What are some of the causes of conflict between whites and blacks in the US (article) by Manes Pierre on AuthorsDen

Pierre takes a deep look at the structural conflict between blacks and whites in the United States. This paper is designed as a lecture but is being submitted as an article in order to gauge the worlwide audience on the issue of race relations in the United States. What are some of the causes of conflict between Blacks and Whites in America? l. Introduction Every society has its degree of imperfection. America has been plagued with a major societal dilemma. It is the dilemma between Blacks and Whites. The author often compares the racial problem in America as a mother who has two sons but the mother is a widower who simply does not possess the required maturity to raise those two sons in an equitable manner. She gives preferential treatment to one (White) while scorning the other (Black). Let us explore some of the causes of conflict between Blacks and Whites in America and let us try to identify some of the roots. ll. Social, Psychological Theory, Objectification, and Thingification On the issue of race relations between Blacks and Whites in America, Myrdal (1944) argues that the problem between the above races is rather a moral issue. He explains, �The very presence of the Negro in America; his fate in this country through slavery, Civil War and Reconstruction; his recent career and his present status; his accommodation; his protest and his aspiration; in fact his entire biological, historical and social existence as a participant American represent to the ordinary white man in North as well as in the South an anomaly in the very structure of American society.� When I began this essay, I illustrated the conflict with an allegory of a mother with two sons but one of them is treated favorably while the author son is treated with disdain. The moral fabric of this setting makes any conciliation approach questionable due to the social outlook of the two brothers. It has been my observation that the American society portrays Blacks and Whites as two unrelated groups of citizens. Although the word society is defined, among other things, as a large group of people who live together and share the same laws, religions and ways of doing things, it appears that the above have different definitions based on which brother is in question. Marx and Engels (1848) argue that class struggles are nothing new. Throughout history, they found that the bourgeoisie and the proletariat continually expressed hostility toward each other. However, in contemporary America, the Whites and the Blacks are not just struggling for class status but these two brothers are fighting for something even greater, the recognition of each other�s contribution to the United States of America. Another area of exploration in the conflict between Blacks and the Whites is the issue of wealth. Since the elder brother (White) took the younger brother in captivity (Black), the struggle seems to be more than a race issue; it has some psychological paradigms associated to it. Marx explained that the nobility and the peasantry are classes, defined by their relationship to one another that by the boundaries which separate them. That is to say, the relationship is one because the aristocracy expropriates the labor of the peasantry. No study in the area of psychology can be complete without acknowledging the contributions of Sigmund Freud. Through his various works, I learned how mental energy or the id, physical desires or the ego, and moral values or the superego intertwine and create the sense of continual struggle for the human mind throughout life. Freud (1900-1939) outlines the dimensions of the forces, that is, the psychological conflicts affecting the mind. When the needs of the human beings are not met, it is said that the instinct nature of the mind takes over the behavior. Freud�s Dream Work and Interpretation (1900-1939) exposes through many illustrations how the unconscious material from the id forces its way into the ego. He refers to the process of interpreting dreams as a distortion of reality, dream distortion. Vokan (1996) plays also a major role in studying the effects of the ego on the human behavior. In his article, Mind and Human Interaction, he argues that trauma is transgenerational. His theory is that transmission of trauma in individuals is, �Through this transgenerational transmission, the effects of the trauma are passed to next generation with the conscious and unconscious intention of finding ways of resolving and reversing them.� His argument brings me to a very interesting inquiry. Is it possible that the violent appearance of black American being portrayed in the media could be the result of two centuries of transgenerational trauma or the result of colonization? This paper would be incomplete without looking at the relationship between whites and blacks elsewhere through the colonizer and the colonized relationship. Let�s take a look at Haiti, South Africa and Saint-Thomas U.S. Virgin Islands. Haiti Fanon (1961) argues, �In terms of consciousness, the black consciousness is held out an absolute density, as filled with itself, a stage preceding any invasion, any abolition of the ego by desire.� On May 27, 1997, during his speech in Washington D.C., his Excellency, Longchamp described the pre-Colombian period in Ayiti (Haiti), as a land rich in gold and silver. But as Christopher Columbus and his men landed on the island of Ayiti in 1492, they discovered these natural resources and immediately subdued and forcibly recruited the local populations for their labor in the exploitation of these deposits. �In less than thirty years,� continued his Excellency Longchamp, �15,000 tons of gold were extracted from the island. By 1520, the indigenous Taino and Arawak population, then estimated at about 250,000, was totally exterminated.� To the imporishment and depopulation of Ayiti, Charles V built his marvelous castles. When the Spaniards were fully satisfied of exploiting Ayiti�s natural resources, the French landed in Saint-Domingue (new name of Ayiti and the Dominican Republic combined) to get their share of the free cake. The French colonizers introduced new types of agriculture, mainly coffee, cacao, and sugar. This change greatly affected the island�s ecological equilibrium,� added Mr. Longchamp. Since the native Indians were dying in such great numbers, the French looked to Africa for laborers. The island was so prosperous that they called it the �Pearl of the Antilles.� Getting tired of being murdered and exploited, the imported Africans revolted in 1791. After defeating the Napoleon Bonaparte�s army on November 18, 1803, the Haitian slaves declared their independence from the French Empire on January 1, 1804. The effects of the colonization still hunt the political climate today in Haiti. Fanon observes that colonization is very hostile. He adds that this hostile world, ponderous and aggressive because if fends off the colonized masses with all the harshness it is capable of, represents not merely a hell from which the swiftest plight possible is desirable, but also a paradise close at hand which is guarded by terrible watchdogs.. the native is an oppressed person whose permanent dream is to become the persecutor. South Africa One of the most notable inhumane forms of systematic violence of whites against blacks in recent history is the violent treatment in South Africa through Apartheid. Apartheid includes the retention of economic power in white hands, by tightening the job color bar and directing skilled blacks in their own areas. For a while this was linked to a policy of industrial decentralization, so that centers of industry could be set up on borders of homelands, to which black and white employees could travel from opposite sides without infringing on group areas delimitation�s or necessitating too much long-distance migrancy for blacks. Such was the dream. Well, it appears that South Africans have been mislead before. For example, during the last 500 years of colonization starting with the Portuguese empire, the Dutch, the British and later the French, all these experiences with he settlers have been very violent. They all started as friends who had better ideas on how things should be and gradually started to seize the local residents� streams, land and cattle. In addition, the settlers needed a stronger workforce. Thus, they recruited them as peons to work in the fields. Just as the Haitian situation, the black South Africans began to imitate the colonizers and started to launch attacks against one another. As a result, each tribe incorporated a sense of hostility toward one another. However, the colonizers were not fully successful in inculcating the transmission of trauma (Volkan, 1996) in a number of black South Africans. Nelson Mandela emerged as both a visionary and a charismatic leader who ended Apartheid without resorting to violence or expressing the trauma that he has been experiencing for more than three decades and spent twenty-seven years of his life in prison for saying �No� to repression and institutional violence imposed by white Europeans for more than five centuries of colonization. Fanon (1961) observes, �I am wholly what I am. I do not have to look for the universal. No probability has any place inside of me. My Negro consciousness does not hold itself out as a lack. It is its own follower.� Mandela seems to have maintained his black consciousness in spite of the oppression he suffered under the repressive treatment of Apartheid. Below is a quote from Mandela immediately after his release from prison: I have fought against white domination and I have fought against black domination. I have carried the ideal of a democratic and free society in which all persons live together in harmony and with equal opportunity. It is an ideal, which I hope to live for and to achieve. But, if needs be, it is an ideal for which I am prepared to die for. Mandela�s maturity defies Volkan�s premise of transmission of trauma. There are not too many human beings who would have forgiven an enemy after being deprived of their freedom for so long. Mandela made a very peaceful transition without reversing the bureaucratic system of South Africa. He proves to be a master human being; he does not react to trauma. The U.S. Virgin Islands The U.S. Virgin Islands are comprised of three islands, Saint Thomas, Saint John and Saint Croix. The Virgin Islands remained a Spanish possession through the 1500s, but no permanent settlements were made. During Denmark�s colonization between 1700s and 1800s, the Virgin Islands flourished as a center for the slave trade and as a producer of sugar. It is reported that after the emancipation of the slaves in 1848, the economy of the Virgin Islands disintegrated. In 1917, The United States bought the Virgin Islands from Denmark for $25 million and Virgin Islanders have been U.S. citizens since 1927. Fanon (1961) studies the behavior of the colonized intellectuals and finds, �In colonized countries where a real struggle, freedom has taken place, where the blood of the people has flowed and where the surge of intellectuals toward bases grounded in the people, we can observe a genuine eradication of the superstructure built by these intellectuals from the bourgeois colonialist environment,� continues Fanon. I visited the U.S. Virgin Islands and saw no apparent sign of trauma on the facial expression of the Islanders. Fanon�s theory that everywhere the colonizer is there is violence, crime, and systematic destruction of the local community�s traditions remain questionable regarding the scenario between the white colonizers of the United States and the black Virgin Islanders of Saint Thomas who happen to be the colonized. Why are the colonized in Saint Thomas treated differently, in appearance, than the colonized in Haiti and in South Africa? Is it possible that the Virgin Islanders have lost the �black consciousness?� Or the blacks in Haiti and South Africa were so manifest in maintaining their traditional lifestyles that they could not lose the �black consciousness� to the blessing of a coerced capitalist village in which the murderer provides safety, shelter and food if the colonized kindly accepts the democratic notions of the murderer without any legitimate inquiry? These are the questions that I plan to explore as I investigate race relations in the United States between blacks and whites. As history has shown, hostility between blacks and whites is not an accident that only occurs in the United States. Since the United States is the leader of the free world, it appears very ironic that blacks all over the world are in cages. They are crying out for freedom but their freedom is constantly denied. Is that an accident of nature or the result of years of bad policies based on racism and betrayal against black people? Cesaire compares colonization to �thingification� that is to say between colonizer and colonized, there is room only for forced labor, intimidation, pressure, the police, taxation, theft, rape, compulsory crops, contempt, mistrust, arrogance, self-complacency, swinishness, brainless elites, degraded masses. In comparing Cesaire�s analysis of colonization with the theories of Karl Marx on imperialism, there is an interesting similarity in terms of their social relevance. Although blacks and whites in America have invented the United States as everyone knows, the mentality that the relationship is a colonizer-colonized society creates a permanent suspicion between the two groups that present a very scenario for any skilled mediator to tackle. The colonizer-colonized attitude becomes more apparent in the way business is handled in America. Many times, I have been faced with second class treatment in banking, real estate, car purchase and even credit cards. The service I received was inferior to another white applicant simply because of the color of my skin. Cesaire�s argument of �Thingification� is still alive in the United States in the way blacks citizens are treated in comparison to white citizens. ll. Double Consciousness and Twoness Dubois (1903) argues that the Negro has two souls and two reflections. The first soul is the African soul and the second is the American soul. He explains that the African American recognizes himself or herself through the eyes of his or her white counterparts. His theory bears some validity as America is entering the 21st century. There is one black America and there is one white America. That is to say, the United States is profoundly divided. This division is deeply rooted in racism and the colonizer-colonized attitude. Cooper (1892) observes that the retraining of the black race, as well as the ground work and starting point of its progress upward, must be with the black woman. She further states that a race cannot be purified from without. She feels that the atmosphere of homes is purer and sweeter when they are mothers in those homes. It is Cooper�s view that for the black race to survive the black woman must be empowered. Could it be possible that blacks in America fully integrate both souls or the twoness in this country without causing friction to the dominant culture or white America? In writing this paper, I experienced a deep sense of positioning of the mind of both blacks and whites, which makes conflict resolution very difficult to explore. America is in theory an individualist society. However, personal opinions have to be patterned by the dominant class in order not to upset the establishment. For example, Louis Farrakhan, a Black Muslim who believes in educating black America about the reality of white America and wants to provide some guidelines to young black men and women for a better future is widely considered by white Americans as a threat. Nevertheless, Pat Buchanan, a white political commentator and a former presidential hopeful, wishes to advance the cause of white�s interest is widely viewed as a good white American citizen. Both of these leaders speak their mind without regard to being politically correct. However, the white media makes a claim that the former is an outcast, someone who is undesirable. But, the latter is portrayed as a regular white American, a protector of Judeo-Christian values. This scenario appears very problematic for even the most skilled peacemaker. There seems to have no middle ground for conciliation for a conglomerate society where blacks and whites can live in harmony as civilized people because the ethnic interests of each group are uncommon to the national interests of the United States. 1ll. Structure: Alienation and Primitive Classification and Social Knowledge The historical settings of blacks and whites in America do not provide equal economic opportunity for blacks and whites equitably in the United States. The blacks came to America as slaves and servants. By contrast, the white settlers came to America as freedom fighters that inherited this land. So, this pattern explains why the blacks and the whites have some unresolved issues. In addition, the blacks have never taken charge of the political economy nor have they even shared the power structure in this country substantially. Marx believes religion is a good equilibrium for maintaining class consciousness. There is a growing tendency now underway in America. It is the emergence of Joint Stock Companies where the working class and the company owners can jointly share profits. Marx predicted this movement in his model of class society. President George W. Bush refers to this approach as Ownership Society. Only time will tell who the co-owners will be! Or what will the co-owners really own? A main ingredient is still missing, in spite of the gradual economic progress of black Americans. The arrogant approach, pro-European only attitude of the whites creates a constant alienation of black contribution and acceptance at the national level. Durkheim (1903) illustrates the Primitive Classifications and knowledge of a group of tribes and finds these tribes to have had very advanced knowledge that were different from the European traditions but were very valid. It is tragic how white America arrogantly presumes to be the ideal scientist of the free world. That appearance in behavior is very problematic and insulting to the growing black achievers in this country, among other groups. Lecture prepared for an upcoming event, TBA � 2005 Manes Pierre ��

f