Minority Report
Sometimes I wonder, when I speak to my own people, how they acquired the perspective they have: What type of thinking went into their thought processes, and how much in keeping that is with what is real. Sometimes, it appears that our people (more than any other people) want to be color blind. They seem (for some reason) to want to be colorless and now sexless--almost androgynous (like the girls in the Robert Palmer's "Addicted to Love"video)--right along with the rest of Western American and European society. This involves not all of Blacks in America--but a majority of highly functional, legal working, entrepreneurial, sophisticated, multi-racial, multi-cultural ones.
To a degree, I can understand the considerations. . . However, my persons can't agree with their conclusions. It starts out with the fact that we are in America--outnumbered and dysfunctional; without adequate knowledge of the place we were abducted from; in need of making a living by working for the children of our former abductors or the mainstream of American society. We adopted much of their ways--right down to playing down the fact that it's America's posture that has relegated us to an inferior position within their society. Each time we turn on the TV, we take a big gulp of Western Blue Kool-Aid. We drink it consciously and sub-consciously and talk about how independent we are.
It's understandable (to a degree) that we might be so focus on survival--otherwise, starvation and death would come soon; but I do remember a White American patriot by the name of Patrick Henry who said, "Give me liberty or give me death." That kind of talking sounds rather final, does it? But it says that, somethings are not up (or open) for negotiation. As the Last Poets once said: "Blessed are those who struggle, Oppression is worst than the grave, better to die for a noble cause--than to live and die a slave!"
We have been described as, "Slaves of mental death and power: People who do not know who the true and living God is, or our origin in this world, and worship that we know not." I am almost sure that most of my Black readership would disagree. We have been also described as a very religious people, and very emotional people--despite our 458 year sojourn amongst the dominant culture and race of America (doing things in THE AMERICAN way). This is an inconsistent statement with what we what we want to believe about ourselves or what we see in society--however magicians and charlatans have been know to deceive the masses. Alot of us go to the church, mosque, temple, and synagogue to worship god. Many of us belong to Ashrams, and study Buddhism, and Zen Buddhism, right along side many races and nationalities. Some of us even worship as the Native Americans do. . .
However, careful analysis reveals that a lot of us are "culturally bilingual." We say one thing and do another today: A lot of us have one foot within religious ways and the other in Western secular life--worshipping a God taught to us, as far back as slavery--featuring a God which is not indigenous to the homelands we came from, nor practiced in the way of the ones who originated that God: it is the Western man's "swing on things." Very few of these religious perspectives reflect the indigeous Black point of view. There are patches of Black people in America practicing Yoruba culture, Akan, and Ashanti--but they are in the minority--not the majority. Many of those Blacks who are practicing these cultures--not in the way of their ancestors, but in the ways of the New World people (practices which are derived from the New World experience, while attempting to live traditional ways). Many of the colors on these Gods are reflective of the peoples they came from, or the people who originated that style of worship--but definitely not Black. However, in the Philippines, there is a worship of the Black baby Jesus--due to the indigenous Negritos, who are in essence, Black Chinese (although many of them are Muslim).
The slave part is comprehendable. Mental death is indicative of the politics of our people practiced during the Jim Crow/Black Code/"Separate but Equal" time period in America history: Instead of choosing the continued autonomy forced upon us (colored only) and soliciting for human rights--the majority of our people chose civil rights (desegregation) with a type of people who clearly projected a belief in Black inferiority as a way of life. In the "Liberty or death" statement, made by Patrick Henry, Blacks in America didn't choose liberty--they chose to defined themselves in other peoples' terms; soliciting to become part of the new American people--then trying to redefine their opinion of us. If it is true that 'God made man in His own image and similitude,' then most Blacks in America do not worship a Creator that looks like them; they worship a God whose people are European-like--the same people who obliterated Hebrew text and recreated a story in English of European-like Biblical entities (all of a sudden Jesus has sand brown hair, beard and white skin); in essence, rewriting Hebrew legacy into Biblical text; by recreating the text heroic figures and naming their children after them. And in this world that the Europeans created called the New World or America, Blacks are named minorities by the children of European descent!
I find it ironic, that we Blacks have allowed this monicker to be attached to us, without protest. Not because of not the being the smaller number in the American population--but because those who are fighting for alternative sexual preference are also considered by the same name as well. Now, don't get me wrong--I am not debating whether these human beings are entitled to the same human rights as heterosexual beings (barring those of various religious beliefs)--surely they should be entitled to every civil right as well as any human being (if they have citizenship): What I am saying in essence is, we the people who were stripped of our cultural and national heritage, a people with a lineage no longer traceable to a homeland of specific origin; a people without a country of original origin; those fighting to be properly identified as one people and accepted as American citizens--should not be considered with the same moniker (name) as those who are looking to be treated fairly after choosing to be with others or the same gender sexually or both genders, in a way that mainstream American society previously frowned upon. Besides, I don't know if you can properly consider those who choose alternative lifestyles, as minorities anyway.* [further elaborated below].
Sex and Race are two entirely different issues, and should be considered separately anyway. If you are Black and straight, you do not stop being Black; and subsequently, if you are Black and have a preference for being with persons of the same sex, or both men and women, that doesn't change your color either. They are separate categories. However, you can be discriminated against because of your sexual choice, or you can be discriminated against because of the color of your skin. You can be discriminated against because of color, and not even recognized according to sexual preference (unless you announce it). Your sexual preference could possibly go by completely unnoticed, unless you show it.* On the other hand, despite make-up, lies, bleaching agents, amalgamated (mixed) ratios and/or percentages there of, it's a little harder to camouflage or hide race--as opposed to gender: Certain physical features make it a little bit harder to hide, and certain ethnicities and pigmentations are a little harder to erase (despite the self-hatred involved in this process). Also consider this: sexual preferences crosses all racial and class lines; a people's racial, national, and ethnic issues are a subject of an entirely different nature and cannot be easily crossed (like in Sarajevo for example).
The word "minority," in the Oxford Dictionaries, has been defined as, "The smaller number or part, especially a number or part representing less than half of the whole: a small group of people within a community or country, differing from the main population in race, religion, language, or political persuasion:ethnic minorities[ as modifier] : minority rights." I've always found this term, "minority," problematic, as used in America, simply because the population of American women--who represent somewhere between two-thirds to three-fourths of the American population--are considered "minorities" in America. Maybe the American lawmakers are dealing with the root of the word--Minor: "lesser in importance, seriousness, or significance; as in, she requested a number of minor alterations." This perspective seems to suggest that a ruling class of European descendants are in charge of the New World (White Anglo Saxon Protestant of the New England states), and are defining the issues of Blacks in America as lesser or minority issues, and mainstream population issues and majority issues.
My issue is, how can American legislation lump the destiny of a total group of people, being responsible for obliterating their heritage, with the issues surrounding a backlash for not choosing what religious groups and others deem as sexually appropriate? If the thinking employed is that Blacks are less than twenty percent of the American population, and therefore should be considered a minority, along with immigrants--then the same cannot be said of homosexuality, bisexuality and lesbianism. Race and sexuality are two different things. First of all, you cannot count the amount of alternative lifestyle participants--if those who are part of it, do not want: Many are still in "the closet," so to speak, and will not "come out" unless they feel the conditions are secure, right, or advantageous. The discrimination between Blacks and sexual preference is totally different: With racism, one is discriminated against, based upon the skin color that their body or vessel was made with--as opposed to a conscious choice that one makes to follow their sensibilities concerning sexual preference, and the consequences that pursue.
*Homosexuality, bisexuality, and lesbianism crosses all lines: ethnic, race, class and gender: a.k.a., it tranverse all human categories. Now if we look at these things individually, it might be possible to say that this sexual issue only covers a portion of the total population within each category (and therefore classified as a minority), but if we add up all of the people in these categories, the sum total maybe something quite bigger: For example, most football agents get 35% of what they get their clients are reward, and one may think that the client gets the lion's share--but if you consider who's makes the most--client or agent--the answer is quite different. Drew Rosenhaus is the negotiating agent for the likes of Santana Moss, Chad Johnson, Willis Mc Gahee and Anquan Boldin--individually he takes the minor portion of each deal, but collectively he is the richest of them all (and doesn't even have to have half of the wear and tear on his body). Oh, by the way, in the 2000s, Drew was reported to have 79 clients on 26 NFL teams. . . These number games can be quite deceptive (but concerning gender and alternative lifestyles, definitely not numbers one should call a minority).
There are quite a few rich human beings who live an alternative lifestyle. Vice president, Dick Cheney (under the George W. Bush presidency) has a daughter, Mary Cheney, who married her longtime partner, Heather Poe, in 2012. Cher's daughter, Chastity, has transition from female to male, Chaz. Many famous artists and entertainers have similar issues. When I went to art school in the 1970s, it was a 40/60 situation for us heterosexuals attending the school. My point is, the sum is bigger than its' parts, and it also has a lot of rich, influential members--including some powerful activists--to effectively further their cause without in-house discrimination: and this makes it more imperative that we not share the same type of minority status. Not because I am homophobic--far to the contrary; it is because sex and race are two different subjects and by subject the deck is quite uneven. For example, if one needs to hire a minority, does one hire a Black male, Black female, Black homosexual, Black lesbian or Black bisexual? Since both are currently considered minorities, is the Black male a minority, White homosexual a minority, Black woman a double minority, Black homosexual a double minority, White lesbian a double monority, when they are out of the closet? How about a homosexual Indian male or Jew? So it is quite conceivable to reach minority quotas in this case, without ever hiring a Black? Now do you see my point about unevenness?
Our race discrimination issue is a totally separate issue (destiny, heritage, auto-determination), and needs to be defined separately from sexual orientation issues. I realize that all of this is minority issues to mainstream White America, but part of this sexual ambivalence is quite evident within the cultural tradition of Whites, whereas the equality with human beings of other colors is not: An ancient Roman soldier, or many modern day Englishmen, does not consider himself homosexual--if he is doing the penetration, for example. This ideology is quite different from how I was raised. Bisexuality is more openly embraced in English society, than in the States. In the film "Cabaret" and "Victor/Victoria," one begins to see, during the Nazi period of Germany, alternative sexual preference was running concurrently. In new films today, they are depicting that Viking life as including these type of things as well. You also have to consider, that the alternative lifestyle minority includes a portion of White people as well. You can expect a lot more sympathy simply because of that. But one can't claim discrimination, sexual or otherwise, unless one stops being clandestine and make it known to the heterosexual world that they are--then you can make claims and exertions--with race it is ipso facto.
In closing, as I opened, I hope they get their freedom and rights within American society, like all human beings should, whether or not I agree with their lifestyle or not. I just never thought that our struggle with racial discrimination and sexual freedom and/or alternative lifestyle struggles should have the same classification--nor it be considered the same way--because they are different issues and demand different actions. If there are those within my audience who are political activists, this is a noble cause to work towards: The reclassification of our political reference into something more phenotypical to our struggles--other than the word "minority," which we share with a host of other issues America would rather not deal with.
Peace & Blessings,
C. Be'erla Hai-roi Myers
The slave part is comprehendable. Mental death is indicative of the politics of our people practiced during the Jim Crow/Black Code/"Separate but Equal" time period in America history: Instead of choosing the continued autonomy forced upon us (colored only) and soliciting for human rights--the majority of our people chose civil rights (desegregation) with a type of people who clearly projected a belief in Black inferiority as a way of life. In the "Liberty or death" statement, made by Patrick Henry, Blacks in America didn't choose liberty--they chose to defined themselves in other peoples' terms; soliciting to become part of the new American people--then trying to redefine their opinion of us. If it is true that 'God made man in His own image and similitude,' then most Blacks in America do not worship a Creator that looks like them; they worship a God whose people are European-like--the same people who obliterated Hebrew text and recreated a story in English of European-like Biblical entities (all of a sudden Jesus has sand brown hair, beard and white skin); in essence, rewriting Hebrew legacy into Biblical text; by recreating the text heroic figures and naming their children after them. And in this world that the Europeans created called the New World or America, Blacks are named minorities by the children of European descent!
I find it ironic, that we Blacks have allowed this monicker to be attached to us, without protest. Not because of not the being the smaller number in the American population--but because those who are fighting for alternative sexual preference are also considered by the same name as well. Now, don't get me wrong--I am not debating whether these human beings are entitled to the same human rights as heterosexual beings (barring those of various religious beliefs)--surely they should be entitled to every civil right as well as any human being (if they have citizenship): What I am saying in essence is, we the people who were stripped of our cultural and national heritage, a people with a lineage no longer traceable to a homeland of specific origin; a people without a country of original origin; those fighting to be properly identified as one people and accepted as American citizens--should not be considered with the same moniker (name) as those who are looking to be treated fairly after choosing to be with others or the same gender sexually or both genders, in a way that mainstream American society previously frowned upon. Besides, I don't know if you can properly consider those who choose alternative lifestyles, as minorities anyway.* [further elaborated below].
Sex and Race are two entirely different issues, and should be considered separately anyway. If you are Black and straight, you do not stop being Black; and subsequently, if you are Black and have a preference for being with persons of the same sex, or both men and women, that doesn't change your color either. They are separate categories. However, you can be discriminated against because of your sexual choice, or you can be discriminated against because of the color of your skin. You can be discriminated against because of color, and not even recognized according to sexual preference (unless you announce it). Your sexual preference could possibly go by completely unnoticed, unless you show it.* On the other hand, despite make-up, lies, bleaching agents, amalgamated (mixed) ratios and/or percentages there of, it's a little harder to camouflage or hide race--as opposed to gender: Certain physical features make it a little bit harder to hide, and certain ethnicities and pigmentations are a little harder to erase (despite the self-hatred involved in this process). Also consider this: sexual preferences crosses all racial and class lines; a people's racial, national, and ethnic issues are a subject of an entirely different nature and cannot be easily crossed (like in Sarajevo for example).
The word "minority," in the Oxford Dictionaries, has been defined as, "The smaller number or part, especially a number or part representing less than half of the whole: a small group of people within a community or country, differing from the main population in race, religion, language, or political persuasion:ethnic minorities
My issue is, how can American legislation lump the destiny of a total group of people, being responsible for obliterating their heritage, with the issues surrounding a backlash for not choosing what religious groups and others deem as sexually appropriate? If the thinking employed is that Blacks are less than twenty percent of the American population, and therefore should be considered a minority, along with immigrants--then the same cannot be said of homosexuality, bisexuality and lesbianism. Race and sexuality are two different things. First of all, you cannot count the amount of alternative lifestyle participants--if those who are part of it, do not want: Many are still in "the closet," so to speak, and will not "come out" unless they feel the conditions are secure, right, or advantageous. The discrimination between Blacks and sexual preference is totally different: With racism, one is discriminated against, based upon the skin color that their body or vessel was made with--as opposed to a conscious choice that one makes to follow their sensibilities concerning sexual preference, and the consequences that pursue.
*Homosexuality, bisexuality, and lesbianism crosses all lines: ethnic, race, class and gender: a.k.a., it tranverse all human categories. Now if we look at these things individually, it might be possible to say that this sexual issue only covers a portion of the total population within each category (and therefore classified as a minority), but if we add up all of the people in these categories, the sum total maybe something quite bigger: For example, most football agents get 35% of what they get their clients are reward, and one may think that the client gets the lion's share--but if you consider who's makes the most--client or agent--the answer is quite different. Drew Rosenhaus is the negotiating agent for the likes of Santana Moss, Chad Johnson, Willis Mc Gahee and Anquan Boldin--individually he takes the minor portion of each deal, but collectively he is the richest of them all (and doesn't even have to have half of the wear and tear on his body). Oh, by the way, in the 2000s, Drew was reported to have 79 clients on 26 NFL teams. . . These number games can be quite deceptive (but concerning gender and alternative lifestyles, definitely not numbers one should call a minority).
There are quite a few rich human beings who live an alternative lifestyle. Vice president, Dick Cheney (under the George W. Bush presidency) has a daughter, Mary Cheney, who married her longtime partner, Heather Poe, in 2012. Cher's daughter, Chastity, has transition from female to male, Chaz. Many famous artists and entertainers have similar issues. When I went to art school in the 1970s, it was a 40/60 situation for us heterosexuals attending the school. My point is, the sum is bigger than its' parts, and it also has a lot of rich, influential members--including some powerful activists--to effectively further their cause without in-house discrimination: and this makes it more imperative that we not share the same type of minority status. Not because I am homophobic--far to the contrary; it is because sex and race are two different subjects and by subject the deck is quite uneven. For example, if one needs to hire a minority, does one hire a Black male, Black female, Black homosexual, Black lesbian or Black bisexual? Since both are currently considered minorities, is the Black male a minority, White homosexual a minority, Black woman a double minority, Black homosexual a double minority, White lesbian a double monority, when they are out of the closet? How about a homosexual Indian male or Jew? So it is quite conceivable to reach minority quotas in this case, without ever hiring a Black? Now do you see my point about unevenness?
Our race discrimination issue is a totally separate issue (destiny, heritage, auto-determination), and needs to be defined separately from sexual orientation issues. I realize that all of this is minority issues to mainstream White America, but part of this sexual ambivalence is quite evident within the cultural tradition of Whites, whereas the equality with human beings of other colors is not: An ancient Roman soldier, or many modern day Englishmen, does not consider himself homosexual--if he is doing the penetration, for example. This ideology is quite different from how I was raised. Bisexuality is more openly embraced in English society, than in the States. In the film "Cabaret" and "Victor/Victoria," one begins to see, during the Nazi period of Germany, alternative sexual preference was running concurrently. In new films today, they are depicting that Viking life as including these type of things as well. You also have to consider, that the alternative lifestyle minority includes a portion of White people as well. You can expect a lot more sympathy simply because of that. But one can't claim discrimination, sexual or otherwise, unless one stops being clandestine and make it known to the heterosexual world that they are--then you can make claims and exertions--with race it is ipso facto.
In closing, as I opened, I hope they get their freedom and rights within American society, like all human beings should, whether or not I agree with their lifestyle or not. I just never thought that our struggle with racial discrimination and sexual freedom and/or alternative lifestyle struggles should have the same classification--nor it be considered the same way--because they are different issues and demand different actions. If there are those within my audience who are political activists, this is a noble cause to work towards: The reclassification of our political reference into something more phenotypical to our struggles--other than the word "minority," which we share with a host of other issues America would rather not deal with.
Peace & Blessings,
C. Be'erla Hai-roi Myers
