Race matters
A color neurosis prevents Americans from seeing the truth andupholds the historic value system of capitalism and assimilation(Free Trade and Manifest Destiny). On Jan. 16, St. Phillip’sSchool in Dallas sponsored a screening and discussion of”Matters of Race.” KERA co-sponsored the event,highlighting its Multi-Ethnic Outreach Initiative by screening thesecond part of a two-part screening with different subjects.
Most people in America are selfish. An SMU example: a pedestrianstops at a crosswalk; a driver sees the pedestrian anddoesn’t yield; it keeps going. Or the driver inside decideshe has enough time to wait, and he lets the pedestrian pass by.
Selfishness drives and embraces a lifestyle that thrives onmaterialism and consumption. The selfishness of these individualshelps to promote a culture based on this value system of capitalismand assimilation. Culture influences its members, but often, thelevel of adaptation amongst its members is unequal.
What culture dominates American society? Who has the power?
Everyone has an opinion on what dominates and who has the power,but most are reluctant to express it. The Darwinian theory of thesurvival of the fittest fails to reign supreme here. Even thoughinstitutions create maladaptiveness, the dominant culture onlyquells relationships with other idea-driven cultures. Power, ethnicand race relations in America puncture the idea that man isinherently good.
The two cultures in the screening, the Lakota and Hawaiian,juxtaposed each other by location and exploitation but in the endsuccumb to the capitalistic will of the hegemonic American society.Instead of giving details of land being stolen, treaties beingbroken or the fight to survive, let me give you some quotes in themovie from cultures different than my assimilated own.
• “God gave us the freedom of choice, but Hedidn’t give us the freedom to do what we want withoutconsequences.”
• “Religion is for people who are scared to go toHell, and spirituality is for people who have beenthere.”
• “To survive, do we have to deny ourselves of who weare?”
Now, the beautiful part: learning and discussing ideas after thescreening. The nine panelists ranged from a black civil rightsactivist to a Hispanic equal rights woman with an economic andcivil rights Asian man listening to a white cinematographer.
Mr. Mohammed, another panelist, spoke of identity vs.spirituality as a major hurdle the Lakota, the Hawaiian, anyimmigrant or non-dominant culture must jump to succeed. And beingborn and raised in Egypt, he spoke of the inherent racism thatseems omnipotent in America. He said it’s as if Americanssay, “This is our country and you should speak ourlanguage.” In other countries, multi-language learning andspeaking is supported.
We had someone else bring up a topic of self-racism orself-ethnic hate describing a situation where a high school ElSalvadorian kid was getting beaten up by the Mexican-American kids.Rafeal Anchia discovered this destructive action, and it made meunderstand why kids in Dallas go to private schools. A young mindcan’t grow in that environment.
Peter Johnson, a civil rights activist from Louisiana, conversedwith Martin Luther King Jr. His voice antagonized and provoked theaudience, especially the younger black members. And yet hewasn’t apologetic. “Bush just appointed a racist,Charles Pickering, to the Court of Appeals.
With all of these problems, we did touch on solutions.
One solution is allying with other constituents like Hispanics,Asian-American and feminists, which overlap my African-Americanperspectives and culture. The film brought that to the forefrontwhen a Lakota man said, “We are landless and sick.”
Second, the spirituality of America must be defined and not bethe lie of the American Dream. It works like Manifest Destiny. Somepeople see it as property, while others realize that it never wastheirs even though it was said to be.
Third, we must open up our societal-cultural stigma againstforeign languages, while everyone across the world has to learnEnglish.
The last and most desperate change needs to be in exchange ofgoods and services and also an exchange of ideas amongst differentethnic and cultural lines. The young conservative needs to talk towomen in law about affirmative action — who need to talk tothe Indian student associations — who need to talks to theJewish student association about religious tolerance.
Yes, I’m African-American, but this problem of lack ofdialogue goes beyond my selfish interest. Economics force Dallas tolook at why it gave $12 million to animal shelters and only $2million for homeless shelters. They also didn’t want to giveany to the homeless after this year, enacting a law of nopanhandling in the city limits. Is that politics or philosophy?
Either way, it is wrong and selfish. Here at SMU, there needs tobe a dialogue where different ideas can be shared and buttressed byfacts. A black frat gets caught hazing and it gets nationalattention. We know hazing amongst fraternities to any degree isindirectly tolerated. Race matters, and America makes it mattermore than life itself sometimes. Would the greek life, faculty anduniversity life and the Board of Trustees, basically the mostpowerful group on this campus, would actually like to talk aboutthe problems and what their leadership is going to do about it?Naw, they are going to wait and let the problems take care ofthemselves.
Benard Bennett is a senior international studies major. Hemay be reached at [email protected].
