assumption of a common starting point, which, in all practical terms, is embarking on a fool's errand.
This attempt would of course be further complicated by acknowledging other units among the African diaspora, such as Puerto Rican, Haitian, Cuban, Jamaican, Mozambican peoples scattered about, so variegated that finding a common thread beyond skincolor and facial features would be impossible. Not even African religions survived the transplantation and reordering that slavery imposed.
Apart from characteristics imposed by DNA, what about the differing cultural imperatives developed over that timespan? In the USA alone, such traditions separate groups culturally and by manner of tradition and amalgamation with white society. Blacks born and reared in Boston may be visually the same as blacks from Birmingham or New Orleans, and have suffered most of the same societal handicaps, but the similarity pretty much ends there, though we are united in our common struggle for equality, respect and opportunity. What do blacks in East St. Louis have in common with the blacks on Carolinas' outer banks, who comprise the Gullah speech patterns and habits? Time, distance and external influences work against the sort of unity the question seemingly seeks to establish; a noble idea nullified by history as lived.
Is this pouring cold water on a well-meant idea? Or simply facing facts? Blacks in the New World form a charming crazy quilt of cultures and outlooks, but commonality sufficient to gratify any quest such as the one envisioned is bound to founder on the shores of reality. Unless my personal vision is so befuddled by noticing the incongruities and differences of time and place that my perspective is inapplicable to the central question. I leave that to the originators of this "Losing Our Race" idea to decide. While doing this (if it is possible), consider a parallel quest: Taking stock of the myriad cultural and appearance differences visible among whites, from Moscow to London to Paris, to Madrid to Ukraine. Guard against navel gazing. Broaden your scope. Prepare to be awed by what you find. Then adjust the parameters of your proposition and re-state it, or narrow it, or somehow make it an attainable quest.
And avoid assumtions of racial purity of any sort. "Our" DNA is spread far and wide, even among those who do not take us into account when speaking of their ancestry. And vice versa. You may not see the task as undoing a Gordian Knot, but that's what it actually is. Behold the two strains of the Thomas Jefferson family, one claiming to be wholly white, the other to be a blend of white & black, thanks to the bond between Thomas and Sally Hemings. This is seen on many Tuesday evenings when "Finding Your Roots" is telecast, to the surprise of many of the show's guests who learn more about themselves and their family lineages than they arrived prepared to understand.
Which reminds me of a magazine article I read in 1949 in a popular magazine raising an alarm with the headline, "20,000 Negroes Disappear Annually," or words to that effect. Statistics showed they did not die or emigrate, yet were no longer around to count their presence. Explanation: They were blacks who simply stepped across the color line (being white-looking enough to succeed at it), and never looked back. Their black genes, though overwhelmed by white genes, course through the veins of many whites without their knowing it. Lines blur. Fate confounds us, and carried to the ultimate of searching, must be disregarded, or the entire quest founders. Face it: Race is an ephemeral construct invented to explain away evident biological and political truths. Hardly a basis on which to set forth any such study that assumes a rational, scientific starting point. I await your findings. which presumably are the basis for your quest.
Exasperating, isn't it? Nature's laws always outweigh man's rules and many of man's suppositions.
Isn't it time we dropped this nonsense that "blacks" can "pass for white"? The people you describe are whites who wisely decided to stop the self-policing necessary to maintain the "one drop" myth (which has always been honored more in the breech than the observance). Rather, we should ask why black and black-identified American intellectuals are obsessed with finding "black blood" or African DNA in white people. Most Americans of all "races" would agree that the extremely high black crime rate is their major social problem. Too many black intellectuals, however, would rather search for "black blood" in famous white people or denounce people for "passing" for what they really are.
You put a lot more detail than I did in my similar comment in the other thread, but I would also note that true Africans have many more distinctions. Even very cultured Americans are likely to be lost at the distinction between Amhara and Tigrayan, but clearly the Amhara and the Tigrayans think it's meaningful.
Sir, your words leave me wordless. Because I have seldom met a piece of thought that I could so fully and wholeheartedly embrace -- and which lifted my heart. Because if this kind of articulated and deeply humane thought is possible, on the issues that most divide us now, then there is hope for the world.
"Our" race? Please define same. Though we all are descended from sub-Saharan West African territories, there are likely countless cultures (not to mention lost languages) lumped into one category. There is no unbroken cultural tradition, but rather bits and pieces, if that, combined yet unidentifiable no matter whether we use that as a starting point, or invent some Kwanzaa assumption of a common starting point, which, in all practical terms, is embarking on a fool's errand.
This attempt would of course be further complicated by acknowledging other units among the African diaspora, such as Puerto Rican, Haitian, Cuban, Jamaican, Mozambican peoples scattered about, so variegated that finding a common thread beyond skincolor and facial features would be impossible. Not even African religions survived the transplantation and reordering that slavery imposed.
Apart from characteristics imposed by DNA, what about the differing cultural imperatives developed over that timespan? In the USA alone, such traditions separate groups culturally and by manner of tradition and amalgamation with white society. Blacks born and reared in Boston may be visually the same as blacks from Birmingham or New Orleans, and have suffered most of the same societal handicaps, but the similarity pretty much ends there, though we are united in our common struggle for equality, respect and opportunity. What do blacks in East St. Louis have in common with the blacks on Carolinas' outer banks, who comprise the Gullah speech patterns and habits? Time, distance and external influences work against the sort of unity the question seemingly seeks to establish; a noble idea nullified by history as lived.
Is this pouring cold water on a well-meant idea? Or simply facing facts? Blacks in the New World form a charming crazy quilt of cultures and outlooks, but commonality sufficient to gratify any quest such as the one envisioned is bound to founder on the shores of reality. Unless my personal vision is so befuddled by noticing the incongruities and differences of time and place that my perspective is inapplicable to the central question. I leave that to the originators of this "Losing Our Race" idea to decide. While doing this (if it is possible), consider a parallel quest: Taking stock of the myriad cultural and appearance differences visible among whites, from Moscow to London to Paris, to Madrid to Ukraine. Guard against navel gazing. Broaden your scope. Prepare to be awed by what you find. Then adjust the parameters of your proposition and re-state it, or narrow it, or somehow make it an attainable quest.
And avoid assumtions of racial purity of any sort. "Our" DNA is spread far and wide, even among those who do not take us into account when speaking of their ancestry. And vice versa. You may not see the task as undoing a Gordian Knot, but that's what it actually is. Behold the two strains of the Thomas Jefferson family, one claiming to be wholly white, the other to be a blend of white & black, thanks to the bond between Thomas and Sally Hemings. This is seen on many Tuesday evenings when "Finding Your Roots" is telecast, to the surprise of many of the show's guests who learn more about themselves and their family lineages than they arrived prepared to understand.
Which reminds me of a magazine article I read in 1949 in a popular magazine raising an alarm with the headline, "20,000 Negroes Disappear Annually," or words to that effect. Statistics showed they did not die or emigrate, yet were no longer around to count their presence. Explanation: They were blacks who simply stepped across the color line (being white-looking enough to succeed at it), and never looked back. Their black genes, though overwhelmed by white genes, course through the veins of many whites without their knowing it. Lines blur. Fate confounds us, and carried to the ultimate of searching, must be disregarded, or the entire quest founders. Face it: Race is an ephemeral construct invented to explain away evident biological and political truths. Hardly a basis on which to set forth any such study that assumes a rational, scientific starting point. I await your findings. which presumably are the basis for your quest.
Exasperating, isn't it? Nature's laws always outweigh man's rules and many of man's suppositions.
Ted Manuel TedZ.Manuel@gmail.com
Isn't it time we dropped this nonsense that "blacks" can "pass for white"? The people you describe are whites who wisely decided to stop the self-policing necessary to maintain the "one drop" myth (which has always been honored more in the breech than the observance). Rather, we should ask why black and black-identified American intellectuals are obsessed with finding "black blood" or African DNA in white people. Most Americans of all "races" would agree that the extremely high black crime rate is their major social problem. Too many black intellectuals, however, would rather search for "black blood" in famous white people or denounce people for "passing" for what they really are.
https://www.amazon.com/Passing-Who-You-Really-Are-ebook/dp/B005EM9LEU/
You put a lot more detail than I did in my similar comment in the other thread, but I would also note that true Africans have many more distinctions. Even very cultured Americans are likely to be lost at the distinction between Amhara and Tigrayan, but clearly the Amhara and the Tigrayans think it's meaningful.
Sir, your words leave me wordless. Because I have seldom met a piece of thought that I could so fully and wholeheartedly embrace -- and which lifted my heart. Because if this kind of articulated and deeply humane thought is possible, on the issues that most divide us now, then there is hope for the world.
Bravo