Philosophy
The existentially post-racial black atheist is an odd creature (statistically speaking that is). While 89 percent of African-Americans identify with some religion, she hasn?t been in anyone?s church in a while. She has no desire to live forever and finds no comfort or meaning in the notion of an omnipotent, benevolent god. In fact, she may agree with Zora Neale Hurston that prayer is a ?cry of weakness.? (Or with O-Dog from Menace II Society, who thinks that ?black folks got too much damn religion as it is.?)
She realizes that religion (particularly, Christianity) continues to be a source of meaning and hope for many African-Americans. She acknowledges the essential role the black church played in securing basic civil rights for black and brown people in this country. Though, like Beneatha Younger (From A Raisin in the Sun), she is ?sick of hearing about god? and looks elsewhere to find meaning and purpose in her life. She?s an atheist.
Also, the existentially post-racial black atheist doesn?t derive much personal meaning from her racial identity. She does acknowledge that she is black. She?s not one of those black folks who refused to join the black student association in college. In fact, she believes that racial solidarity is necessary in certain circumstances. She loves Obama and thinks that Clarence Thomas is completely wrong about nearly everything.
However, she?s not really interested in wearing the ?I love being black? t-shirt. She thinks of herself as a strong person, but not a ?strong black person.? She does not devalue her racial identity, but she does not necessarily value it either. She just takes it to be a fact about herself, like her nationality, that may positively or negatively impact her in certain situations. Race is not at the center (or even the periphery) of her conception of herself as valuable. She, like Frantz Fanon, has ?no wish to be the victim of the fraud of a black world.? She is existentially post-racial.
The existentially post racial black atheist is an anomaly. Many African-Americans gain a sense of purpose and personal fulfillment from their belief in god and/or their racial identity. But the existentially post-racial black atheist finds little meaning in god or blackness. From where, then, could she derive her spirituality, her sense of purpose, pride and personal fulfillment?
To answer this question I?m going to shamelessly borrow Nietzsche?s concept of self-overcoming. For Nietzsche, great individuals are able to continually overcome themselves, that is, to continually rework and refine their personalities and values. Nietzsche?s great individual, the Übermensch, is not only able to, say, overcome her shyness, but is also able to reevaluate the values and practices she has inherited. Like Toni Morrison?s Claudia (from The Bluest Eye), she is able to recognize that there?s a distinction between strength and aggression, compassion and politeness, goodness and good behavior. She is an evaluator, destroyer and a creator.
For the existentially post-racial black atheist, the process of self-overcoming can be a source of grounded spirituality and a conception of the self that transcends racial categories. The spirituality associated with self-overcoming is ?grounded? in the sense that the meaning associated with self-overcoming is not derived from something transcendent or otherworldly. The activity of self-overcoming takes place in time, in this world. It ends with the death of the body.
Additionally, for a person engaged in the activity of self-overcoming, the self is simply an ongoing project, something to be overcome. The existentially post-racial black atheist has already overcome her black identity and (most likely) her identity as a Christian. Her self- conception, then, will simply become the process of doing more of what she has been doing.
But again, and crucially, this self-conception is not to be simply negative. The Übermensch must not simply destroy old ideas and conceptions of the self, but must also create. The existentially post-racial black atheist should constantly remind herself, as Fanon puts it, that ?the real leap consists in introducing invention into existence.?
What, you may ask, is the final goal of all this self-overcoming? When, you may wonder, can the Übermensch rest?
Well, there is no final goal. The activity is the goal. If one continues to evaluate one?s self and one?s values, one reaches the goal at every moment. And, there is no rest for one who wishes to self-overcome. This form of grounded spirituality is necessarily active and creative. Fanon expresses the essence of self-overcoming beautifully: ?[i]n the world through which I travel, I am endlessly creating myself.?
The real challenge for the existentially post-racial black atheist will not be that of finding meaning in her life, but navigating a world which is largely racial and theist. A world which assumes both that she takes her race to be an essential component of her identity and assumes that she is a Christian. To self-overcome in these circumstances is both a challenge and a source of meaning and purpose.
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I saw an interesting piece of art on the New York City subway last week. The work consisted of a depiction of the Sankofa bird with an inscription underneath: ?If you don?t know where you have been, how will you know where you are going?? The view implicated...
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Philosophy
Spirituality for the Existentially Post-Racial Black Atheist?
The existentially post-racial black atheist is an odd creature (statistically speaking that is). While 89 percent of African-Americans identify with some religion, she hasn?t been in anyone?s church in a while. She has no desire to live forever and finds no comfort or meaning in the notion of an omnipotent, benevolent god. In fact, she may agree with Zora Neale Hurston that prayer is a ?cry of weakness.? (Or with O-Dog from Menace II Society, who thinks that ?black folks got too much damn religion as it is.?)
She realizes that religion (particularly, Christianity) continues to be a source of meaning and hope for many African-Americans. She acknowledges the essential role the black church played in securing basic civil rights for black and brown people in this country. Though, like Beneatha Younger (From A Raisin in the Sun), she is ?sick of hearing about god? and looks elsewhere to find meaning and purpose in her life. She?s an atheist.
Also, the existentially post-racial black atheist doesn?t derive much personal meaning from her racial identity. She does acknowledge that she is black. She?s not one of those black folks who refused to join the black student association in college. In fact, she believes that racial solidarity is necessary in certain circumstances. She loves Obama and thinks that Clarence Thomas is completely wrong about nearly everything.
However, she?s not really interested in wearing the ?I love being black? t-shirt. She thinks of herself as a strong person, but not a ?strong black person.? She does not devalue her racial identity, but she does not necessarily value it either. She just takes it to be a fact about herself, like her nationality, that may positively or negatively impact her in certain situations. Race is not at the center (or even the periphery) of her conception of herself as valuable. She, like Frantz Fanon, has ?no wish to be the victim of the fraud of a black world.? She is existentially post-racial.
The existentially post racial black atheist is an anomaly. Many African-Americans gain a sense of purpose and personal fulfillment from their belief in god and/or their racial identity. But the existentially post-racial black atheist finds little meaning in god or blackness. From where, then, could she derive her spirituality, her sense of purpose, pride and personal fulfillment?
To answer this question I?m going to shamelessly borrow Nietzsche?s concept of self-overcoming. For Nietzsche, great individuals are able to continually overcome themselves, that is, to continually rework and refine their personalities and values. Nietzsche?s great individual, the Übermensch, is not only able to, say, overcome her shyness, but is also able to reevaluate the values and practices she has inherited. Like Toni Morrison?s Claudia (from The Bluest Eye), she is able to recognize that there?s a distinction between strength and aggression, compassion and politeness, goodness and good behavior. She is an evaluator, destroyer and a creator.
For the existentially post-racial black atheist, the process of self-overcoming can be a source of grounded spirituality and a conception of the self that transcends racial categories. The spirituality associated with self-overcoming is ?grounded? in the sense that the meaning associated with self-overcoming is not derived from something transcendent or otherworldly. The activity of self-overcoming takes place in time, in this world. It ends with the death of the body.
Additionally, for a person engaged in the activity of self-overcoming, the self is simply an ongoing project, something to be overcome. The existentially post-racial black atheist has already overcome her black identity and (most likely) her identity as a Christian. Her self- conception, then, will simply become the process of doing more of what she has been doing.
But again, and crucially, this self-conception is not to be simply negative. The Übermensch must not simply destroy old ideas and conceptions of the self, but must also create. The existentially post-racial black atheist should constantly remind herself, as Fanon puts it, that ?the real leap consists in introducing invention into existence.?
What, you may ask, is the final goal of all this self-overcoming? When, you may wonder, can the Übermensch rest?
Well, there is no final goal. The activity is the goal. If one continues to evaluate one?s self and one?s values, one reaches the goal at every moment. And, there is no rest for one who wishes to self-overcome. This form of grounded spirituality is necessarily active and creative. Fanon expresses the essence of self-overcoming beautifully: ?[i]n the world through which I travel, I am endlessly creating myself.?
The real challenge for the existentially post-racial black atheist will not be that of finding meaning in her life, but navigating a world which is largely racial and theist. A world which assumes both that she takes her race to be an essential component of her identity and assumes that she is a Christian. To self-overcome in these circumstances is both a challenge and a source of meaning and purpose.
- Are We A Nation Of Cowards?
Just as we get on a roll of questions about race, Eric Holder, our new Attorney General has made a wonderfully provocative claim -- we are a nation of cowards, "Though this nation has proudly thought of itself as an ethnic melting pot, in things racial...
- Trayvon Martin, Fox News, And The Web Of Belief
We were all deeply saddened by the fatal shooting of 17-year-old Trayvon Martin. For some of us, the shooting reaffirmed our belief that, despite the optimistic talk of a "post-racial" America, this country is still deeply divided along racial lines....
- Doing Things With The N-word
Should we stop using the N-word? And when I say ?we,? I mean all of my readers and possible readers (both black and non-black). Should we stop using the N-word? I?m not going to answer this question here, but suggest a better strategy for answering it....
- Sankofa
I saw an interesting piece of art on the New York City subway last week. The work consisted of a depiction of the Sankofa bird with an inscription underneath: ?If you don?t know where you have been, how will you know where you are going?? The view implicated...
- Malcolm X - The Ballot Or The Bullet
Fifty years ago today, as he was preparing to deliver a speech to the Organization of Afro-American Unity in New York City, Malcolm X, the famous Muslim minister and human rights activist who made a name for himself in the struggle against social, racial,...