Homo Sapien Pride
Zora Neale Hurston was way ahead of her time -- a post-racial lady living in a just-post-slavery world. John H. McWhorter writes on CIty Journal:
To many today, Hurston's impatience with groupthink suggests an underlying discomfort with being black. But for Hurston, it was a simple matter of inner pride. Her anthropological and literary work puts paid to the slightest question of whether she loved black culture and her own people. Yet she still understood that seeking individual validation in race "pride" amounted mostly to smoke and mirrors:
Now, suppose a Negro does something really magnificent, and I glory, not in the benefit to mankind, but in the fact that the doer was a Negro. Must I not also go hang my head in shame when a member of my race does something execrable? . . . The white race did not go into a laboratory and invent incandescent light. That was Edison. . . . If you are under the impression that every white man is an Edison, just look around a bit.Hurston would likely irk many today with skepticism about the black community's pride in Barack Obama's election. She would also have no patience for the slavery reparations movement that flowered most recently in the early 2000s, in the wake of Randall Robinson's best-selling manifesto The Debt (see "Reparations, R.I.P.," Autumn 2008). When slavery was recent enough for her to have interviewed former slaves, she even went as far as asserting, "Slavery is the price I paid for civilization."
...Hurston did not live long enough to offer her two cents on affirmative action, but she gave ample hints of how she would have responded to universities' lowering standards based on pigmentation:
It seems to me that if I say a whole system must be upset for me to win, I am saying that I cannot sit in the game, and that safer rules must be made to give me a chance. I repudiate that. If others are in there, deal me a hand and let me see what I can make of it, even though I know some in there are dealing from the bottom and cheating like hell in other ways.Italics mine: she knew that life was never perfect, but she counseled blacks to make the best of themselves nevertheless, rather than shouting from the rooftops that human nature must change first. She knew that when it comes to ability, assertion cannot stand up to demonstration: "Equality is as you do it and not as you talk it. If you are better than I, you can tell me about it if you want to, but then again, show me so I can know. . . . If you can't show me your superiority, don't bother to bring the mess up, lest I merely rate you as a bully."
McWhorter's book: Losing the Race: Self-Sabotage in Black America.
When Seretse Khama was negotiating Botswana's independence with the British, they would refer to any problem that popped up as "a nigger in the woodpile". He pretended not to notice. When he was elected as the country's first President in 1966, reporters asked him what he would call the colonial manor that was now the Presidential residence. He put a big grin on his face and said "the woodpile!". Today, Botswana is the freest, most well-run and least corrupt country in Africa. Imagine what Africa could be like if the other post-colonial leaders had followed his good-natured example. Or what a difference it would make if Hurston's views were more prevalent than Sharpton's.
Martin at September 3, 2009 8:22 AM
Amy Alkon
http://www.advicegoddess.com/archives/2009/09/03/homo_sapien_pri.html#comment-1666123">comment from MartinJust love that, Martin. (I knew somebody with the guts to post on this entry would finally come along -- not surprised that it's you!)
Amy Alkon at September 3, 2009 8:26 AM
Zora Neale Hurston is a local girl for us in NE Florida, and as such, is required reading for just about every student. It was with dread that I picked up her novel, Their Eyes Were Watching God, thinking of it as yet another preachy, dull, required book. I was surprised that it drew me in so deeply. She's an awesome writer (her short stories are even better than the novel, IMO) and I'm always disappointed that she doesn't get more national attention. She was a trailblazer, and someone who honestly didn't give a good goddamn what other people thought of her. For those unfamiliar, pick up a biography of her and prepare to be impressed.
She was a helluva woman, that's for damn sure.
cornerdemon at September 3, 2009 8:48 AM
Interesting that another poster mentioned (real) Africans.
Immigrants from Africa and the Americas have had little trouble following the same upwards path as other immigrant groups - while the mentality of "African Americans" keeps them stuck.
Ben-David at September 3, 2009 10:24 AM
"Equality is as you do it and not as you talk it. If you are better than I, you can tell me about it if you want to, but then again, show me so I can know. . . . If you can't show me your superiority, don't bother to bring the mess up, lest I merely rate you as a bully."
This one is a keeper.
Feebie at September 3, 2009 11:30 AM
LOE Zora Neale Hurston. Great reading.
momof4 at September 3, 2009 11:41 AM
A wonderful perspective from someone who obviously understood that respect can only be earned, not demanded. It appears that she would reject all notions of entitled victimhood.
Feminists want to extol the virtues of women in history. Where (and why) have they been hiding Hurston?
Jay R at September 3, 2009 11:45 AM
>>Feminists want to extol the virtues of women in history. Where (and why) have they been hiding Hurston?
Jay R,
How do you mean "hiding"?
"Alice Walker led a revival of Zora Neale Hurston popularity beginning in the 1970s, and Zora Neale Hurston is now considered among the classic American writers of the 20th century."
Jody Tresidder at September 3, 2009 12:09 PM
"Hiding"? You've got to be kidding me. She's required reading in every women's studies class, and is considered one of the first black feminists. (Do a quick google search for "feminism zora neale hurston" if you're unconvinced.) She rocks, she's always rocked, and more people would have known about her if she weren't black and female.
CB at September 3, 2009 1:01 PM
I'm a little mixed on this and I'm sure I'm opening myself up for some slamming but.....I always get caught up with understanding the reasons behind something. Not to take anything away from Zora Neale Hurston, because she is awesome, but I get why affirmative action started. It was meant as a way of helping a group of people that were discriminated against and we really cannot ever dispute that. Unfortunately I don't believe it has always inspired those it was meant to help and it has caused reverse discrimination in many cases.
This one is a grey area for me. I hate the argument, "well I never owned a slave," as though that makes it all better, and yes, I hear it quite often. There is a reason that Al Sharpton found a place and while I don't always agree with his politics I do understand how he got where he did. I live in one of the most segregated counties in the country. I still see racism on a pretty regular basis. I see a huge difference between school districts and what my children have in their school as opposed to some of the minority areas. I don't say its all "whitey's" fault, and I'm don't think that affirmative action is the answer. I just know what I've seen growing up and what I still see. There are many people who have flourished despite adversity and Ms. Hurston is definitely an inspiration, but don't we have to ask why she is an exception and not the norm?
Kristen at September 3, 2009 1:25 PM
Of course there are differences between school districts, schools are paid for by property taxes, higher payments from better property areas will mean more money in those schools. But we've seen again and again that it isn't the amount of funding a school gets that determines how well the students do, its the amount of parental involvement, the amount of governmental interference, and the primary focus of the school policies and practices.
Hint: More of the first. Less of the second. More intense focus on the last by those mentioned in the first.
Money is minor compared to those things. Sure its great to have a school with a whole floor dedicated just to extra tutors and all...but without parents pushing their kids to do well in academics, its worthless.
The problem with affirmative action was the same problem with most similarly liberal programs. It meant well, but it had no real appreciation for human nature. Being well meaning is almost worse than being stupid.
Did people pushing affirmative action really believe that nobody would start thinking of preference as an entitlement? Did they really believe that after its implementation that no one would view successful blacks as (affirmative action hires) true or not? Affirmative action's blindness to the human tendency towards dependency in the face of constant assistance, or the equally human reaction of contempt for the under-qualified & over-promoted, (or the suspicion of the same) has done more to wreck progress than it ever accomplished.
Robert at September 3, 2009 2:18 PM
Robert, I agree with you and I get the differences about taxes and also parental involvement. I admit I have a problem sometimes when I can understand why something was implemented even when I see it not working.
The kids are what get me. Its not their fault that their parents aren't involved or maybe even don't have the tools to know how to be. It seems sometimes like a vicious cycle. I look at some of those kids and wonder how they will ever have a real chance.
I don't have a solution to this and I'm certainly like claiming affirmative action is the answer. I just see some kids as lost and it breaks my heart. There are people who overcome it and people who do not and I do not claim to know the reasons.
Kristen at September 3, 2009 2:43 PM
Kristen, you're right about it being a vicious cycle. That is absolutely true. The root of the problem is, I think, the human tendency to devalue that which is received for free. How many welfare recipients see the welfare they receive as an opportunity to invest in themselves, rise out of poverty, become something? A few, but not many. I understand your feelings about the kids because I feel the same way, but more giving will not fix it, because giving is part of the problem.
Cousin Dave at September 3, 2009 4:20 PM
Kristen:
Many people are discriminated against. But when you *legislate* things like Affirmative Action- it has disastrous consequences and destroys people’s freedom and dignity.
Affirmative action has done more harm than good, sure it's helped a few - but at what expense to the remainder of the people it was suppose to help? Yet, it makes white liberals feel so damn good about themselves!
I think Affirmative Action is incredibly insulting (as a woman who has benefited from it – albeit involuntarily). If I am not suited for a position – don’t hire me for it! Hire me for a position I’ve qualified for and then TEACH ME what you know! The rest is up to me.
When anyone (white, black, purple, yellow) is *shown how* to do something, they will have a far better chance at succeeding in life than if it's just given to them based on some arbitrary reason.
"Give a man a fish, feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish, feed him for a lifetime"
Al Sharpton, always has and always will be a pimp. He does more to oppress his "people" than many supremacists could have ever dreamed - and he get's paid to do it too.
Feebie at September 3, 2009 4:40 PM
You are right, Cousin Dave and Feebie, about people devaluing what they get for free. I worked for a short time at Social Services. As a single mother, I did everything possible to avoid ever having to go on welfare and it killed me to watch some of the young people who were there. What killed me more was, again, the kids. There were some people there who were desperately in need and using it until they got themselves out of their circumstances, but it was the minority. It just broke my heart for those kids who were growing up in a world where the Social Services office was the expected stop in life. I know its life and there's good and bad, but I just always hate to see a kid start out like that.
Kristen at September 3, 2009 4:51 PM
"It just broke my heart for those kids who were growing up in a world where the Social Services office was the expected stop in life. I know its life and there's good and bad, but I just always hate to see a kid start out like that."
Well, if we weren't being taxed to freaking death (or coninually having the government/Obama limit charitable tax deductions) I am sure there would be more than a few people willing to make charitable contributions to those folks who were in that woman's position.
You get the government involved with these things, and it messes up the entire system.
In a decent society, people WILL help. It's in their best interest to help, but also, it's because its the RIGHT thing to do. But this type of government intervention breeds resentment amoung folks that would otherwise be willing to help - when they see people not willing to put forth an effort to get out of their positions, which as you've stated - seems to be the majority.
Feebie at September 3, 2009 5:03 PM
Being well meaning is almost worse than being stupid. - Robert
I'd say it is worse than being stupid. Stupid people are rarley given positions of real authority, unless its given to them by well meaning people
lujlp at September 3, 2009 5:52 PM
Kristen:
The kids are what get me. Its not their fault that their parents aren't involved or maybe even don't have the tools to know how to be. It seems sometimes like a vicious cycle. I look at some of those kids and wonder how they will ever have a real chance.
- - - - - - - - - - - -
The best thing for these kids is for the error and failure of these choices to be made apparent.
There is no kindness in propping up false illusions - which is what continuing the welfare treadmill does.
When welfare payments - especially aid to children born out of wedlock - were restricted during the Reagan years, a whole lot of "welfare grandmas" starting talking differently to their daughters, who then started talking differently to their boyfriends. And a lot of people went off welfare - and never looked back.
The same bitter medicine is now necessary for all those induced into taking mortgages they should not have received.
Fortunately lessons learned this way are usually not forgotten.
Ben-David at September 4, 2009 4:16 AM
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