Tommy Curry kyta_swan@hotmail.com
In a world of changing racial loyalties, it becomes very easy to advocate racial positions that may not be your own. In recent months, we have seen African people in America celebrate the role of Denzel Washington and Halle Berry in glorifying their acting successes for all Black people; we have seen Africans be questioned about their loyalties to America and its war on terrorism, even my Zambian girlfriend has decided to question the ultimate truth behind the term "African" as I apply it to "Black Americans." All this makes me think about what we chose to advocate as our identities.
Should I understand myself only as a black male, an identity that is defined in isolation to black women, and continental Africans? If I chose to define myself as this "black male" who or what do I exclude? Am I oppositionally constructed against certain categories of individuals? Do black women become conflicted by the nature of the terms by which I chose to define myself? What and who do I exclude? Better yet, who excludes me because I am a "black male?" Let's see. Black women would have to because the term "male" would traditionally imply some power dynamic that traditionally exists in European culture. White women would find it hard to sympathize as well with my patriarchal tendencies, and white men ... well we all know of the traditionally erotic nature of a "black" man's lynching.
So, if all this is constructed on the mere terms of my "existence," then how can we not exclude all and any people we are surrounded by? That's a pretty profound question, but I don't think that it is necessary. The obligation is only to your group. The sharing of power and identity (culture) only becomes important in terms of what that culture accepts and whom shall that culture protect, hence identity, group or individual, becomes the advocate for the extension of culture. This may not seem to be that important, but think about it. How would a triumph for all African people in America be interpreted if the triumph itself was based in a denigrated identity? What extension of culture would that be? Halle won an Oscar for a role that fed into the stereotype of a black woman and her lust for a white man - who murdered her Black husband. We can say this is still a "black" accomplishment, but the nature of the accomplishment should be questioned.
The position of the accomplishment to the benefit of African women and African people really need to be questioned for what it is. Just because she is a black person who happens to be a woman, is it also the case that her life is symbolic of black women? Just because she adopts a term, is it a necessary part of her that she is able to claim all "black women?" Do we celebrate all accomplishments of black people even when they are not speaking from us or to our benefit? We chose to celebrate and advocate these identities. Black women claim they are oppressed by all men, and black men claim that they are victims of a racist system, but these ideas are oppositionally constructed. So, to be a black woman or black man excludes the interests of the group that fundamentally constructed the experience of the gender identity. Let's think next time when we say what we are without knowing "what we are."
My Nommo appears on Wednesday. Tommy is a senior in philosophy and political science. His views do not necessarily reflect those of the Daily Egyptian.
Published on 11/17/05; 12:24:44 PM
