"Towards the Unification of a 'New Mixed' Majority"

"Towards the Unification of a 'New Mixed' Majority"

We are all, no doubt, used to hearing views, that while professing to be in favour of change, appear to perpetuate that which they claim to oppose: talking about a brighter future, but only in terms of negotiation with and appeasement of the very structures responsible for maintaining the status quo. At best this contradictory stance suggests a lack of imagination. As if creativity should be confined to 'cultural' areas of personal expression, and not applied to the 'real' issues. At worst, this attitude confirms collaboration and conspiracy on a massive scale. Which if 'the powers that be', like the rest of us, try to learn from their/our past mistakes, this form of collusion is not impossible.

As we inch ever closer to the 21st century, I am particularly dismayed at some of the views expressed by members of the 'mixed community' concerning the way forward into this 'brighter' future. Having to map our own identities ourselves, we of all people 'should' be more predisposed to at least considering the potential of new ideas. However, given that 'local' circumstances for 'global mixed communities' are far from ideal, it would be presumptuous of me to lay out the blueprints and answer all of the questions. Having said that, I would like to take the liberty of spelling one or two things out:

The human race has never been at this conjunction in history before. Nor has it ever before had at its disposal the mechanisms for global communication and travel accessible to so many. Global trade has not been slow to exploit such opportunities. There's a MacDonalds in Red Square and MTV in India. Under such economic pressures, the barriers of language are also crumbling. In a world where information is now so readily available and so difficult to suppress and/or control, why do so many still seem in a condition of apathy, adopting the same old tried and untrusted philosophies of 'It's OK, They'll take care of us'? The very technology you are using at the moment to read this has in itself the potential to make systems of government and traditional political thought obsolete.

This makes listening to endless reiterations of geographically specific minor details in policy all the more tiresome, especially when coming from 'mixed' people. At the exclusion of all others, we can continue to define our own particular blend down to the fraction, and only with reference to our own neighborhood. Or, we could for a moment consider that, as always, we exist in all of our mixtures across the entire inhabitable third of this planet's surface.

If nationality 'just has to be' the term by which people define their identity, then we should drop any prefixes to words like 'American' or 'British' for instance. I'd hope understanding and acceptance of this principle would be the first step towards a more harmonious future. It would seem that there are those on both 'sides' who perpetuate such mythologies rather than seeking any real solutions. Doing so maintains their personal status and social, moral and economic power.

I've heard 'African' Americans say that 'they' were the only ones not to have entered the US through Ellis Island. These proponents seem unaware (or purposely ignorant) of the fact that the slavery to which they refer (and for that matter colonialism in general) was only so successful because there was 'already' a healthy, effective, wide spread and long-standing internal slave trade already in place in continental Africa. In some areas, such as Ghana and Sudan, there still is. Moreover, there were continental African and Brazilian slave traders whose children were very often educated in both the US & Europe.

I don't believe that the fundamental situations facing American individuals differ so very greatly, from those confronting others elsewhere, such as the U.K. Although, the American race/class system is much more out in the open and there to be debated. In the U.K., these structures are left unspoken and unchallenged and are infinitely more Machiavellian. For example, the 'British' are not 'citizens' but rather 'subjects': the whole concept of monarchy is based on 'royal lineage' and 'purity' and certainly does not include a place for those of 'mixed' parentage.

However, what is unique about the States is that: a/ it was never a 'White-man's' land to begin with b/ the diverse immigrant population & widespread mixing thereof c/ the constitutional right to 'free' speech d/ its relative youth as a nation, and e/ its pivotal economic & political position in the global power structure. These reasons all provide the necessary climate for social & cultural change on a scale previously unseen. As a nation, the US possesses the economic & social resources to function as a catalyst for the universal dismantling of racial categorization. My 'American mixed' sisters and brothers who continue to refer to the trite situations of your specific geographic regions merely contribute to an overwhelming collective alienation without accommodating potential allies lurking silently elsewhere.

Lines on maps, which so effectively divide us and by which so many intently insist on defining their identity, are nothing more than that, mere 'lines in the sand' artificially placed to render the land manageable 'bitesized' areas for administrative governmental domination and exploitation. Were we to make a chart mapping the indigenous peoples of a continent, say Africa, and superimpose a 'modern' map of the different countries' frontiers, we could easily conclude that the latter was designed with the express purpose of dividing the former - nothing more sophisticated than a basic 'divide and rule' strategy with slight variations and allowances for control of natural resources.

In terms of problems, difficulties and the natural desire for personal freedom, I believe that we have far more in common than the comparatively trivial differences, which we are encouraged to emphasize and which in fact as rigid bounded 'national identities' exclude us. I implore 'local mixed' individuals to consider themselves part of a 'global new mixed community' - the only one which can truly transcend imaginary borders across the surface of this planet. (May 1998)

by sAbU