This is universalizing and ignoring that there is a system and institution for which you are talking about.

We are not talking about fear like fear, but fear as something that is a driving force within a culture.

Race is an illusion, we all know that, however, it is an illusion which is manifested in dire reality as it affects the lives of all those who are considered "other" by the dominant cultural standards.

To see this universally is to put one's self out of reach with the piercing truth about white culture -- there is such a thing as white culture. Which is that it's movements are predicated on fear. Many a white AND Black scholar have said that, perhaps, people in the Northern cradle discovered something that caused them to fear, to keep running. One other dude said it was because in the snow, in the caves up and over there, you didn't know who your "friends" were and so the reaction to things "different" (xenophobia) became a part of the cultural core.

Ain't nobody trying to start a race riot or some such shit.
Ain't nobody generalizing either.

What somebody is doing is thinking and pointing out what he thinks (sorry, kemetian, but I like gender-fucking too much), what he has noticed about the culture he lives in regardless of whether he wants to or not.

Someone said something about American culture. And I do believe there is such a thing as American culture. However, I think it is more ruthless and aggressive and destructive than any of the other cultural forms to come out of Europe. And I can say this because I LIVE WITHIN AND WITHOUT in this culture. And I can criticize it and say, "You know, I notice a pattern here" because there is a pattern.

Go watch the scifi channel... kemetian was right when she said that a cultures literature and, indeed, media representations are accurate protrayals of what a culture thinks about itself. Look at the freakin' evidence! Ain't no need to get upset about it because it is. Culture _IS_ -- this is no generalization, this is the truth. And if we can't see that "white" (again, a manifestation of American culture) isn't a culture that has its own needs, thoughts, and imperatives, then as activists, as people who are trying to free themselves and our people, we are lost because we have lost the fucking game before we began. No one is preaching hate, only insight and patterns.

Do I fear death? No. Have I always seen death as a transition? Yes. Do I know where that came from? No, I don't. But I know it is completely out of wack with that I see around me.

If I were to meet an alien, would I try to kill it? No. You know what I would would do? Try to communicate with it. Especially if it were humanoid *shrugs*. We have, at our disposal, too many white representations of what they would do to an extraterrestial being. Fuck, remember E.T.?

*lol*

To echo Hotthyng in a different context, in another way, this really _ain't_ that deep. It ain't. It just is. In a sense, it is just what is obvious, as a pattern. and if we allowed ourselves to THINK instead of REACT (reaction formations are rarely the cause of thinking) perhaps we would see how this fits in to what is going on in our country today.

I keep saying it over and over again, but America is not out there trying to track down terrorist. America is striking blindly, not back. America is simply trying to re-find its center, where it felt in control and untouchable.... somebody done messed them up and its fear is rearing its ugly head like a mofo.

It isn't that deep, yet it ties ever so gracefully with what is happening, right now. Those bombs over Afghanistan.

and all we can do is talk about racism, generalizing, etc., everything to halt truly engaging and letting something *click*

Peace,

Q

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"americans are gross!" -utamaroho

Uplifting thoughts:

"We are the end result of our ancestors prayers as they died. We you are the sum total of their answered prayers."

"I am because we are; we are because I am."

"falling in love with somebody's soul...their essence their personality their walk their talk the way they speak and smile...no matter what the physical outer body is..male or female...is a temptation i hope i am never foolish enough to resist." - Hot Damali