Qua?

I’m sorry, I have to talk about three things, two of which will offend, but both which I will argue against. The first is “defunding”, and all I have to say about this is the protest, riot, movement and BLM have become defunding and reforming law enforcement. The least America can do.

As for the other two, I’m going to critique LGBTQ+ and BIPOC. I’ll focus on BIPOC because it seems easier to dispel, and I’m so very tired of endless acronyms being created on behalf of self-identifying groups. BIPOC represents Black, Indigenous & People Of Color. It’s redundant. My first argument is against the use of “people of color”. Colored people, which Millennials and younger people will argue is not the same, is the same. A rearrangement of words only slightly changes the semantics, and only if understanding today’s 21st century historiography, not the entire loaded history of the phrase. Even suggesting the term “color” for race is inherently and socially problematic. Constructed in the most arrogant and ignorant ways by European Americans (specifically the French) by 1796, color was initially used to describe “light-skinned” Afro-Euro mixes, those “free” folk. There was a legal distinction between the darker-skinned slaves and lighter-skinned mulattoes at the time, and this visual separation was evident. Is it still evident today? Franz Fanon, Martin Luther King Jr., the NAACP and others attempted to change this negative connotation by 1970, a shorter span than the millennia-long usage of terms like “negus”, “negro”, “nigger”, “nigga” and other variant spellings. Unfortunately, the critical readings of race were mostly left to Fanon, or have been usurped by mostly Euro American thinkers in the late 20th century. 

In the 21st century, POC is used to describe anyone “non-white”, and normally not those self-identifying as POC. Recently, “Black” and “Indigenous” were added to the front of the acronym, but Black is another term for those I used above. “Black” as a culture is another understanding of the argument. If we use the term for ethnicity, then we must change Indigenous to a color to represent their culture. Does a native want to be called “Red”? I never wanted to be brown because African Americans are truly brown if we go by color, and I’m not of recent African decent. If “Indigenous” is to be used, then perhaps “African American” is a better term for Black. Like European or Caucasian American for traditionally-WHITE people. But what we’re doing is crossing semiotics of “race” and “culture” or ethnicity, indexing each within entirely different schemata, or signifying each out of their natural concept. Take colors. Colors exist as reflected light from objects. Skin pigments have a value range within orange (mixed with yellow and other hues at subtler levels), but none considered “black” have a value 0. Humans cannot be “black” because it means NO COLOR. I already made mention of this. Read on additive and subtractive colors, and learn how your eyes use light to see. Seriously.

When reading Fanon, take into account that the separation of “Black” selves was happening from 1800-1970, differentiating from White and non-white colored people (NWCP) through political representation, scientific classification, and social construction. Black vs. White perspectives in narrative and media was changing the self-awareness, and self-presentation, of those involved. Although, we have seen racial integration each step of the way, in about 40 year intervals. From 1870-1910 with women, 1920-1960 with non-WHITEs, 1970-2010 with the young. And now the young have been deferred to for leadership, subconsciously, but very obvious as a social phenomenon. Our top four candidates remotely expressed this - Trump, Biden, Bernie and Warren - all being over 70 years old, Boomers in need of retirement or death.

There is still a contingency of Gen X’ers and some Gen Y who follow in this old, conservative and WHITE path. Even Obama was one of these “moderates”, whom while holding the most powerful office in the world still attempted to unify rather than go rogue and usurp the ceremonial power. But the next 4 years sees a similar battle at hand, another extension of 20th century America defaulting to capitalist rhetoric in order to preserve the lives and stories of one revisionist US HIStory. We will tell you another, in our own ways.