Askia, I agree with your critique of Brickbacon, but I am unable to agree when anyone calls anything violent, which does not involve a person hitting another person.
Triskadecamus. I’ve had to face up to some of my own predjudices about African immigrants. African-American culture and many African cultures share traditions and some mores that are at best tenuous even when there’s a mutual spirit of cooperation. It can be hard to reconcile. But you either find a way to that, to move on or you risk becoming a permament hypocrite instead of merely a hypocrite in transition.
One thing that still gets me is that my romanticized sense of Pan-Africanism and psuedo-socialism really only exists as a political ideology. In the real world, people find all sorts if petty ways to undermine each other. I think since the floodgates for African and Afro-Caribbean immigration finally opened up in the late sixties we are finally able to note, one generation later, what can be accomplished by immigrants and expatriates and their families in this land of opportunity without the baggage or excuses of white man’s racism, generational poverty, practiced self-sacrifice, delaying instant gratification and maximizing opportunities for work, education and exercising political rights.
Scott_Plaid. Definition of violence. See definitions #2, #4, #6. Violence is more than physical.
Although this topic has lost a lot of momentum, but there’s room for discussion on a few key points. Earlier there was a consensus by a few other Dopers like MGibson and ParentalAdvisory that perhaps this ethnic insecurity – if it exists – may be socioecnomically based, rather than something perhaps innate to being African-American. I don’t consider that the whole story because it didn’t seem to explain some the intra-racial bigotry and what I consider insecure behavior I’ve witnessed and read about entrenched in African-American middle and upper class mores and traditions. But maybe it’s worth discussing this topic from a socioeconomic POV.
A few months back Weirddave and I got into a semi-heated discussion about what percentage of the black population in this country (including black immigrants and expatriates) could be considered middle class according to the Census data. Here’s Weirddave’s post and afterward, my reply. The last link allows you to read the whole thread that preceeded our conversation so you can read everything in context.
Summary: Of White, Asian, Latino and Black ethnic groups in the country, only blacks have half the percentage of their total population living in the two lowest economic quintiles or below. (If you’re wondering how the hell you can be below the lowest two, it’s because prison populations aren’t reflected in the Census, and prisoners are poor.) Add those (roughly) million and a half men and 100,000 women prisoners and the black poverty levels jump 10%.
Where this might be pertinent in lower economic classes is the fact that being poor is often a generational phenomenon and is a huge obstacle in having the financial ability to satisfy basic levels in Maslow’s Heriarchy of Needs. When your basic needs aren’t met, that causes stress, tension and some very pervasive feelings of insecurity for yourself and your family.
It’s my contention that those African-Americans have a better chance of freeing themselves from these feelings of insecurity if they are able to bring themselves up from the recidivist prison system the lowest two quintiles. This is not a guarantee of actualization and security. That it may also be likely that insecure feelings of say, personal inadequacy, competency and safety that characterize the people of lower socieconomic levels may transmute into different forms of insecurity like flaunting one’s possessions, wealth, attainments, accomplishments on higher ones.
Anyone want to comment?
Why am I so sure African-Americans are insecure? Well, I see a lot of the ways we act and interact as a culture – our hesitancy to publicly criticize our leaders, the ways we tend to spend money, our knee-jerk hostility to the word “nigger,” the things we find important, the things we laugh at, our eagerness to validate conspiracy theories, the foods we choose to eat, the vogue for exploitation of women and materialism in rap culture – as all pretty blatant symptoms of widespread insecurity.
So if this cultural insecurity exists, what are the forces that causes us to be insecure? How do these forces working together uniquely affect African-Americans moreso than whites, Latinos and Asians and perhaps black immigrants and expatriates from other countries?
I mean one thing my college professor from Nigeria used to say to us all the time was, “Black people here are crazy.”
Two things occur to me. There may be others you may wish to share, but for my part I’ll observe two:
ONE. Maslow’s theory tells us people become insecure, sick and selfish when they do not or cannot meet their basic needs: physiological > safety > belongingness and love > esteem > self-actualization.
TWO. To cope with the stress and demands placed on us, all people must develop and utilize emotional support systems. When people fail to ultilize or recognize the need for help and support when they face stressful times, this too, leads to feelings of hostility, inadequacy and insecurity. Because America is such a historically racist society and an increasingly fear-driven consumer society, this emotional support system is critical.
So: if African-Americans are insecure as a people. it may be because of widespread deficiencies in our ability to individually satisfy basic needs and our failure to develop strong emotional support systems.
I believe that a closer look at Maslow’s first three levels of need will reveal that African-Americans inadequately satisfy very basic physiological and safety needs, as well as belonging and love needs and esteem issues. I also believe that many African-American support systems are critically flawed, particularly when it comes to assertively supporting young black males.