ps...this is kind of a condensation of thoughts i've had since an intensive conversation on the legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. six years ago with one Andrew Farjo. much love brother. - sandeep \m/
still dreamin'?
days off are fucking awesome, no doubt about that. this day off has always been one to fill me with mixed emotions. no, it's not because it wasn't until the year 2000 that all 50 states finally adopted Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Day, and no, it's not just cuz i get a little choked up when i hear the 'Dream' speech. as i've grown and my socio-political awareness has expanded and cemented itself, this day has regularly been a day of confusion and frustration as i view the reality of our so called 'civil society' in juxtaposition with the words "I have a dream..." wrapped up in blasphemous red white and blue. sadly, i was unable to understand the annual farce perpetrated upon Dr. King's memory until close to the end of my college career.
growing up, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. day was all about the all school assembly on the friday before the holiday. music teachers would conduct students in choruses of 'We Shall Overcome', an administrator offer a quick recount of Dr. King's presence in history and rattle off that famous conclusion section of the 'Dream' speech, culminating with:
“I have a dream that my four children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.”
it's this desire for character examination that has me sitting behind my keyboard today. i must admit, i struggle to see a coincidence between the fact that a failed assassination attempt on a pro-immigration, a pro-diversity public figure came just one week before the holiday honoring one of the greatest civil rights leaders our nation will ever known. i also struggle with the fact that arizona was one of the last states to accept the federal holiday and the sitting senior senator (and former presidential candidate) was one of the strongest voices in opposition to the congressional creation of the federal holiday, but I digress. the character of this nation as it relates to the other is rotten to the core. by 'the other' i'm not suggesting Hegel's interpretation of the concept, but the so-called 'american dream's' interpretation of otherness: those who do not strive for unnecessary wealth, those who reject the two car garage, the white picket fence, and saying the pledge of allegiance every morning in a sterile classroom in the suburbs. in Democracy in America, Alexis de Tocqueville observed that it is assimilation, not diversity that is the true American value. those who seek to live intentionally, to celebrate the traditions of their ancestors, and celebrate their cultural heritage (and of course their supporters) are 'the others' of the american diaspora, an otherness our dominant culture most easily recognizes by the color of one's skin.
the defamation of this otherness is the true hallmark of the american dream. students across the country today are enjoying a day off, but how many of them are aware of Dr. King's work outside of the poetic words delivered at the national mall on august 28th, 1963? Dr. King has been easily demonized by many in our country. he was called anti-american due to his opposition to the Vietnam War, a Marxist due to his willingness to utilize non-violent civil disobedience in order to force business owners, transportation agencies, and public officials to recognize the institutionalized abuse of African Americans that had become part of the post-Emancipation Proclamation political status quo, yet all many seem to remember Dr. King for is the dream he spoke of on the 28th. that makes sense though. it's easier this way. turn Dr. King and his legacy into a big fluffy teddy bear who has a cute little dream of white kids and black kids playing in a sandbox together at every public park across the nation. the white corporate media and their partners in our political spectrum discovered exactly how to use Dr. King's legacy to prove de Tocqueville's point. absorb this dream into the american dream, then go sell it at walmart. it's okay to be black, just act more white. it's cool if your grandma makes tamales for dinner, just make sure she has a green card and you always speak english in public. live the dream of unity, but never forget that “unity” is defined in this country as conforming to the ideals and actions of a white privilege dominated political 'centrism'.
...“I must confess that over the past few years I have been gravely disappointed with the white moderate. I have almost reached the regrettable conclusion that the Negro's great stumbling block in his stride toward freedom is not the White Citizen's Counciler or the Ku Klux Klanner, but the white moderate, who is more devoted to "order" than to justice; who prefers a negative peace which is the absence of tension to a positive peace which is the presence of justice; who constantly says: "I agree with you in the goal you seek, but I cannot agree with your methods of direct action"; who paternalistically believes he can set the timetable for another man's freedom; who lives by a mythical concept of time and who constantly advises the Negro to wait for a "more convenient season." Shallow understanding from people of good will is more frustrating than absolute misunderstanding from people of ill will. Lukewarm acceptance is much more bewildering than outright rejection.
I had hoped that the white moderate would understand that law and order exist for the purpose of establishing justice and that when they fail in this purpose they become the dangerously structured dams that block the flow of social progress. I had hoped that the white moderate would understand that the present tension in the South is a necessary phase of the transition from an obnoxious negative peace, in which the Negro passively accepted his unjust plight, to a substantive and positive peace, in which all men will respect the dignity and worth of human personality. Actually, we who engage in nonviolent direct action are not the creators of tension. We merely bring to the surface the hidden tension that is already alive. We bring it out in the open, where it can be seen and dealt with. Like a boil that can never be cured so long as it is covered up but must be opened with all its ugliness to the natural medicines of air and light, injustice must be exposed, with all the tension its exposure creates, to the light of human conscience and the air of national opinion before it can be cured.” - Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., 'Letter from a Birmingham Jail'
in 2007, black male inmates outnumbered white male inmates in the us prison system at a rate of 7 to 1, black females outnumbered white females at a rate of 3 to 1, latino male inmates outnumbered white male inmates at a rate of 3 to 1, and latinas outnumber white females in the prison population at a rate of 2 to 1 (as reported by the us dept. of justice in the prison population statistics report submitted to the GAO april, 2008).
in his annual report on the state of the dept. of defense in 2008, defense secretary robert gates was quick to note that the population of African Americans and people of Latin American descent serving in the military were mere percentage points above figures from the 2005 us census illustrating the overall racial composition of the country. in the same report, mr. gates was eager to de-emphasize the point that a clear majority of people of color serving in the military (to the tune of almost 68%) served in the lower echelons of the military command structure (mainly serving as NCOs) as well as the over representation of military recruiters in low income communities of color.
the harvard graduate school of education (partnered with the harvard university Civil Rights Project) published a joint study in 2001discovering that African-American students were three times as likely to be labeled 'mentally retarded', 'emotionally disturbed', or identified as having a 'specific learning disability' then their white counterparts. it was also noted that special education environments serving African American students were much more physically restrictive, opposed to mainstreaming and job training programs, and generally segregated from the regular education student population than similar classrooms in serving predominantly white student bodies. all of these facts are an outrageous continuing reality in our country today. realities which are constantly and ignorantly rejected, as thought of even lukewarm acceptance of the truth that american institutions deny people of color equal opportunities on a daily basis is a fact too uncomfortable for the dominant culture in our country to accept. it's important not to just see this indifference to fact as political convenience, but to call it out for what it truly is: racism. racism delivered through hegemonic warfare if we wanna' get fancy.
“This is the violence of institutions; indifference and inaction and slow decay. This is the violence that afflicts the poor, that poisons relations between men because their skin has different colors. This is the slow destruction of a child by hunger, and schools without books and homes without heat in the winter.
This is the breaking of a man's spirit by denying him the chance to stand as a father and as a man among other men.” -Sen. Robert F. Kennedy, 'On the Mindless Menace of Violence', delivered at the City Club of Cleveland in reaction to the assassination or Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
throughout my life i've heard the arguments. “i'm not racist! i have brown friends!” “affirmative action is racist against whites!” simple arguments from simple minded folks eager to maintain their ignorance to the realities of the ways in which american institutions are set up to promote and secure white privilege in the social status quo as it has been secure in north america since well before 1776. it doesn't require lynch mobs, hate speech, or even loosely made positive comments about the actions of hate groups past or present to be 'a racist' when simple complicity and silence in regard to white privilege is a far more pervasive, much more dangerous reality in our country today.
“True compassion is more than flinging a coin to a beggar; it is not haphazard and superficial. It comes to see that an edifice which produces beggars needs restructuring. A true revolution of values will soon look uneasily on the glaring contrast of poverty and wealth. With righteous indignation, it will look across the seas and see individual capitalists of the West investing huge sums of money in Asia, Africa and South America, only to take the profits out with no concern for the social betterment of the countries, and say: "This is not just." It will look at our alliance with the landed gentry of Latin America and say: "This is not just." The Western arrogance of feeling that it has everything to teach others and nothing to learn from them is not just. A true revolution of values will lay hands on the world order and say of war: "This way of settling differences is not just." This business of burning human beings with napalm, of filling our nation's homes with orphans and widows, of injecting poisonous drugs of hate into veins of people normally humane, of sending men home from dark and bloody battlefields physically handicapped and psychologically deranged, cannot be reconciled with wisdom, justice and love. A nation that continues year after year to spend more money on military defense than on programs of social uplift is approaching spiritual death.
America, the richest and most powerful nation in the world, can well lead the way in this revolution of values. There is nothing, except a tragic death wish, to prevent us from reordering our priorities, so that the pursuit of peace will take precedence over the pursuit of war.” -Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. 'Beyond Veitnam: A Time to Break the Silence'
SKIP TO THE END:
so seriously, what the fuck is this? sandeep rambles on for like ten pages of random, disorganized crazy liberal ranting with no care for MLA format calling everybody racists and bitchin' and moanin' about all these 'evils' he sees around every corner? well, yeah, kinda. in all honesty, i put on some Rage Against the Machine and sat down with my fourth cup of coffee of the day at around 12:45 to write a quick facebook status update that would express that feeling i get when thinking about race in america. that mix of nausea and roller coaster like stomach summersaults and the shakes that overcomes me when i think critically about these united states and the role race continues to play in our country's development (or attempts at development). it's now 2:46, and i haven't even gotten to the treatment of muslims and anyone who even looked slightly mid eastern or muslim and the severe need to build Cordoba House at 45-51 Park Place, Manhattan, New York City. in other words, it's time for sandeep to get to the fucking point. well here it is: race is real. there can be no such thing as a colorblind society, there are too many colors out there for that to work. until WE, as people living side by side for a finite amount of time on this beautiful mass of earth, can acknowledge our inherent differences culturally, socially, politically, and overall historically and how those differences have contributed to our respective statuses in life a substantive, positive peace will continue to elude us.
some people have said (and continue to say) that the election of Barak Obama as President of the United States is evidence of the fulfillment of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s dream. i take comfort in the words of Dr. Cornell West who says that “...those are people who don't understand the difference between 'a' realization of Dr. King's dream and 'the' realization of Dr. King's dream.”
happy Martin Luther King Jr. Day everyone. enjoy the day off! :) -sandeep \m/
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