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Free Black Space Note on Practicing Blackness


A few months ago, I read an interview by a famous African-American poet who joked that he was "not a Practicing black". His comment is understandable given the aspiration towards the transcendent in the writer's craft. On the most rudimentary level, the comment (though it can easily be categorized as flippant or insignificant) suggest that the author does not direct effort towards such matters.
The perception that Blackness is unworthy of practice may be one of the best ways to capture how insignificant and significant blackness is at the same time. That people practice Taiji, Christianity, and even football; but not blackness clarifies the predicament African Americans are faced with. One is confronted with the existence of blackness, and the prevalence of racism, but one can never get good at it. One can struggle against whiteness, or engage in the struggle; but the absence of practice also eliminates the possibility of mastery. That white men called themselves masters and enslaved blacks, but blacks cannot master "blackness" seems to be another koan of sorts that reveals the nature of thought.
The author's comments signify to white readers in particular that he is different than the type of blacks they imagine or that among them he is of unusual note, or perhaps, that the practicing blacks are full of nonsense. One can never be sure in such matters. The only thing we know for certain is that someone cares about his opinion because he appears to be black. That he is qualified to give it could easily be questionable. Almost anybody can say anything about being black, good or bad. That there are no practicing blacks, like practicing Jews for instance, to regulate the validity and movement of the people as defined by a relationship with the visible and invisible realms suggest there will never be freedom.
In some ways the certainty that we cannot practice blackness, best clarifies that we should. That it seems impossible to do so is as impossible as freedom. That it is invention and not already in flux avoids the truth of our survival. That it is useless only in terms of fighting racism as compared to the transcendental realm of human activities is another way of saying nigger. That the ways our humanity has been challenged and refined by our sojourn here does not give rise to some larger code that can be applied in other places and times is another way of saying nigger.
Though to conclude, where still there is more, one can understand the fear associated with such ideas. In a world of doctrines that give rise to distance, we don't really need another ideology that fuels conflict between human beings. The fear is well founded, precisely because of the excess yang and aggressiveness in our culture. In a way, that may reflect the famous poets sentiments, if we imagine practicing blackness as a newfound religion with followers and priests, we are right in assuming this is where it will lead, but then we are wrong. Blackness is a land of riddles and koans about the nature of thought, a study and understanding of what separates us, investigated by those designated as black in response to phenomena And because it is a response to phenomena it too is phenomena. .



This post first appeared on Free Black Space, please read the originial post: here

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Free Black Space Note on Practicing Blackness

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