Every single last person on this thread who referred to Black culture revealed their biases. Those of you referring to majority Black culture don't even know what the heck it is.
I've traveled quite a bit. Unlike many of you, I love all kinds of people. But I also love being around black people, any black people, all around the Diaspora. I attended a historically Black college. I identify as American first, and Black American after that. I love the United States, and I love my cultural heritage. I'm completely comfortable in my skin, and I do not deal with people who are uncomfortable with it. I'd put my maternal family story up against any other in this country. From my great-great grandparents who walked out of the fields 150 years ago where they were enumerated with the cattle and hogs, to my generation of entrepreneurs, truck drivers, scholars, and political strategists, but yes, also jailbirds, hustlers, and ne'er-do-wells, all of it -- all of them -- are me.
Many people at DYes, at this university, and around the world, are personally offended by that story. Something about our story makes them feel deeply uncomfortable, deeply unsettled by another manifestation of humanity, another existential frame, another lifeworld that is always [[and will ever be) a complete mystery to them.
You know, I'm always amused by the notion that only nonblacks have cultures that are worthwhile. Look at Detroit, we hear. Look at Haiti. Look at Africa. I also understand that some of you deeply believe that the so-called Third World and those of us with some "Third World" ancestry are less than the rest of you. Less moral. Less intelligent. Less responsible. If only, good and honest and true people sigh, if only they could be more white. The only ones who succeed are those who adapt to us. Do what we do. And of course, they will agree with us about how deficient black culture is. Affirm that the way we see things is the only way.
That's what's wrong with those Detroiters. They ran the city into the ground, tore up all the homes, looted all the money, and now it's a shadow of its former self. It will never come back. Black people ruin everything they touch. Darn black people.
[[Did I cover all my bases? Yes, I think so.)
Now that we've got all that out the way, can we have a real conversation about the following?
--the fact that the deindustrialization of Detroit is one of the first signal events of the dismantling of the American middle class
--the fact that we are quickly learning that industrial civilization, and all of its trappings, as birthed in Europe a few centuries ago, may not be the penultimate chapter of human history
--the fact that industrial civilization, for all its benefits, may be the eventual cause of our species' extinction
--why the powers that be have taken a sudden interest in certain areas of Detroit
--whether finger-wagging in the leafy green 'burbs, tongues flapping on 2-4-and-7, ink spilled [[real or virtual) in the Freep or News will make those unable or unwilling to work find a job that pays a living wage
--whether the same will stop someone determined to bash your head in from bashing it in
--whether or not the way that our nation currently conceives of racial, ethnic, religious, class, gender, cognitive, emotional, and sexual differences is infinitely sustainable
--whether or not the common sense and conventional wisdom that sustained and comforted mid-20th century Americans are still applicable 50-70 years later
--whether or not Detroit was different from other, comparable cities in the past, and why
--whether or not Detroit is different from other, comparable cities of today, and why
--whether or not Detroit will be different from other, comparable cities in the future, and why
Those are all conversations I'm interested in having. I am no more interested in having conversations about degenerate, dehumanized Black people than anyone here is interested in talking about whether or not White people smell when they're wet, or are as good in bed as we are. Both lines of thinking are equally offensive, equally stereotypical, equally untrue, and equally counterproductive. I don't care if you are convinced that Black people are at the bottom of humanity, realize that there are at least a billion members of your species who don't exactly see you as the crown of creation, either...
And get over it.
And work to CHANGE this city, this state, this nation, and this world. That is THE only conversation today's young people are interested in having.
You all can continue this white/black thinking if you want to. Some people in 1911 didn't realize that the Victorian era had ended. The rest of the world will move on without you if you keep this up.
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