It occurred to me that my forte is not organizing or fundraising or gladhanding. I like to read. I love to write. I luxuriate in curiosity every day. Curiosity leads me towards alignment with Monica Harris, Executive Director of FAIR. See Harris’ recent argument about reality distortion. Reality Distortion Separates Us The more things I imagine about the human condition, the more I perceive beyond Race and Blackness. Perhaps, my passion for the human condition results in boredom with dogma and slogan words. To paraphrase one of my delectable Substack writers Jenny Holland in a different context, dogma becomes mush “written by someone with painfully limited intellectual capacity.” Jenny Holland On A Roll
If Harris correctly perceives we are living within a time of reality distortion, my best contribution would be an idea for readers, writers and intellectuals to mull over. What the current obsession with Blackness Is Oppression, Nothing Else Matters lacks is context. I suggest scholars and intellectuals charge into the breech and provide historical context to the rich and abundant story of blackness in America.
One suggestion might be for a team of writers and scholars to revisit An American Dilemma by Gunnar Myrdal. In 1944, Swedish economist Myrdal devoted 1,500 pages to laying bare the numerous barriers and obstacles suppressing the rise of black Americans. Myrdal had much material to work with in an era before the Brown decision, the Civil Rights Act and Affirmative Action.
Eighty years have passed since 1944. I am here to tell you the social changes experienced by my nearly ninety-year-old Dad are nearly unimaginable. I never sense reverence for the massive changes those of my Dad’s generation have lived and known. It is like Ground Hog Day, every utterance and book and tome must be downcast and morose about blackness in America. It is ridiculous, absolutely bonkers. The opposite is true. 48 Ways Racial Life Is Better Compared to 1959 Mayor Marsh, Governor Wilder and President Obama: What’s the Problem?
I would love to see a foundation fund a team of writers, scholars and intellectuals over the next twenty years to produce An American Dilemma for the year 2044. The team should investigate the depth of progress since the year 1944 when it comes to race. Do barriers and obstacles remain and, if so, are these problems attributable to culture, values and attitudes? What are the specific and concrete lingering effects of American slavery? What evidence is there that lottery-like reparations has ever lifted up any racial group in human history? Has the level of prejudice against black Americans declined since 1944 and, if so, how so? What are the effects of a multi-racial country on black Americans going forward?
This is my quick idea this evening. Our country solely needs some corrective to reality distortion coined by Harris. What better way to expand the range of perspectives for understanding black Americans then a 100th anniversary issue of An American Dilemma? Just my idea and kudos to Harris for a splendid essay.
We should applaud and recognize all of the racial good since 1944. Enough with a blind focus on oppression.