The Fallacy of Racial Superiority
by
M. Quinn
"The concept of race and alleged racial superiority fit into a social
requirement of a thoroughly exploitative period in the development of Western
(European) man. The idea of race was developed in direct response to the
exploitation of other people, to provide both a pretext and a justification for
the most unjustifiable conduct, the enslavement, murder, and degradation of
millions of human beings". - Dr. Ashley Montagu, Race, Science and Humanity
1963
Whether you fervently believe that the concept of race, racism and the notion
of racial superiority as a social, political, and economic instrument began
with the importation of Africans as slaves to the New World by means of the
Trans Atlantic Slave Trade; or that racism made its first appearance within the
ancient Roman Empire with Emperor Tacitus, or that the notion of racial
superiority began when Emperor Constantine commenced the rewriting of Christian
doctrine at the Council of Nicea 325 AD (modern day Turkey) and changed the
deities that were formerly represented as Black to reflect a European image of
Christendom which similarly propelled people of Caucasian descent to the
position of alleged racial superiority; or have absolutely no concept of it's nefarious
origins, it remains undeniable, that the immoral influence of race categorizations and racism has been utterly devastating on the cultural
relationships of the human family.
From a historical perspective the practice of race and so-called racial superiority
was non-existent when juxtaposed with what we bear witness to today. In fact,
author and historian Basil Davidson cites in his book Africa in History
that the Greeks held the Africans of the ancient Nile Valley civilization in
extremely high esteem and would never contemplate judging them according to
their skin color or ethnicity.
Moreover, the ancient Greeks were completely dependent on the ancient Egyptians
for their education and intellectual advancement in the areas of religion,
philosophy, metaphysics, mathematics, medicine, architecture, agriculture,
engineering, the culinary arts, and much more.
Origins
of White Supremacism
"Greek civilization derived its religion, its philosophy, its
mathematics, and much else from the Ancient civilization of Africa above all else from the Nile Valley in Egypt. To
the founding forefathers in classical Greece, the notion that the Africans were
inferior, morally or intellectually would have been seen as absurd." -
Basil Davidson, Africa in History 1991
So where did the concept of race and the notion of racial superiority begin?
An array of historians and intellectuals have deduced that one of the first
forms of race based categorizations dates back to the rewriting of Christian doctrine by Emperor
Constantine at the
Council of Nicea in 325 AD, and was subsequently followed by the Roman Catholic
Church in 1411 AD with the institutionalized concept of racial inferiority; or
when Bishop Bartholomew de Las Casas on the island of Hispaniola (modern day
Haiti and Santo Domingo) reduced black people to infidels in order to justify
the enslavement of Africans. Most scholars likewise concur, that the concept of
race, racism and the fallacy of racial superiority was born entirely out of a
European consciousness, coupled with a pretext for self-preservation.
Be that as it may, it remains critically important that we begin to advance our
intellect beyond the utterly primitive belief of alleged racial superiority, and begin to address an
illness that has
influenced and contaminated our mental capacity for far too long. It remains
vital to the very survival of the human family that we begin to educate and
incorporate the answers to the questions below into the educational systems of
western societies with the clear objective of implementing sustainable
solutions for this social and cultural impediment. The academic
curriculum must be based on:
A) Where did the pseudo-scientific philosophy of race begin?
B) Who implemented this despicable practice?
C) Why was the system of race classification put into practice?
D) Why haven't effective solutions been formulated to educate the origins of
alleged racial superiority, and to eradicate this tainted notion.
What's more, while many Caucasians continue to proclaim that the decadent
system of racism is a manifestation of their forefathers, who are now all
deceased; and that the current generation did not create this despicable
dilemma and therefore should not be held responsible for it, I propose these
questions.
A) Who are the benefactors of a system based on race classification and
so-called racial superiority?
B) Are the problems of racial strife and the notion of assumed racial
superiority genuine in American society? Then, to knowingly benefit from
a decadent system predicated on hypothetical racial superiority and do nothing
about it, makes that person part of the problem, not the solution.
Moreover, rather than crying foul or reverse racism over diversity in action
programs which are still essential in America's racially polarized society, or
at the slightest advancement of people of color - more specifically, African
Americans over their Caucasian counterparts - it is incumbent upon the
progenitors of this disease to actively participate in extinguishing it. Ideas
of racial supremacy were born solely out of European ideals and cultural
practices, coupled with the proclivity for self-preservation, at the expense of
the human family.
Part of the Problem, Not the Solution
"He who passively accepts evil is as much involved in it as he who helps to
perpetrate it. He who accepts evil without protesting against it is really
cooperating with it". - Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
It is time that "We the people" of the United States of America deal with the
matter of racism straightforwardly.
America and the rest of the European world can no longer present themselves as
moral beacons without putting forth concrete measures to eradicate the
pseudo-scientific philosophy and practices of racism in the 21st century.
The predicament of racism within society is a matter of philosophical,
psychological and institutional contamination, and must be addressed at its
core.
M. Quinn is a San Francisco Bay Area author of
the Removing
the Veil, and a freelance writer and columnist for Afromerica.com,
the Noyse.com and the UC Berkeley newspaper The Onyx, specializing in social,
historical and political analysis, and commentary. He can be contacted at [email protected]
TO POST A COMMENT
click here to visit the Black Agenda Blog