~ James Baldwin ~
"My Dungeon Shook: Letter to My
Nephew on the One Hundredth
Anniversary of the Emancipation"
THE FIRE NEXT TIME
I said this in a comment just yesterday; regarding white people really knowing black people or any other marginalized peoples:
It is part of the dynamic in a society where some of its people are marginalized that the "dominant" sect of people rarely really know the real lives of marginalized ppl or know them at all beyond the roles and stereotypes they've relegated them to. Because they don't see a need to...these ppl are not acknowledged as their equals, and that non-acknowledgement can be intentionally or it can be subliminally realized.
But the marginalized know their oppressors thoroughly; because learning the oppressor's psychological make up can literally save the marginalized person's life, as well as help them to not see themselves as their oppressors see them...as inferior.
This not knowing, I believe must be rectified before any meaningful and genuinely positive relationship can occur between the races. Without it, brotherhood, love, even sex are tinged by the preset dynamic put in place by systemic racism.
It is one-dimensional thinking to believe that systemic racism, which includes white privilege and racial stereotypes, have no bearing whatever on individual relationships just because those INDIVIDUALS involved elect to come together from the intimate/personal aspect.
People do not exist in a vacuum.
I cannot even entertain the idea of personal relationships with white people as long as they hold fast to their one-dimensional thinking regarding black people and regarding me as a black man, because until they become honest enough about THEMSELVES, they will still only be capable of seeing ME thru the filter of white supremacy, whether they admit it or not, and whether they intend to or not.
~ Kingston Somadi ~
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