Fear is the presumption, almost to the point of certainty, of a negative outcome. When we are fearful, it is about a person, event, or idea representing a change that we either (1) don’t want to happen, but believe can, or (2) don’t believe can happen because it’s “too good to be true.” In other words, while we are in fear, our minds see no good outcome (and also refuse to look for any) from an anticipated change. So opposition will rise and persist… until a good potential outcome can indeed be shown to, and accepted by “the opposition.”
No one can really be certain of that which is feared, because fear is rarely about anything that is actually happening in the present. However, few people acknowledge this fact. Instead, they offer specious, rhetorical arguments such as, “the society is not yet ready,” “the ‘playing field’ still isn’t level,” or proclaim that “taking away the state’s ability to collect racial data would take our society back to the days of slavery.” I heard the last statement uttered by a prominent politician in Southern California, and some people in the audience actually gave him an “amen.” It might have been better to say, “We’re afraid of our ability to direct our future,” or “we just don’t know if enough of us can do it without this help.” That would be refreshingly honest.
Several fundamental issues underline the question of racial privacy. The prime one is the question of identity -- of “who” and “what” we are. There is no true “collective” answer to this question. Some people believe that we are our physical forms, and that our “race” is a product of “genealogical admixturing.” Some believe that we are made of something other than flesh and bone, and are actually capable of more than history would suggest we should expect of ourselves. Some believe that we are incapable of making quantum changes in our behavior, relationships, financial health, or in our life. Others know that quantum change is not only possible; it is our birthright as human beings.
Being master parsers and analyzers of information, and inclined to create complexity where simplicity would suffice, it is natural to break ourselves down, racially speaking, into percentages of this or that genetic or genealogical admixture. The truth is that no matter what percentage of “white,” “red,” “yellow,” or “black,” our genealogical lineage stems from, we will always be 100 percent human in the eyes of Nature, from our first breath, to our last.
The current boxes that the Racial Privacy Initiative seeks to have the state of California stop using, are a distraction; unnecessary and in some ways disserving. For those who say that important biological and medical distinctions are indeed “race-influenced,” such as the incidence of certain diseases (which are not at issue with RPI), I’ll wager that ending our “race box dependency” will not set current medical or scientific research back one bit. Indeed, it may actually yield new understanding about the patterns, causes, and incidents of disease, thus giving us heretofore unrevealed, and more effective, insights into their cure. By refusing to look at life in anything but “race group” terms, we won’t know what human truths we are not seeing, that may be of even greater value to everyone.
Contact Information: Adam Abraham P.O. Box 900056 San Diego, CA 92190-0056 adam@phaelos.com
I Am My Body, NOT!
Phaelos Books
San Diego, Calif.—The question of if, when, and how to implement laws to remove race-related dispensations, is a vexing one. Proposition 209, the California Civil Rights Initiative (www.acri.org/209/209text.html) was a case-in-point. While the measure was passed in November 1996, student protests against the measure still occur on college campuses. Prop 209’s purpose was to create an anti-discrimination environment that was based on a simplified set of standards that was fairer, for it was applied equally to everyone. The proposed Racial Privacy Initiative -- which would enjoin the state of California from using “race” boxes on government forms -- stirs up similar emotions for many. The stated reasons are manifold. Somewhere beneath the rhetoric and admonitions lies the simple truth: for some, the fear of change is showing.
Adam Abraham is author of the “existential” book for children I Am My Body, NOT! (ISBN 0-9700209-1-0 $19.95 Phaelos Books (www.iammybodynot.com) and, A Freed Man: An Emancipation Proclamation (ISBN 0-9700209-0-2 $17.95 Phaelos Books www.phaelos.com/afm.html).
A Freed Man: An Emancipation Proclamation
I Am Spirit! (Late 2002)
My Soul's Shadow
A Passion For Humanity™
www.phaelos.com
Also by Adam E. Abraham:
When the Reality of Race Oneness Sets In
Favoring Meaning Over 'Ease'
It’s Not the ‘Ism’ Anymore
Calling for More Good Change
Putting the Spirit of ‘Us vs. Them’ to Rest
Notes from a ‘Political Expatriate’
Allowing the ‘Miracle’ of Change
To the Birth of I Can
Focus On Humanity
A Wonderful and Not So 'Silly' Dream
Musings of a Philosopher: Or When 'Silence' is No Longer 'Golden'
Wedges Are Not ‘Tools’ Of Unity
On the ‘Birthing’ of New Futures
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