samedi 16 mars 2013

Renouncing "race" ? Where would it lead us ?

Renouncing race means death for racists. They live through their racial identity. 

The only people who cannot live without it are them.

Which brings me to ask this question: why on earth doesn't the rest of us renounce it ? 
Why do so many of us continue to define ourselves through its prism ? 

If we renounced it, we would bring about the worst catastrophe racists fear. 

It would mean that they have no more relevance, no more power in human relationships. 

Their mere existence as social beings would cease. They would have to reconstruct themselves, and, most important, they would have to leave the rest of us alone. 

If we ignore them, what power do they have left ? 
If we tell them that we don't want of their vision of the world, what are they going to do ? Force us ? 

They have already, for centuries. 

Isn't it time we realized "race" hasn't served this world one bit of positivity ?

So where would renouncing "race" lead us ?

Not where we are now !




(disclaimer: renouncing "race" doesn't mean ignoring its dire effects on this planet and its human societies. On the contrary, it means studying "race" as a fact (not a truth or a biological reality) to decipher its implications in all domains of social life.

jeudi 7 mars 2013

"Race pride"

Je vais poster un autre article à ce sujet en français plus tard. Comme je l'ai expliqué dans un autre article, "penser la race" en français n'est pas la même chose que la penser en anglais... I am going to post another article on this later in French. As I have stated it in another article, "racial thinking" in French is different from "racial thinking" in English...

"Race pride" is a very problematic concept, for several reasons, that I won't even be exploring here, because this would require a whole book. I'll just give my thoughts on this.

The first reason for its problematic aspect is that it relies directly on the idea of race. It takes it for granted. It accepts "race" as a fact.

Not only sociologically, but also biologically, which is where the core of the problem is.

For Europeans, "race pride" is extremely problematic, because it is viewed as the engine of "white power". It is what Hitler, his predecessors and inspirators (like Gobineau) posed as a postulate to develop their politics (that's a very brief summary).

For Americans, it can sound quite differently, because in the American context, "race" is already a social "fact" that is accepted as such by the majority. So "race pride" becomes a sub-categorized affirmation of self-pride based on the pre-acceptance of "race".

Thus, it renders the analysis of pride extremely complicated, since rejecting it as "racist" implies that one at the same time rejects the attempts at affirming oneself in the face of white supremacy.

In addition to that first level of explanation, the complexity becomes more intricate when one hears others say "I'm black and I'm proud" or "I'm proud to be white". Both do not convey the same message at all. Understanding their meaning requires a minimum of historical, sociological and biological knowledge. They do not translate as simple self-pride. They are loaded.

In the European context, and I will speak more precisely of the French one (because I don't know the other ones well enough), things are different too.
Someone saying "Je suis fier d'être noir" (I am proud to be black) is not necessarily consciously referring to "race", because "noir" is not thought as "race" by most people, but as simply "physical description". It is of course not only "skin color"; the real meaning is "race", but it doesn't appear as such. However, someone saying "Je suis fier d'être blanc" (I am proud to be white) will definitely and without hesitation be recognized as a racist, and he or she knows it before hand. So that affirmation is deeply and directly the mirror of a political statement of belonging to "white power" organizations, or wishing to, and a conscious or unconscious affirmation of "power".

mercredi 6 mars 2013

Who are they kidding? / De qui se moquent-ils ?



La première fois que j'ai vu ça, j'ai éclaté de rire. Non, franchement, c'était tellement ridicule. Comment réagir autrement ? Enfin, bon, un raciste réagirait autrement. Il dirait probablement: "tiens, vous voyez, on vous l'avait bien dit qu'ils étaient blancs". 
Puis, évidemment, la réflexion a repris son cours, et là, je me suis dit: "ces gens-là n'abandonnent jamais, même devant l'évidence". Un raciste pourrait vous soutenir mordicus qu'il n'a pas de nez, si cela sert ses intérêts.

The first time I saw this, I burst out laughing. I mean, this was so hilarious, so ridiculous. How could one react otherwise. Well, I guess racists could, they probably would go: "see, we told you they were white".
After enjoying the moment, I started observing and thinking. So this is the new thing. These people never give up, even facing the obvious. I can very well imagine a racist telling me that what he has in the middle of his face is not a nose, as long as it seems to serve his interests.



Donc, ces gens-là en sont à essayer de nous faire croire que parce que l'ordinateur l'a sorti comme ça, c'est parce qu'il avait cette tête-là. La preuve par le logiciel ! Sauf que les logiciels sont faits par des hommes qui ont leurs préjugés... La seule chose qu'ils ont eu du mal à changer, c'est le crâne. Ben oui, c'est de l'os. Trop dur à modifier. Le cartilage, c'est plus facile. Encore que, ils ont quand même pas mal applati le menton.

So these people now try to make us believe that he looked like this because the computer says so. Software-proved ! Except that software is man-made and therefore biased. The only thing they didn't manage to change was the skull. To hard, too much bone. Cartilage is easier. And yet, what about the chin? It's obvious on the mummy's picture that his was longer than that.



Si vous voulez comparer avec la tête de la mommie de Tut Ankh Amon, je vous laisse y aller, sur internet. Moi, je trouve que les corps des gens doivent rester là où leur famille les avaient mis: dans leur cercueil. Cette obsession maladive de possession jusqu'à aller voir dedans me rend malade. 
D'ailleurs, comment ce fait-il que cela poserait un problème si des Africains décidaient qu'ils allaient voir ce qui se passe dans les cercueils des rois et reines européens, mais les Européens peuvent faire ça aux leurs ? Et ils doivent l'accepter ? C'est le racisme qui permet ce genre de comportements.

If you want to compare with Tut Ankh Amun's mumy's head, I'll let you do that on the net. I personally think that people's bodies must stay were their families put them: in their tomb or casket. This sick obsession that consists in wanting to possess everything to the point of looking inside corpses makes me sick.
By the way, how come it is not a problem for them to do this, but if by chance a bunch of Africans decided they want to know what's inside European kings and queens' tombs, Europeans wouldn't let them ? Racism allows this type of behavior.



Tut Ankh Amon était africain. ça les embêtent beaucoup. 
Tut Ankh Amun was african, and that bothers them a lot.



L'Egypte est en Afrique, ça aussi ça les embête, mais il ne pourront pas le changer. C'est comme le nez au milieu de la figure.

Egypt is in Africa, that bothers them too, but they won't be able to change that. It's like the nose in the middle of their face.



Allez, on se marre encore un petit coup avant de partir. C'est pathétique, pathétique. Le racisme rend pathétique. 
Let's have a good laugh before we go. This is just so pathetic... That's what racism does.

One of the many sites that spreads the lie about that dynasty.

Regardez-moi ça !
Look at that !



La reine Tyie, sa grand-mère: 
Queen Tyie, his grand-mother: 


Je connais une Camerounaise qui lui ressemble comme deux gouttes d'eau. Mais, en 1993, j'ai lu dans Le Nouvel Observateur une égyptologiste française qui disait: "elle était leucoderme". Apparemment sa peau foncée ne faisait que refléter son statut de reine ! (Je me demande bien ce qu'on fait de ses traits qui sont -quand même- *un peu* africains...)

I know a Cameroonian woman who looks just like her. But, I read some French female egyptologist (supposedly an expert) back in 1993 who said that "Queen Tyie was a leucoderm". Apparently her appearance on all the images we have of her is "due to her status, that why she was represented with dark/black skin". (I wonder what we are supposed to think of her facial features which look *a little bit* African...)

vendredi 1 mars 2013

Racial pollution / La pollution raciale

(English below)

Nous la subissons depuis quelques siècles. La Renaissance accompagne sa naissance.


Elle efface le naturel et impose le politique. 


Elle brouille l'historique et masque le réel. 


Elle tranforme des sociétés saines en sociétés malades.


Elle s'insinue dans la psychologie des peuples et des individus.


Les "Lumières" nous ont tellement éblouies que nous ne la voyions plus.


Les plus grands penseurs de la sociologie en étaient malades. 


Même les médecins de la psyché en sont malades. 

Comment la psychiatrie peut-elle en guérir si elle est elle-même polluée ? 

Des pays entiers sont transformés en hôpitaux psychiatriques à ciel ouvert, et des gens sains d'esprits se retrouvent en HP ou emprisonnés parce qu'ils ont exprimé leur santé mentale face à la pollution raciale.



It has been polluting the human environment for centuries. It was born as Europe's Renaissance was spreading.


It erases nature and imposes politics.


It blurs history and masks reality.


It destroys sane societies to build sick ones.


It insinuates itself into the psychology of individuals and peoples.


The "Enlightment" blinded us to it.


Sociology's greatest thinkers were sick with it.


Even doctors dealing with the psyche are sick with it. 

How can psychiatry cure it when it is itself polluted with it ? 

Entire countries function like open-air hospitals, and sane people end up in madhouses or jailed because they expressed their mental health confronting racial pollution.

Ethnic / Ethnique

It has been quite a few years since the word "ethnic" entered our vocabulary and our culture(s). 
Cela fait déjà un certain temps que le mot "ethnique" est entré dans notre vocabulaire et nos moeurs.

Like everything else, it has been "capitalized" to sell. 
Comme tout le reste, il a été "capitalisé" pour vendre.

Ethnic is cool. Ethnic is exotic. Ethnic is dark. Ethnic is "black".
Ethnique, c'est cool. Ethnique, c'est exotique, c'est "métis". Ethnique, c'est "noir".

Ethnic is music. Ethnic is clothes. Ethnic is people.
Ethnique, c'est de la musique. Ethnique, c'est une mode. Ethnique, c'est des gens.

That's what it first appeared as. A way to speak of groups of people while avoiding "race". But it is still spells "race". Because it somehow, subtly, excludes "white". 
C'est ainsi que ce terme est né. Pour désigner des groupes de gens tout en évitant de parler de "races". Mais c'est toujours là, en arrière plan. Parce que, d'une certaine manière, subtilement, cela exclut le "blanc".

It goes with "World" on store shelves. "World" music is "Ethnic" music. 
Ça va de pair avec "World" (en français aussi !) ou "Monde". La musique "World" ou les musiques "du Monde", c'est "ethnique".

So, by "World", you should understand "non-white". By "Ethnic", the same. 
Donc, par "Monde", vous devez comprendre "non-blanc". Par "Ethnique", la même chose.

To prove this, turn to the racists' discourse: Jean-Marie Le Pen inaugurated this officially some years ago in France. To avoid referring to "race" (which would have taken him to court in France), he described groups of youths who had the particularity of being of North or Sub-Saharian origins as "bandes ethniques" or "ethnic gangs".
Pour prouver cela, c'est classique, il suffit d'écouter le discours des racistes: Jean-Marie Le Pen fût un précurseur de la chose, comme à son habitude. Pour éviter de faire référence à la "race" (ce qui l'aurait conduit devant un juge en France), il décrivit des groupes de jeunes d'origine nord africaine ou d'Afrique sub-saharienne comme des "bandes ethniques".