Rethinking Superiority:Reflections on 'Whiteness' and the Cult of Progress

[buzzsaw_23]

<snip>

As for black folks’ supposed lack of achievement in terms of technology, science and the like – as well as the utterly specious claim about the lack of the wheel in pre-slavery Africa – I could spend several thousand words referring readers to the evidence on this subject, compiled by African and European scholars alike, which demonstrates both the racism and absurdity of such arguments. But for those truly interested in this material – and that would exclude pretty much anyone inclined to take my critic’s diatribe seriously – you would be better served to seek out the information yourself, seeing as how it will be far more adequately presented therein than I could do here. You can begin with the works of Cheikh Anta Diop, Molefi Asante, and Walter Rodney, among others; and for those whose racism leads them to dismiss black scholars on these subjects, you can always examine the voluminous writings of Basil Davidson: one of the most respected Africa scholars in modern history, who is decidedly both white and British.

<snip>

Rather, I would argue that the entire basis for comparison offered by racist commentators is flawed; the paradigm under which greatness is being assessed is problematic, and the premises underlying the slanders upon Africa and the accolades for Europe are wrongheaded. In short: the Europhile interpretation of what constitutes cultural superiority and accomplishment is itself subjective, and more than that, terribly stultifying as a measure of human worth.

To suggest that we should gauge the legitimacy of a culture based upon its technological achievements is to elevate the importance of things over and above the importance of people. It would require that we extend the label, superior, to any culture with advanced technological prowess, even if that technology were put to use in such a way as to exterminate others, or ultimately in such a way that led to the extinction even of the culture that created it.

<snip>

By contrast, hunter-gatherer societies that nurture respect for one another, mutual interdependence, compassion and cooperation – and who by and large engage in little or no predation against others or the land base upon which they depend – would be considered inferior in this cosmology. That such an approach for ordering societies as better and worse is tendentious, to say the least, should be obvious, but won’t be to those who have bought into the white supremacist view of things.


http://www.blackcommentator.com/150/150_think_whiteness.html

[bonito]

1. Well I am both black and white

Living proof we can exist together. Peace