INCLUSION: The Death of a Nation?
In a 1969 interview on the Dick Cavett Show James Baldwin quoted Stokely Carmichael and stated,
“Integration is a euphamism for white supremacy…the truth is we’ve been integrated since we got here”.
In this he meant, we are quite literally, brothers, sisters, daughters, cousins, parents, and ever other relation by law and by blood.
Many of you who have heard me speak on this already know how I feel about the idea of “inclusion”. I’ve spoken about it and recently written about it here.
Given the recent shenanigans and tomfoolery going on with the “missteps” regarding Juneteenth, this idea of “inclusion” is asking me to speak on it again…and I’m more than happy to do so.
James Baldwin went on to say in that interview, that when our goal is for integration/inclusion our goal is to be an accomplice in our own death.
This statement reminded me of a line by the character King Edward the Longshanks in the movie Braveheart. In an effort to rid Scotland of “Scots”, King Edward reinstated the law of prima nocta — the legal right of a monarch to have sex with any female subject, particularly on her wedding night. With the reinstatment of this law, King Edward declared…
“If we can’t get them out…we’ll breed them out”.
He was not suggesting there is something wrong with interracial relationships, he was suggesting that to integrate or be included it to blend into the dominant crowd — to become different and better than we presently are.
Of course, this is all rubbish.
The so-called “fight” is not to be integrated or included. We are already here. The fight is to be left alone so we can make our own decisons, and be who we are and who we want to be.
I’ve further interpreted Baldwin’s statement on integration/inclusion as participation “in our own death” as the factual and metaphorical death of
- our inherent power,
- our automony,
- our individuality,
- our options,
- our choices ,and most importantly
- the death of our ability to imagine we are something more and different than descendents of slaves, black, and marginalized people without power and who need to be given what we don’t have.
As I mentioned before, when we believe we need to be included by others (who clearly have power that we don’t have), we MUST also believe the pack of lies supporting the belief in inclusion.
Here more of my POV in this video!
Come on, ya’ll. I’m not asking you to wake up but I am asking you to at least crack one eye open.
