(With My) Nappy Said:
“…These identities, outside of my blackness, or my southern-ness or my American-ness, are important. I’m not willing to tell someone in Africa that identifies as Massai, Igbo, or Sudanese that their identity is unimportant and they have throw that away to get to the point of us all being human beings. I can have identities and still recognize the need for unity in people….”
And Sea’s Response:
“I agree and still think we aren’t so far apart in overlapping ideas.
You skipped the step, I said “process the identity” then throw it away. And I’m not even sure what throwing it away looks like since I’ve never made it that far 
Actually that’s not true. I’ve worked on some things that I held tightly to–the case that comes to mind is of a crush, an obsession on a person–I processed that and was terrified that I’d lose my connection with the person if I didn’t act on the crush. But that was not what happened. The real part of that was love–and I actually had a more real and present connection after that. So that stayed. I threw away the old longing that was not about them.
I don’t expect you to throw away something that’s important to you.
Because whatever is left over after discharging is real. You can’t process away Truth. Who you are won’t go away. And I also would not ask the African individuals to deny their roots and family heritage.
My guess is whatever it is about our identities that merely pits us against each other isn’t helpful.
Thanks for your response”
8 comments
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August 30, 2006 at 17:30 p
recumbentgoat
“You skipped the step, I said “process the identity” then throw it away. And I’m not even sure what throwing it away looks like since I’ve never made it that far.”
Points of white identity are never salient in the ways that pocs’ are because–they don’t have to be. That’s the privilege of whiteness.
If one spent a lifetime protecting the most precious things about oneself that the white majority culture de-valued (consciously and unconsciouly)–I doubt highly that a suggestion of disposable identity would be made so easily.
August 31, 2006 at 00:31 p
Desmond Jones
“My guess is whatever it is about our identities that merely pits us against each other isn’t helpful.”
On the contrary, it’s fundamental. Mankind’s most basic instinct is survival. What pits us against each other, in a world of limited resources, is the desire to survive. Extinction, as Darwin writes, “follows chiefly from the competition of tribe with tribe, and race with race. Various checks are always in action, serving to keep down the numbers of each savage tribe,- such as periodical famines, nomadic habits and the consequent deaths of infants, prolonged suckling, wars, accidents, sickness, licentiousness, the stealing of women, infanticide, and especially lessened fertility.
If any one of these checks increases in power, even slightly, the tribe thus affected tends to decrease; and when of two adjoining tribes one becomes less numerous and less powerful than the other, the contest is soon settled by war, slaughter, cannibalism, slavery, and absorption. Even when a weaker tribe is not thus abruptly swept away, if it once begins to decrease, it generally goes on decreasing until it becomes extinct.”
Evolution selects for phenotypes that aid reproductive fitness, because reproductive fitness enhances survival, which is man’s first and foremost fundamental instinct.
August 31, 2006 at 04:31 p
sea
ur welcome, I’m in boulder and limited online tonite. will check back soon.
August 31, 2006 at 17:31 p
Toasted Suzy
Desmond Jones,
So I guess this new “Survivor” episode is going to be like a magic eightball for you, eh?
Or have you already made up your mind about which super-race will finally inheret the earth?
Me, I’m betting on the “meek.”
TS
August 31, 2006 at 19:31 p
sea
holy shit, pardon me I find that very limited. the quote about surviving by desmond jones. with all due respect ,
hello, we have intelligence. we are not chained to instincts. I don’t buy it that those are our instincts anyways.
geez. we actually have a forebrain and a heart in addition to some robotic version of knee-jerk instincts.
now that i’ve vented, what study can you site which proves there are not enough resources for everyone on this planet?
not that that is so important to me. I have a deep sense that there is actually enough.
Isn’t it about 2% of the population who are panic stricken about accumulating enough wealth that they actually could never use it all?
September 1, 2006 at 03:1 p
Desmond Jones
TS, It’s unlikely that ‘Survivor’ will not have much to do with ethnic or racial survival, however, ceterus paribus, it looks like the most fertile will inherit the earth.
Sea, We have intelligence, according to Darwin, because of natural selection. Intelligence enhances reproductive fitness. Limited resources may be, for example, possession of the most fertile pieces of land, or access to water during extended periods of drought. Each or a combination of such occurences may determine survival of one group over the other, as Darwin suggests. History is full of such examples.
September 2, 2006 at 14:2 p
sokari
Hi - this is a technical comment - i am finding it really confusing to know where a quote starts and ends and where your own writing comes in. It would also be helpful if you could link to an original piece quoted and hmmmmmmm the italics are really hard on the eyes.
Ok end of rant
thanks
September 2, 2006 at 14:2 p
thefreeslave
Thanks Sokari. I’ll try to correct those problems.