Mimesis: how Canadian blacks follow the example of U.S. blacks

(Note: Further down in this entry, KPA, who is a native of Ethiopia, gives her view of the racial problem in Ethiopia as a backdrop for understanding Obama.)

KPA writes from Canada:

I’ve always thought that important social and cultural events in the U.S. also affect Canada. Or at least, the behaviors of blacks in this northern country are very similar to those in the U.S.

Here are some examples:

• The Rodney King riots also had their parallel in Toronto, with riots on Yonge Street, the most famous street in Canada, directly as a consequence to those in Los Angeles.

• Michaelle Jean—Canada’s Governor General who immigrated from Haiti—stressed her slavery background at her inaugural speech in 2005, and implied that Canada had a role in it. Much of her behavior reminds me of Condoleezza Rice’s.

• The rap/hip-hop/gangsta culture is fully played out in Toronto in the long days of summer with wild black youth shoot outs in Toronto’s neighborhoods—mostly the Caribbean blacks. But a tragic incident downtown on a New Year’s eve brought the urgency close to home for many Torontonians, where an innocent white girl shopping with her mother was shot dead by stray bullets from black rival groups.

• A Trinidadian black lawyer filed a class action law suit against pledging allegiance to the Queen during citizenship ceremonies. His daughter, a lawyer who’s working on this case, said in an interview that the Queen’s England is responsible for blacks’ ills—implying colonization I presume. According to them, the fundamental premise of Canadian citizenry is tainted. Something like the “birth defect” Rice talked about.

• Recently, the United Black Students at Ryerson (a Toronto university) invited the leader of the New Black Panther Party—Malik Zulu Shabazz—to speak. He was denied entry into Canada because of previous misdemeanors. The UBSR cited racism, and there were rallies across town to protest this.

I’m not sure how Obama’s candidacy, and possible presidency, will play out in Canadian black politics and grievances, but I don’t look forward to finding out. From previous experience, such “advances” in blacks in the U.S. spikes up the indignation and confidence of blacks in Canada. And I’m sure there are also subtle influences incurred in the U.S., due to a pan-black mentality that surpasses borders.

- end of initial entry -

LA replies:

Thanks. This is enlightening. In the U.S. we don’t know much about black issues in Canada.

I’m still staggered by the sheer cluelessness of Obama. A month ago he was a sun god. Now he’s Michael Dukakis!

KPA writes:

I don’t know how to say this delicately. But here goes. Please excuse the length of this, I’m trying to present a point.

I would be surprised if Obama didn’t act the way he does. He is after all ambitious, has clearly embraced his blackness (he has no identity problems at all, in my view), and wants to rule the U.S.

I have this kind of insight into “racial” politics, because my country of birth, Ethiopia (which I left very young), has faced centuries of similar tensions, albeit in its own peculiar way.

The northern Amhara—to which I belong—are more semitic, the centuries-long leaders, staunch Orthodox Christians, part of the long legacy of emperors, and as far as civilization, nation-hood and other positive things go, the guardians and purveyors.

Southern, more negroid races, Muslims, and even more northern, but less powerful, tribes have always tried to destabilize and destroy the Amhara. Jealousy, desire for power, and other human feelings take over.

Throughout history, the Amahra have maintained the huge country, despite the many differences, in a fair and civilized way—as far as that is possible. The great Islamic invasion of the 15th century was partly because Muslims were “tolerated” in Amhara society. Affirmative action was really in full force in mid-20th century Ethiopia where southern tribes were given choice schools and jobs, as prescribed by the then Emperor Haile Selassie.

But, accusations of imperialism, feudalism, oppression, etc. continue to this day.

But the real story is that it is very difficult for different tribes, let alone if they have some fundamental racial differences, to live together.

Obama cannot do anything else but what he is doing. The only way he can stop is if he is stopped. In the olden, golden, days, this would have meant war, at some point. Or just prevention—he just wouldn’t have reached the top.

These fundamental understandings of human behavior is what we in the Western world have slowly lost.

LA replies:

What you’re saying is that Obama is acting out of sheer racial will to power. I understand this point as a general matter, when it comes to many U.S. blacks. But Obama had seemed so different. At the very least, he had the smarts to see the necessity of presenting himself as different. The fact that he has thrown away his “unifying,” “race-transcending” persona and is acting in such a way as to alienate half the country is what is so surprising

KPA replies:

“At the very least, he had the smarts to see the necessity of presenting himself as different.”

I think this is it. He knew he had to play the role. He had to get into white society somehow. Maybe he thought he could play that double role indefinitely.

I think he’s actually a nice person—intelligent and sensitive. He seems to have a knack for getting people to like him, and part of it is genuine. Even after the thing he said about his grandmother, she still seems to have forgiven him. As well as all those whites who heard Wright’s speeches and still upped his ratings.

Racial power isn’t only the Black Panther style “Black Power,” or the mediocre fumblings and rantings of Jackson and Sharpton. It can come in a suit too.

LA replies:

I’m not sure what you’re saying here or how it relates to your and my previous comments.

You earlier said: “Obama cannot do anything else but what he is doing. The only way he can stop is if he is stopped. In the olden, golden, days, this would have meant war, at some point.”

To which I replied: “What you’re saying is that Obama is acting out of sheer racial will to power.”

Are you now agreeing with those points or disagreeing with them?

KPA replies:

What I mean is that his race-transcending persona was a front. He didn’t want to be, and cannot be because of his personality, an Al Sharpton, a Jesse Jackson or a Black Panther type leader. So he tried to pursue his black leadership ambitions in a “civilized”, non-confrontational way.

But, all’s fair in politics (and war), is probably what he thinks. He’s doing this to lead his people, after all, which was harmed and oppressed by the enemy for so long.

KPA continues:

I hope you realize that I’m being sarcastic here. I think Obama has lied about who he really is, and what he really represents. He has deceived the American people, and will continue to do so. But he loves his black people, his black family, his black children. He’s fighting a war that he thinks will save them, and thinks he’s justified to behave as he has done.

Posted by Lawrence Auster at April 12, 2008 03:03 PM | Send