As Black people in America, we tend to hold social and cultural facets of other races to a higher regard. This is most prominent in relation to White people. We also obsess on our negative, destructive facets to the point of often falling into damaging self-fulfilling prophecies. This is a result of generations of mental colonization, false programming, and brainwashing by racism.
I was reading the book "Salvation: Black People and Love" by Bell Hooks and she brought up an interesting point. She says "There should be an entire body of work, both serious scholarship and popular material, focusing on Black self-love."
I found this very interesting and I wanted to expand this idea outside of self-love, to also include community and family love. In the next installment of this post, I'm going to create a small, abridged list of facets of social and cultural life we should celebrate. These facets aren't part of the popular, dominant culture, yet they promote a holistic sense of identity and understanding of the world around us.
For part one of this two part post, I want to write about these facets in light of the Black condition. The truth is that many of these practices exist because we sit at the lowest social strata in this country. We are this way because we suffer. Some see this suffering as an unnecessary obstacle, one that should be shunned, regardless of its output, while others see it in a Biblical paradigm, nurturing our highest, fullest, most God-like self.
While I agree that we shouldn't have to suffer, I tend to lean more towards the religious, spiritual understanding because I can't simply erase the scars, or ignore the impact generations of suffering has had on me, my family, and my people's existence. What was done has been done. There's no going back.
I don't necessarily see suffering as a the most extreme, destitute form of disenfranchisement, physical pain or imprisonment. That form of suffering does exist and it can be horrific, but its one of many forms of suffering. In its most rudimentary, yet still spiritually potent form, it can be that nagging feeling that something is wrong that needs to be fixed. Its not something that one looks for either. I try not to walk into suffering or repeat the patterns that cause suffering, that's the action of a psychopath. That's self-destruction. The suffering I'm referring to is the epic internal and external conflict known as "the struggle", that we deal with by being Black. Suffering is a great teacher, whose lessons are applied, preserved and updated.
Picture suffering as a man-made garden. The plot of land that was cleared to tend to this garden is the object of suffering. The land with its original growth now gone is the sufferer.
One can let that land sit vacant in the hopes that new growth will sprout by itself, which may lead to at best, a renewal of what was there before, or at worst a dead patch of land. This is the suffering that occurs with no follow up. Victims often experience this. We have repeatedly experienced this cruel roll of dice throughout history.
One may also plant seeds and never tend to it again, creating a growth that may find a way to form an organic symbiotic relationship at best, or a parasitic relationship at the worst. This is akin to shallow advice with no follow ups, ineffective legislation by government authorities, or moral platitudes often eschewed by the Church with no practical means of action to accompany scripture. We to have also suffered in this more complex dice game.
Another option is continuously preserve, tend to, and update the garden with new cyclical growth by rotating crops, plants and trees, creating a sustainable source of energy and a psychological refuge that promotes a sense of harmony and feng shui. This may create an entirely new ecosystem, or a fruitful source of nourishment for a village, or even the World on a macro level.
To apply this ecosystem metaphor to the Black experience is to refer to the ongoing social, psychological, and economic work performed at the community level. When we are at our best, we do this with spectacular results.
What are some of the ways we do this?
Stay tuned to part 2 for more:
:)
Read this book!
