Ododita on Tue, 22 May 2001 05:22:53 +0200 (CEST) |
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<nettime> Fwd: The South and Ameri(kkk)a for Theorists |
Dear Alan and Bruce, I very much appreciate both of your thoughts on the subject of America (or "Amerikka" as some prefer to spell it). I am an African who has lived most of my life in the USA (24 years in the midwest, 2 years in New England, 10 years in New York and now 1 year in the south- in Florida). Living in the northern part of the US, and especially New York has tainted my vision of what Ameri(kkk)a is. I am now experiencing Ameri(kkk)a in a very fresh way living here in the South. I have to say that I am more than shocked and amazed at what I am experiencing down here. All the rascist myths and stories told to me about the south really does exist here ("it's 2001 people!!"). The resignation of the general African American public down here in the face of all the (caucassian) secret societies that control business and government is upsetting, but very understandable. Who wants to loose their job, get assaulted, or worse (none of these things may ever happen, but the possiblity of the abuse of power can lay heavy on the mind, and ultimately play a trick on you- it's the concept of 'First World Voodoo'). This network of power is the very system that helped Bush win/steal the White House. Small example: I purchased a used BMW recently, and since have been stopped 3 times by police in the first month of owning this car. The very first time I was stopped was in the first 2 minutes of driving the car off the used-car lot to get it inspected before purchasing it! I called the car dealer and told him what happened, that they stopped me because the licence plate tag had been expired- the car dealer to his amazement said that he had been driving it for months like that without ever being stopped (the used car dealer is caucassian). And it's always the same excuse by the police, "Oh, we punched in your plate number wrongly and had another description/driver for this car....sorry...." Poverty in the south is also high- Culturally, intellectually, and economically. The general food is bad (this is unbelievable); cultural institutions lack integrity; old and somewhat exquisite architecture is demolished for malls and prefab construction. Brain-drain is of great occurence here as well, since middle-income jobs pay very little when compared to the north. As is typicall, one has to go to more ethnic/rural based circumstances to find interesting cultural life, but then you risk your life or mental health due to difference (i.e., race and class, unless you are of the same race/class situation- yuppies and the poor also don't mix well, as we know). Guilt is play out in an interesting way here. I think that the abundance of churches down here (and I do mean an ABUNDANCE!) might play into balancing an unspoken awareness of the great horror and devastations caused by slavery to the African American people (and Native American people) by southern caucassians. It is interesting to look into their (southern caucassian) faces and imagine/see their ancestry that owned slaves. Again, it was mostly the wealthy plantation owners that owned slaves, but all caucassians benefited from the slave-system at that time in Ameri(kkk)an history. Actually, this situation is not too far from that of Nazi Germany and the horrors of the Holocaust, where some citizenry have absolved their guilt and responsibility by saying that at the time they did what they were told, or that they didn't personally kill any Jews. So in the south the people here continue to walk like sheep to their baptist ministries, their christian churches, and so forth to wash off 200 plus years of sins against humanity. I don't know how long I'll be living down here, but I am gaining a greater insight on Ameri(kkk)a as a whole- Both the good (yes, there is great good here too in AmeriCa!), as with the bad. I think it is best to be critical and open to both. I think Bruce's response has the benefit of time, and Alan's preceding comments to sound more diplomatic when it comes to discussing the good and the bad of Ammeri(kkk)a. But I very much admire the courage and caring of both Alan and Bruce for stating their very direct truths. Thank you! -O.D. Odita # distributed via <nettime>: no commercial use without permission # <nettime> is a moderated mailing list for net criticism, # collaborative text filtering and cultural politics of the nets # more info: majordomo@bbs.thing.net and "info nettime-l" in the msg body # archive: http://www.nettime.org contact: nettime@bbs.thing.net