[Xmca-l] Re: Ruqaiya Hasan

[Dr. Paul C. Mocombe]

Jenna,

You are right, but we give more weight to the politic of the body over the ontological and epistemological problems black folk have neglected.  For me, if we assume the stance of malcolm-x vis-a vis whites the former problem is negated leaving the ontological and epistemological problem of the "house and field nigger" metaphor evoked by malcolm to capture the latter problem.

In her work, "hegel, haiti, and universal history," Susan buck - moss highlights the fear that whites had of jean-jacques dessalines bcuz of his retaliation against general rochambeau for his war crimes against his african prisoners of war.  Dessalines treated his french prisoners of war the same way that rochambeau treated the black ones, which sent shock waves throughout the Western world given the status of white skin.  Following the revolution, he also dealt with the epistemological and ontological problem by suggesting that as africans we must denounce everything that is french and redefine ourselves in relation to our africanness/blackness!  

Black folks (Du bois ' s so-called talented tenth) have not adequately dealt with the epistemological and ontological problem bcuz of our obsession with white people and integration.  The politic of the body and the epistmological and ontological issues are two-different sides of the same coin.  You can not deal with white oppression of your black body, while neglecting the fact that when you kneel to pray, white jesus and how you want to live in the world, is defined by those who oppress and oppressed you!  


Sent on a Sprint Samsung Galaxy Note® II

<div>-------- Original message --------</div><div>From: Jenna McWilliams <jennamcjenna@gmail.com> </div><div>Date:07/01/2015  7:58 PM  (GMT-05:00) </div><div>To: "eXtended Mind, Culture, Activity" <xmca-l@mailman.ucsd.edu> </div><div>Subject: [Xmca-l] Re: Ruqaiya Hasan </div><div>
</div>Paul, you write: 
"It is in this same european ethnocentric ethos that obama sees the world.   Hence, my comment that obama is a white man!  He is no different from bill clinton, george bush, etc.... I could care less if his skin-color would get him stopped by the cops, it does not negate the fact that he is a white/black man seeking equality of opportunity, recognition, and distribution with people who would lynch him!"

There's a theoretical point made here, and then there's an in-the-street point: that skin color is directly correlated in America to a host of experiences. 

Regardless of Obama's politics, he is firmly placed among the segment of Americans who are at intensely heightened risk of both real and symbolic, psychic and physical, harm.  Regardless of his skill with language, regardless of his ability to code switch, regardless of his beliefs about white culture or white superiority, Barack Obama has this in common with other Black Americans. To argue otherwise, or to claim that skin color and and the experiences that result from it are less important than epistemology in shaping what racial identities people have a right to claim, seems to me somewhat reckless--especially right at this particular American moment. 


Jacob (Jenna) McWilliams
Educational Psychology and Learning Sciences Program
University of Colorado Boulder



> On Jul 1, 2015, at 4:15 PM, Dr. Paul C. Mocombe <pmocombe@mocombeian.com> wrote:
> 
> I could care less if his skin-color would get him stopped by the cops, it does not negate the fact that he is a white/black man seeking equality of opportunity, recognition, and distribution with people who would lynch him!