The Dam is Breaking
by James A. Landrith, Jr.
January/February 2001
in Interracial Voice
I’ll never understand why some folks feel they have the divine right to try to control others. The fascist tendency among those who oppose self-identification is incredible. Their behaviour is frightening, but also speaks volumes about the progress that has been made in recent years.
A typical “one-dropper” represents the last gasp of opposition to self-identification. They represent the gradual collectivist indoctrination that resulted from socialist concepts like racial group-think. Their way is fear, shame and intimidation. Their belligerence and child-like manner exposes their desperation. They see the end of racial-group-think on the horizon and they are scared — scared to be themselves and scared of individuality. Their hollow arguments and angry tirades reveal much about their actual motivations.
Myths and Facts
Lets discuss a few of my favorite myths regarding the former multiracial movement:
Myth: “Most blacks are mixed, so biracial people should call themselves black and be happy with it.”
Reality: Race as a biological construct doesn’t exist, except in the minds of those who want it to exist. The “all black people are mixed” argument is pure guilt politics. No one is mixed or pure. “Race” exists only in abstract form. See: A Four-Letter Word Called “Race”
Myth: “But society (read: white people) will only see you as black.”
Reality: Even if that were true, which it isn’t according to a recent Zogby poll, “white” people don’t come, with the rare exception of the occasional white power advocate, to The Multiracial Activist, INTERRACAL VOICE and various other websites and forums looking to enforce “white racial purity.” In the 3 years that TMA and the 5 years that IV has been online there has been no flood of “white” people telling those of “mixed-race” that they are only “black.” Still this lie keeps getting used by those in the racial group-think business. Obviously, truth is not one of their strong points. It tends to get in the way of a good propaganda campaign.
Myth: “Those who wish to identify as multiracial are turning their backs on their blackness.”
Reality: This is more of the same guilt politics being used by the Soul Patrol and is the classic “you’re either with us or against us” argument. I wouldn’t turn my back on someone who believes this type of garbage; there is no telling what they may do. This is a self-esteem issue for these folks, and there is nothing you can do to help the proponents of this particular argument. Their demands roughly translate to: “Please, please, please be like me. Please do as I do. Please call yourself what I call myself.” And so on and on it goes ad nauseam, ad infinitum. Well, maybe there is something you can do — recommend a good therapist, but that’s about it. Anyone who feels the need to use this type of argument as a means of intimidating/guilt-tripping someone into toeing their racial group-think line is obviously in need of serious self-reflection and/or counselling.
Conclusion
Friends, let them continue fighting this fight. It ended before they took up arms, and they don’t even know it. The self-identification movement has achieved critical mass, and nothing short of an organized national campaign of intimidation or violence is going to turn back time and progress in that respect. The die was cast in 1967 with the Loving v. Virginia Supreme Court decision. It’s now just a matter of procreation and time. Any person who believes that they have the right to force an identity on anyone else is clearly not to be trusted. It is far past time the Jim Crow Crowd understood that their regime of terror and intolerance is coming to an end — soon.
In the past, I fought alongside many others for the right of anyone to self-identify and never advocated that anyone identify in any particular manner, just that they have the right to choose. Starting soon, the battle will begin anew. Many forces will be banding together in an effort to abolish racial classifications, starting in the state of California. A ballot initiative is being developed to forbid the state from asking about or compiling racial classification data on its citizens.
The die is cast and “race” is clearly on the way out. Leave to their fates those who wish to plug the dike with their fingers. We can’t help everyone, nor is it our responsibility to cater to the poor self-esteem of others. It is a waste of valuable time to preach to those who don’t wish to listen. Some are better washed downstream….
James Landrith is the notorious editor and publisher of The Multiracial Activist and The Abolitionist Examiner, two cyber-rags dedicated to freedom from oppressive racial categorization. Landrith can be reached by email at: editor@multiracial.com or at his personal website/blog.
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