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The Afro-American Zeitgeist: A Summary of Unconscious Thoughts on Race (Part 1)
July 30th, Passionless Bliss: "I am not afraid of death because death is invisible. If I can't see where it's going or what it is doing, is it doing anything at all? However, I am afraid of empty buildings because they confirm the reality of death's existence." Or, in simpler terms, Ignorance is bliss until reality hits.
My dreams began by directly addressing my unwillingness to look into the deaths of African-Americans across the country. Despite my lack of knowledge, I became seriously opinionated about the nature of the incidents themselves, almost refusing to consider blackness as a factor. However, after the first dream, I began an investigation to prove blackness had nothing to do with these deaths. In the following paragraphs, I will take you through the sequence of dreams, which forced me to come to the conclusions, or at least my current stances, in which I now find myself.
July 31st, Tempest or Zephyr? & Rethinking Isms: What is the nature of discrimination? If skin color was not a factor, then what else could I blame? With this thinking in mind, I looked at income as a possible answer. We suffer because we are poor, not because we are black; perhaps, capitalism is designed like a pyramid scheme, consuming those on the bottom.
However, I had another dream that stopped me in my tracks, and its message was this: "The issue we are facing is deadly assumptions based around different ideas of what is normal in cultures that have never communicated these ideas to one another." For example, there is a difference between being born among the Wind-Riders as a Zephyr-Rider instead of a Tempest-Rider. They are both Wind-Riders, but they are different tribes. Perhaps, Tempest-Riders are best known to be very strong and potentially dangerous, so if they see me, a Zephyr riding the wind without any investigation, it would be easy to assume that I am potentially a dangerous Tempest-Rider. If this is true, then where do I go from here? The only logical thing to do is close my eyes and continue dreaming. After all, I am confronted with more clarity in that dream world than I am in reality.
September 1st, Black & White: What does it mean to be African-American, and how is it defined? Is our definition what unites us, or is it the very thing that divides us in our culture? I listened to a visibly upset woman in this dream, venting her frustration regarding her ethnic identity. She looked white, but she was black, and another African-American did not believe her.
I am African-American, but how I speak often surprises people both inside and outside the African-American community. I don't talk or behave as I am expected, so despite my black skin, I feel like a black sheep and have been treated as such by some. Some African-Americans are accused of talking and or acting white. This accusation suggests that blackness has little to do with behavior and is, instead, bound to actions and expression. However, not all African-Americans think this way, and so, we are faced with the problem of trying to define and simultaneously create a culture from the ground up.
September 3rd, Monsters & Men: Regarding our two formulating American cultures, I am reminded of an advisor's words that spoke before a king in my dream. The king was getting ready to pursue war with a nation-state of monsters near his own domain. In regards to his intentions, the king's advisor said, "This is more than a war between nations; it is a war within yourself. Don't do this," the advisor pleaded, but the King did not listen.
Two nations, one land. War was the only present option by no means, but it was the only option that the king wanted to pursue. How we respond to the cultures around us is important, we do not need to pursue any aggressive action just because it seems good. War has consequences and casualties for all parties involved, so for the sake of others, let us not make quick decisions on our own without talking with others and considering the consequences for all of those that will be involved. Whenever we do this, the question of our identity as either monsters or men can be answered confidently and undeniably: men.
September 6th, Vox Populi: In this dream, a controversial news story had taken media attention. Apparently, an anchorman was found to have a tattoo affiliated with a right-wing political group. I feel it was a red circle on the back of his left shoulder with an "R" or some symbol inside it. Members would use this symbol to get access to group meetings and events. This was obviously quite scandalous.
However, if one's knowledge of a person and/or culture does not come from a direct source but from secondhand information, the chance of that information being flawed and incomplete will be pretty high. This individual could have been an investigative journalist trying to get a scoop (I don't know how journalism works), or any other number of reasons at all, and a story was written up to define the situation before an investigation even began. This happens with people, cultures, and political groups. Acts of discrimination against Asian-Americans are on the rise. Why? Because of COVID-19. Although not all Asian-Americans are Chinese, and not all Chinese-Americans are affiliated with China, they are still blamed for the virus. German and Japanese internment camps are just two examples of the dangers of incomplete information and the impact that said information can have on people. So then, how do we find clarity in a world of misinformation?
September 9th, N-O-O-D-L-E, S-O-U-P: In this dream, I used a bit of signing and finger-spelling to communicate my mom's dinner order to a young woman that was deaf. She was the only deaf person in her whole town. Instead of signing, she had to read lips and watch body movements just to get by. That is not easy to do at all, hence the misunderstanding we had. The dream made me think about how cultures with different languages have struggles communicating with one another. Obviously, right? However, this struggle does not stop at languages that are foreign to one another. It can also be observed in dialects that come from similar languages. For example, my grandparents are from the South; I do not understand everything they say when talking because of our different dialects. Secondly, for those who don't know me personally, I have a twin, and we misunderstand each other all the time. If I struggle to communicate with my twin, a person I spent almost every day of my life with for 24 years, why should I expect any different from people I have known for much less. There is a context to every word we use and how we use them. Learning another person's language and their personal relationship to a word is the key to understanding them. This happens best when you have a relationship with the person you are trying to communicate with. If dialects and misunderstandings can happen between people on such a small scale, it is no wonder we have no solid cultural idea of what it means to be black. Without this understanding, we cannot truly communicate our culture to another in a way that crosses state and county lines. To overcome this barrier, we must learn the language and dialect of those we wish to communicate with.
September 21st, Try Anyways: Despite the communication barrier, we must seek to bridge the gap between us. I had two dreams that night. In one dream, a drunk police officer killed my family by mistake as we were fleeing from zombies. We entered a safe town, and I was given a choice: Have my mind wiped of the incident and lose all of the memories of my family who died in the incident, or live with the memories and see the police officer every day while not trying to get revenge despite him seemingly facing zero consequences.
In another dream, I was face to face with a giant that had been trying to kill me - his fist only inches from my face, while my hands were raised in surrender. We had been engaged in an epic dual when a friend of mine (the tallest close friend I have) asked me a question, "Why are you fighting that thing? It's not like you at all." My response was, "Fighting is easier than trying to convince this guy not to kill me." My friend gave me a look I knew too well. It said, "Try anyway." That's why I had lowered my weapons and found myself face to fist with my enemy. To my surprise, the giant took a step back and decided to hear what I had to say.
Nobody wants to do the hard things of extending mercy or stepping into something scary without any kind of protection, but sometimes that's what you have to do. One hard thing that we can do right now is to listen, but why should we have to? The answer, a good conversation is always a dialogue. Anytime a conversation is one-sided, information is lost. To truly have someone's ear, you must give them your ear in return. That is to say, we can't speak and expect anyone to just listen. We must speak and also listen so that what we say is not forgotten. The listener respects what we say because we try to truly hear and understand them as well.
October 14th, Manifest Destiny: Two men, one was rich and the other poor. Both of these men had the power to travel backward in time, and both stumbled into legal trouble throughout their lives. The thing that was their downfall was a place they had in common. Though the volatility of the hood they were from was destined to consume them, both of these men had returned to their prison ward willingly. It was the hood that destroyed them. These two men were doomed even before they got caught.
The enemy of the African-American Community is two-fold. One of our enemies is outside of ourselves; it is the assumptions made about us by those outside of our culture and with no relational attachments to us. Discrimination is a global phenomenon that goes beyond race and skin color that can be found worldwide. Discrimination can be based on skin color, eye color, hair color, ethnic group, religious affiliation, music style, presence of tattoos, a political party, weight, height, age, etc. As long as we are perceived as “other” in any sense of the word, discrimination will be possible. The other enemy we face comes from within our own culture, and it is born from our unwillingness to adopt the culture of those around us. "When in Rome, do as the Romans do." If we do not do this, we will find ourselves less likely to achieve the same success levels than those who do this experience.
We must become culturally bilingual, and if this seems too difficult, then we must ask ourselves a simple question. What is it that we want? Do we want all the luxuries that success can afford as defined by American eyes? Or, are we measuring success in some other way? We must decide to either fully embrace our American side and those American values, or we must fully take upon ourselves that African side we imitate so poorly. What will you do?
For those who are wondering, yes, there is a third option. Choose neither and pursue God and His culture, and His values. However, this is a topic for another day. Thank you for reading what I call the logic of a dream.
Editing is courteous of my friend Midnight Philosopher.
ADL. “Reports of Anti-Asian Assaults, Harassment and Hate Crimes Rise as Coronavirus Spreads.” Anti-Defamation League. Anti-Defamation League, June 18, 2020. https://www.adl.org/blog/reports-of-anti-asian-assaults-harassment-and-hate-crimes-rise-as-coronavirus-spreads.
Callis, Lydia. “Deaf Discrimination: The Fight for Equality Continues.” HuffPost. HuffPost, July 17, 2015. https://www.huffpost.com/entry/deaf-discrimination-the-f_b_7790204.
Frail, T.A., and Paul Kitagaki . “The Injustice of Japanese-American Internment Camps Resonates Strongly to This Day.” Smithsonian.com. Smithsonian Institution, January 1, 2017. https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/injustice-japanese-americans-internment-camps-resonates-strongly-180961422/.
Lovrien, Jimmy. “Finnish Immigrant Was 'Victim of Warmongers' 100 Years Ago in Duluth.” Duluth News Tribune. Duluth News Tribune, September 18, 2018. https://www.duluthnewstribune.com/news/4500591-finnish-immigrant-was-victim-warmongers-100-years-ago-duluth.
Morris, Amanda. “Deaf And Unemployed: 1,000+ Applications But Still No Full-Time Job.” NPR. NPR, January 12, 2019. https://www.npr.org/2019/01/12/662925592/deaf-and-unemployed-1-000-applications-but-still-no-full-time-job.
Siegel, Robert. “Lynching Of Robert Prager Underlined Anti-German Sentiment During World War I.” NPR. NPR, April 6, 2017. https://www.npr.org/2017/04/06/522903398/lynching-of-robert-prager-underlined-anti-german-sentiment-during-world-war-i.
ushistory.org. “Japanese-American Internment.” ushistory.org. Independence Hall Association. Accessed September 27, 2020. https://www.ushistory.org/us/51e.asp.
Citations: Hope
Davis, Daryl. “Transcript of ‘What Do You Do When Someone Just Doesn't like You?: Daryl Davis: TEDxCharlottesville.’” Edited by Tanya Cushman. Translated by Rhonda Jacobs. TED. TEDxCharlottesville , November 2017. https://www.ted.com/talks/daryl_davis_what_do_you_do_when_someone_just_doesn_t_like_you/transcript?language=en.Friedersdorf, Conor. “Talking About Race with the KKK.” The Atlantic. Atlantic Media Company, March 27, 2015. https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2015/03/the-audacity-of-talking-about-race-with-the-klu-klux-klan/388733/.
A powerful exploration of ideas and dreams.
ReplyDeleteThank you so much!
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