Shocker! A writer is going to wax poetic about the importance of words and the use of language. LOL. But I promise they're important. No, the power is not in possessing a complex vocabulary of hoity-toity words but truly understanding the power of language. Here's an example:
Words predate our memories. We've been learning sounds, building towards being able to form sentences and express thought since birth. If an alien hopped out the UFO whip and asked you how you spoke words you couldn't say. You couldn't explain it. By this point, it's second nature. But in the process of thinking about this, here's a question, do you ever stop to dissect the words you use? Do you ever think about the weight of your words? The implications? In the clip above, Muhammad Ali refers to how everything 'white' has a positive connotation and conjures up good memories, yet everything black is the opposite.
One such phrase I've tried to remove from my Batman utility belt is the tendency to label things as not being "black or white" - as in expressing that something is not this or that but rather complex in nature. Yes, I understand the idea of the difference between the colors themselves, making the statement factual in origin. But these are also the words we've chosen as a society to label people of African descent and people of a Caucasian or European descent. Since there's no way we're coming up with a new Dewey system for people, the entire phrase should be thrown away as it reinforces the difference between people, a weapon used to justify hatred and discrimination. This is how sneaky the system is. Yet, I've gathered you here not because I want to speak broadly about the use of language but because I want to talk about one word in particular and why, I know this will be controversial so hear me out, I think it does us more harm than good. Racism, racist and it's family of words. In short, it's incomplete. But you came here for the long version, so off we go. Too often we want things to be short and sweet. Twitter, a platform of words, has a character limit. But even as creatures we often prefer to take in information in bits and pieces. That's why a headline is so great. It can tell you what you're getting yourself into before you dedicate x amount of time to reading the article or post you clicked on. This does hold value. Time is of the essence, and sometimes yes, we need to gather information quickly and be able to plan and proceed accordingly. But dismantling systemic oppression and having uncomfortable conversations about race in America is not suited for Twitter. It may not even be suited for the constructs of an article or even a book. There's too many layers to uncover. Too many topics to go into. It's verbose. It's wordy. There is no short and sweet. It's multi-dimensional and convoluted. This is something we need to get used to as we use social media to engage in discussions of this sort. And part of that process means weeding out words that are what I call 'catch-all words'. A dresser is the word we use to describe a piece of furniture that is used to store clothes. What you mean to say is the definition but we can't go around saying this long ass descriptor and so we came up with a name - dresser. I say dresser and you know what I'm referring to. I say armoire or wardrobe and you know what I'm referring to. Racism, or calling someone a racist, is believe it or not one of those terms. In fact it's worse because there's so many layers to what a racist is that by simply labeling it as such allows you to miss out on so much good, 'nougat'-y nuance. Let's take a racist White guy. What's this person's level of education? What's this person's relationship with their family? What's this person's relationship with his "race"? What was this person's upbringing like? What's this person's story? Did this person have a particular encounter with someone of the race they're talking down upon? What are this person's fears? Are there any societal institutions this person belongs to? There's a number of stones to turn over and steps to retrace in learning who this person is. America has managed to have one great leap in matters of race and that's in successfully labeling the term on a similar pedestal to that of the cigarette. It's so marinated in this is wrong sauce that people saying or doing something deemed to be patently racist will tell you they aren't racist. And by the book, they might not be. This system is so steeped into their socialization, so steeped into their norms and values that they don't see their offending behavior as racist. It's just how they grew up. It's like me saying dresser and you've never seen a piece of furniture that holds clothes. I say dresser and it doesn't compute. That's what's happening here. You're describing something as 'racist' and the person has no compass for where to direct the word you're saying to anything they've experienced. Don't call them racist. That's a cop out. That's a convicted pedophile committing suicide after being faced with multiple life sentences in prison with no chance of parole. No, point the mirror directly to their upbringing and show them the cracks in the code. Show them the holes in the fairy tale they were brought up on. So much of mainstream life in America is based on a lie anyway, right? Santa, the Tooth Fairy, the Easter bunny. Add another one to the list for them. But since racism doesn't have a mascot, unless the Washington professional football team's logo or the old Cleveland Indians logo has entered the chat, this is what it needs to be. Explain, don't let them off the hook. Don't just tell them their fearless leader, 45, has them sipping the Kool-Aid - a la Jim Jones - tell them about how he doesn't respect their intellect and that's why he chose to run on their platform. Don't just tell them that donning the Confederate flag makes them a bigot. Hammer home how it doesn't make sense to champion America as being the global winners of Planet Earth but then they proudly parade the symbol of the side that lost the Civil War. Not only lost but had to come back to America with their tail between their legs. That's the flag that's supposed to offend me? Don't let them off easy but simply calling them a racist, ask them how it feels to have had a 400-year head-start and we've still managed to be in the race. Ask them how it feels that their children are coming up in our culture. Ask them how it feels that Whiteness, this thing held over our heads like a trump card, could be so great yet Black culture seems to be the dominant way of life in this country. If most could be vulnerable, maybe they'll admit to fear or uncertainty about what a world looks like where they are the minority. And no matter how much we say loudly and clearly that we are only looking for equality, again it doesn't compute.
Why?
Because this country and its fabric was never intended for equality. That wasn't just baked into the institutions of slavery and Jim Crow, it was woven perfectly into socialization - as natural to the instructions of the world as the cutting of the umbilical cord. âWhat's felt and lived doesn't need to be expounded on or explained. The nod Black people give complete strangers they pass by, especially when there ain't much of us around, can't be explained to someone who isn't Black. But we understand it. I don't need to explain why Black is better. I mean it's there in plain sight. With every attempt to hold us down, we still rise. So no, I don't need to yell and scream and call someone a 'racist'. I just need them to understand that I see through it. I read between the lines. I see your hurt. I see your faulty programming. I see you still believing in the Easter bunny. Still believing in this fictitious framing of the world. I see it and I know it hurts you to see us shining. No, you're not racist. You're weak. You lack functional intellect and critical thinking about the world around you. I won't call you a bigot. I'll point you to your own cognitive dissonance. The key to defeating your neighborhood racist, and coon too I ain't forget about y'all, is holding the mirror up. If they were idiotic enough to bait you by throwing out a hard -ER or an "All Lives Matter", make the battle worth their while. Give them something to stew on that'll fuck up their week. â |
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Ty FosterQuestion everything. WQHC Archives
June 2020
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