Childhood’s End
(or The Right To Not Decide)
by James A. Landrith, Jr.
April/May 2001
in The Abolitionist Examiner
A lot of talk has been occuring lately at The Multiracial Activist and INTERRACIAL VOICE regarding shedding “racial identity” and championing free will. Make no mistake, there is a real movement in the makings. The fight to free Humanity of “race” will be considered a landmark event in our development as a species. The time has come to fully commit to establishing, as Janet Jackson so eloquently sang on Rhythm Nation 1814, “a world free of colorlines.”
Those who came before us blazed a trail that has led us to this point in time. The ending of segregation, the fight for voting rights and the repeal of anti-miscegenation laws were major battles in the war against “race.” There is, however, more to do.
This task has taken and will likely take many more decades, but will eventually result in finishing off America’s unhealthy obsession with skin color and false notions of “racial” purity. As a people, we have to grow up and out of such childish notions as biologically different “races.”
Sadly, many of the organizations that got us to this historic turning point, now wish to turn back the clock. The NAACP, National Urban League and National Council of La Raza are a few of the organizations currently promoting “one-drop” philosophy with regards to “racial” identity. These organizations quite simply fear miscegenation, and well they should. Miscegenation and the abandonment of static “racial” identities by “multiracial” people will bring about the complete destruction of their powerbase and force their racialist designs into the dustbin of history where they belong – right next to Mein Kampf.
A transformation is occuring in the American mindset regarding the concept of blurred “racial” lines. Simply put, many people can’t grasp the concept of no “races” and therefore require a middle ground in order to move on to greater truths. The middle ground is/was the “multiracial” movement, which sought to remove the one-drop rule from the Census and all other forms that collect “racial” data for the government. The “check-all-that-apply” method adopted by the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) has mucked up the Census’ racial categories in ways many of us did not imagine. The object was to allow people to self-identify in a manner they’d never been able to before. The result, however, was a mish-mash of vague and contradictory regulations and policies from the OMB that only further proves the ridiculousness of classifying people by “race.” If the U.S. government, who manufactured America’s current “racial” classification mess don’t know what they are doing, then how is anyone else supposed to figure it out?
The next logical step, then, consists of abolishing all forms of government mandated “racial” classifications. Whether these perverse classifications come in the form of college applications, grade school admissions forms, birth certificates, or the decennial Census, they exist for only one purpose – keeping people separated.
There can be no compromises or backroom deals with the proponents of these nasty little classifications. Continuing to count “race” under the guise of eliminating “racism” is a specious argument. “Racism” is a natural by-product of “race.” Continued allegiance to “race” is not going to yield the much wanted victory that anti-racists are seeking. The only way to cure Humanity of the plague of “racism” is to go after the disease, which is “race.” Anything else is an exercise in futility.
The Cult of “Race”
For far too many years, Americans have been programmed en masse to believe that the existence of “racism” justifies continuing our unhealthy obsession with classifying our fellow sapients by “race.” The high clerics of this cult would have you believe that continued mandatory classification by “race” will somehow allow us to end “racism.” The argument that tracking “race” will allow us to end “racism” is the equivalent of putting a Band-Aid on a gunshot wound. We keep bleeding, but we don’t know why.
Opponents to ending government enforced racial classification like to bring up a few pet examples for why classification must continue. First on the list is “racial profiling/Driving While Black or Brown.” In order to end racial profiling and Driving While Black or Brown, we first have to get rid of it’s creator, which is “The Drug War.” Local and federal jurisdictions love The Drug War. Why? It keeps their coffers flush with cash. It allows no-knock raids on anyone at anytime and almost unfettered asset seizure. The 4th and 5th amendments become irrelevant in the name of The Drug War. “Racial” classification, which has existed far longer than “racial” profiling (a descendent of The Drug War), isn’t going to magically solve this decades old problem.
Next of course, is the old standby of “checking two boxes won’t get you a taxi, all the cab driver is going to see is BLACK.” Well, how does checking “black” resolve that issue? It doesn’t. That’s right, cab drivers don’t care which box you checked, so checking “black” doesn’t resolve the issue. “Racial” classifications aren’t going to get you a taxi no matter what box you check. Proponents of this argument never elaborate as to why they feel it is relevant or how checking “black” will resolve the issue. They are simply employing scare tactics in an effort to enforce their collectivist beliefs. The whole argument is an exercise in stupidity and fear. They should be ashamed.
Those who fight the future will be judged accordingly by history. Kweisi Mfume, Hugh Price, are you paying attention?
Action Follows Belief
You cannot commit racism without first being brainwashed into believing in “race.” Belief comes first, then the action. All that classification does is continue to reinforce that hideous belief system. By telling people that there are different “races” and that we must classify ourselves by these “races,” and then telling people not to assign behaviours and traits based on these classifications is wishful thinking. You first say “we” are different from “them.” Then you say don’t treat us differently.
Demanding that “racial” differences be acknowledged when the biological evidence says otherwise is cause to question the motives of the individual or organization promoting the myth of “racial” differences. Aside from that, using government to force “racial” classifications on others is a form of fascist collectivism. These “racial” classifications serve one purpose only – to classify (read: forcibly divide) people into groups, by decree of government. Then when these government created groups compete against each other causing “racial” tensions in a battle for taxpayer monies, we sit around naively asking why. Hmmm. Let me reiterate this simple point – “racism” exists as a natural by-product of “race.” Continued use of the government to enforce “racial” classification schemes is not going to end “racism.” Ending “racial” classification will not end “racism” overnight either, but it is a necessary first step in a process that may well take decades. Do not say you are ready to end “racism” unless you are fully committed to ending “race.” There must be a point when we say, this stops NOW. I’m going to say it, are you listening? THIS STOPS NOW.
The Future
We don’t have the time to continue fighting each other over nineteenth century falsehoods like the concept of biological “races.” We have much more important work to do and we will need our best minds, operating at the top of their potential. Deconstruction of all “racial” classifications must begin in earnest NOW if Humanity is to progress further. We are one Race and must accept that, then we can decide where to go from there.
Technology is evolving faster than we are, which is not necessarily bad. Our power to have a positive impact or negative impact on people’s lives lies solely in what we do with it. The old divisions are going to have be erased in order for us to keep up with our expanding possibilities. With so many new possibilities both positive and negative opening up, we have to evolve our thinking or our world WILL get away from us:
- Globalization is blurring national boundaries with the power to erase old hatreds or spark new ones. Genetically altered foods present new possibilities in fighting famine and hunger. Eugenics is enjoying new life due to the mapping of the human genome. On the other hand the ability of fascist regimes to monitor their citizenry by camera, infrared, face-scanning technologies, has also increased. Within the next twenty-five years Humanity will likely set foot on Mars. Lunar colonies are no longer just a figment of our imaginations, they are actually being planned. The Internet has revolutionized the way we communicate and made it possible for people who have never been face to face to work together for a common goal.
We are going to have to be on top of our game and in touch with ourselves if we are going to survive our creations. It’s time to get on with the business of Humanity. We have a lot of work to do and fighting the same battles over and over is holding the whole species back. We are not our ancestors or their sins. We are a whole new “breed” and it’s time we came to grips with it and the responsibilities/opportunities that entails. I have a lot of faith in what we can do as a whole, unencumbered by the irrational belief systems some of us hold now, but I know that first things come first and destroying these false boundaries in whatever form they take is an essential first step.
“Multiracial” America, your childhood’s over. Put away the toys. We have work to do.
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.
{mos_sb_discuss:3}