Tweet
The 'browning' phenomenon and Jamaican self-worth
RAULSTON NEMBHARD
Saturday, September 17, 2011
Jamaicans are understandably outraged at the report that Jamaican firms are discriminating or have the intention to discriminate against employing Jamaicans on the basis of skin colour. One would have thought that on the eve of the 50th anniversary of the country's independence we would have attained a certain maturity that would reflect the time-honoured statement from that great icon of the Civil Rights movement in America, Dr Martin Luther King, Jr, that a person should not be judged on the basis of the colour of his skin but by the content of his character. What is clear to me is that this pathetic and unfortunate attitude says more about the character of those so inclined to discriminate than those they would discriminate against. It is self-disparagement at its lowest level and must be rooted out wherever it raises its ugly head.
We cannot make light of this browning phenomenon which might be more deeply resident in the psyche of our people than we would care to admit. The desire to employ people with a light or brown skin is one part of the problem. Another problem with which we have had to contend is the bleaching of the skin partly because this guarantees a certain upward mobility in society or makes one more attractive to the opposite sex. All of this suggests to me that something has gone amiss in our society. It is very easy and convenient to lay the blame for this kind of behaviour on our colonial or slave past. The extent to which the plantocracy still inheres in our psyche as an impediment to social mobility, physical attractiveness and the attitude of the society toward political and economic power, is still a matter of debate. I would admit that elements of the colonial and slave past are still with us, but I find that these become too easy scapegoats, too easy escape valves which prevent us from accepting personal responsibility for our own actions.
KARTEL... said to have bleached his skin.
I can accept what slavery can do to a person's self-worth and self-esteem. But we must remember that even in the worst days of slavery, many on the plantation did not lose their self-respect. The yearning to be free was ever present in their minds. The suggestion has been made that many lost their dignity or self-esteem due to what their masters did to them and while this might have been so in some cases, it cannot be assumed that their denigration by the white man is something that was accepted, believed in and lived out, by many a slave. The slave protests in the West Indies, especially the celebrated Sam Sharpe revolt, underscore the strength of black dignity in the face of great oppression. The idea being perpetuated today in textbooks and academia about the denigration of black dignity in the slave period as an explanation for black-on-black denigration today is questionable. Certainly not to the extent to which it is being suggested. I know that I am swimming against the stream here, but to accept in a wholesale fashion that collectively the black man lost his dignity during the slave period or the colonial period flies in the face of the valiant struggle that was waged by many slaves of which the Haitian Revolution is the enduring symbol.
I find that we too easily find escape for our discontents by riding on the duppy of the slave past. We bleach our skins so it has to do with slavery. Uppity firms prefer to employ brownings than blacks so it has to do with the plantation mentality. Did we ever stop to consider that this too could be a function of sexual attractiveness; that many of the bosses in those firms who want to employ "brownings" do so because they will have a certain "attractiveness" around the office? An attractiveness that they too may be inclined to exploit? Why do such phenomena have to come down to one common denominator -- the slave past?
If there is to be a common denominator then it has to do with our self-worth as a people. It cannot be that we continue to view ourselves in a negative way because of slavery, because of what happened in the West Indies over 150 years ago. I understand the Collective Unconscious theory of Carl Jung, but I cannot vouch for its veracity in explaining slavery as the reason why we have such a poor estimate of ourselves; why our self-respect as a people has been so horribly degraded almost 50 years after we took over control of our own affairs. We need to change the narrative and begin to help people to understand that they can achieve significantly if they put their minds to it. Perhaps a place to start is to get the teaching of Marcus Garvey into the curriculum: Up you mighty race, you can accomplish what you will!
While we must decry the instances of discrimination and those who suggest that people are not comfortable in their own skins, we must understand that unless we are rendered incapable each one of us who have come of age must be responsible for his or her own destiny. We are not owed a free lunch and so we must fight at every stage of our lives to achieve the things we want, despite the obstacles that are placed in our way. I have been in American classrooms both as a teacher and as a student. I have taught classes in which people were much older than myself and in which I was the only black man standing. I have been in classes where I was the only male and black person present. Did I feel age, gender or racial oppression? A resounding no, because I had earlier resolved that I am not going to accept that anyone was brighter than I am, and what others could achieve I too could achieve and achieve better. I had a strong sense of my personal worth or value and an indomitable belief in my capacities which I found at times were intimidating to those from whom I should feel intimidation. Sydney Poitier, the great Bahamian actor, never accepted a role that would demean himself as a black man. Yes, the narrative must change and those who are perpetuating this self-hate, wittingly or unwittingly, are doing our people a great disservice.
— stead6655@aol.com
www.drraulston.com
Read more: http://www.jamaicaobserver.com/colum...#ixzz1YDc3HdWu
RAULSTON NEMBHARD
Saturday, September 17, 2011
Jamaicans are understandably outraged at the report that Jamaican firms are discriminating or have the intention to discriminate against employing Jamaicans on the basis of skin colour. One would have thought that on the eve of the 50th anniversary of the country's independence we would have attained a certain maturity that would reflect the time-honoured statement from that great icon of the Civil Rights movement in America, Dr Martin Luther King, Jr, that a person should not be judged on the basis of the colour of his skin but by the content of his character. What is clear to me is that this pathetic and unfortunate attitude says more about the character of those so inclined to discriminate than those they would discriminate against. It is self-disparagement at its lowest level and must be rooted out wherever it raises its ugly head.
We cannot make light of this browning phenomenon which might be more deeply resident in the psyche of our people than we would care to admit. The desire to employ people with a light or brown skin is one part of the problem. Another problem with which we have had to contend is the bleaching of the skin partly because this guarantees a certain upward mobility in society or makes one more attractive to the opposite sex. All of this suggests to me that something has gone amiss in our society. It is very easy and convenient to lay the blame for this kind of behaviour on our colonial or slave past. The extent to which the plantocracy still inheres in our psyche as an impediment to social mobility, physical attractiveness and the attitude of the society toward political and economic power, is still a matter of debate. I would admit that elements of the colonial and slave past are still with us, but I find that these become too easy scapegoats, too easy escape valves which prevent us from accepting personal responsibility for our own actions.
KARTEL... said to have bleached his skin.
I can accept what slavery can do to a person's self-worth and self-esteem. But we must remember that even in the worst days of slavery, many on the plantation did not lose their self-respect. The yearning to be free was ever present in their minds. The suggestion has been made that many lost their dignity or self-esteem due to what their masters did to them and while this might have been so in some cases, it cannot be assumed that their denigration by the white man is something that was accepted, believed in and lived out, by many a slave. The slave protests in the West Indies, especially the celebrated Sam Sharpe revolt, underscore the strength of black dignity in the face of great oppression. The idea being perpetuated today in textbooks and academia about the denigration of black dignity in the slave period as an explanation for black-on-black denigration today is questionable. Certainly not to the extent to which it is being suggested. I know that I am swimming against the stream here, but to accept in a wholesale fashion that collectively the black man lost his dignity during the slave period or the colonial period flies in the face of the valiant struggle that was waged by many slaves of which the Haitian Revolution is the enduring symbol.
I find that we too easily find escape for our discontents by riding on the duppy of the slave past. We bleach our skins so it has to do with slavery. Uppity firms prefer to employ brownings than blacks so it has to do with the plantation mentality. Did we ever stop to consider that this too could be a function of sexual attractiveness; that many of the bosses in those firms who want to employ "brownings" do so because they will have a certain "attractiveness" around the office? An attractiveness that they too may be inclined to exploit? Why do such phenomena have to come down to one common denominator -- the slave past?
If there is to be a common denominator then it has to do with our self-worth as a people. It cannot be that we continue to view ourselves in a negative way because of slavery, because of what happened in the West Indies over 150 years ago. I understand the Collective Unconscious theory of Carl Jung, but I cannot vouch for its veracity in explaining slavery as the reason why we have such a poor estimate of ourselves; why our self-respect as a people has been so horribly degraded almost 50 years after we took over control of our own affairs. We need to change the narrative and begin to help people to understand that they can achieve significantly if they put their minds to it. Perhaps a place to start is to get the teaching of Marcus Garvey into the curriculum: Up you mighty race, you can accomplish what you will!
While we must decry the instances of discrimination and those who suggest that people are not comfortable in their own skins, we must understand that unless we are rendered incapable each one of us who have come of age must be responsible for his or her own destiny. We are not owed a free lunch and so we must fight at every stage of our lives to achieve the things we want, despite the obstacles that are placed in our way. I have been in American classrooms both as a teacher and as a student. I have taught classes in which people were much older than myself and in which I was the only black man standing. I have been in classes where I was the only male and black person present. Did I feel age, gender or racial oppression? A resounding no, because I had earlier resolved that I am not going to accept that anyone was brighter than I am, and what others could achieve I too could achieve and achieve better. I had a strong sense of my personal worth or value and an indomitable belief in my capacities which I found at times were intimidating to those from whom I should feel intimidation. Sydney Poitier, the great Bahamian actor, never accepted a role that would demean himself as a black man. Yes, the narrative must change and those who are perpetuating this self-hate, wittingly or unwittingly, are doing our people a great disservice.
— stead6655@aol.com
www.drraulston.com
Read more: http://www.jamaicaobserver.com/colum...#ixzz1YDc3HdWu
Comment