“Transcending race” (fl. 1964- ), strictly speaking, means rising above one’s race. In practice in the US, though, it is mainly said of famous Black people who have become Whitewashed enough to be “safe” for Whites to admire.
The Whitewash can be applied in one of two ways:
- By Whites who choose to remember certain things and forget others to make the Black person in question safe enough to admire without having to question their own Whiteness.
- examples: Muhammad Ali, Prince, Martin Luther King Jr.
- aka: being sanitized by White people.
- By Blacks to make themselves more appealing to Whites.
- examples: Barack Obama, Bill Cosby, Whitney Houston, Gwendolyn Brooks in the 1950s, Anatole Broyard.
- aka: crossing over, selling out, passing.
Either way, race is not being transcended. Instead Whiteness is being more nearly approached.
The underlying message is Black inferiority: that there is something wrong with being Black, that one cannot be fully human and fully Black at the same time. It is like “You are pretty for a Black girl” or “You are not like other Blacks.”
Whites are rarely expected to “transcend race”. Obama is expected to “transcend race” to become the president of “all Americans”. Black Lives Matter protesters are expected to say “All Lives Matter”. But this is the first page on the Internet to say: “Hillary Clinton should transcend race.” It is almost an unthinkable thought.
Whiteness is not seen as something to transcend. Whiteness is universal, neutral, colourless, raceless, the Default. It is the measure of all, not in need of transcendence. It is other races which are limited, found wanting, lacking in full humanity. Whites see them through a deficiency model, a self-serving way for them to remain blind to the effects of their own racism, their own deficiency, their own lack of humanity. If anyone is in need of transcendence it is White people.
But can race be transcended? In the US, in this age?
- Ask the race transcenders themselves, like Obama, Oprah or O.J. They have hardly escaped racism.
- Ask anyone who has passed for another race. Rachel Dolezal was able to pass as Black, but she hardly transcended race. She just changed colour. The same for Anatole Broyard.
- Ask mixed-race people or Korean adoptees. Have they transcended race?
- Ask anyone who thinks of themselves as colour-blind or raceless or “just American” or “just me” or “just a human being” or “Christian”. Being blind to race in the US leads not to transcendence but to becoming its fool.
The closest thing I know of is when Black Americans go to France, like James Baldwin, Gordon Parks or Ta-Nehisi Coates. Or when Malcolm went to Mecca. But James Baldwin himself would be the first to tell you that you cannot escape the history that created you simply with a plane ticket, that those who try to run from their history become its greatest prisoners.
– Abagond, 2016.
See also:
- racelessness / race conscious
- growing up Latino
- being universal
- White Default
- Anatole Broyard
- Rachel Dolezal
- Korean adoptees
- Gordon Parks
- Ta-Nehisi Coates
- James Baldwin
529
“Being blind to race in the US leads not to transcendence but to becoming its fool.” – Abagond
Well stated brother!
LikeLike
I would always read this when there was a think piece on a celebrity like Michael Jackson or Muhammad Ali.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Well according to this setting there is never going to be any togetherness, so we may as well get use to it the way it is.
Reminds me of integration when the Whites seemed to be divided into nationalistic groups like Italians, and Yugoslavians and Czechoslovakians and many other races and groups. The Blacks entered and all of the Whites became White.
So I guess there will continue to be passing as anyone can get into the “White Race” and the “Black Race will actually become smaller as it gets larger.
LikeLike
I noticed the word transcendent was also used when saying some black person had cross over appeal.
LikeLike
That phrase always irritates me when I hear/read it in the media. To some extent I think it may be more accurate to say is that the person’s notoriety has transcended RACISM. In other words, the fact they were able to achieve fame and/or fortune despite the immense hurdles of racism is a remarkable achievement. I think some Whites might understand that being Black is not a deficit, but that being Black in America is. But, for Whites to phrase it that way would shine a light on their own bias / racism. So, they say “transcended race” rather than “transcended racism”.
LikeLiked by 2 people
@Open Minded Observer: Well said.
LikeLike
“Whiteness is universal, neutral, colourless, raceless, the Default. It is the measure of all, not in need of transcendence.”
That’s one reason why I dislike the term “people of color.” White is a color too; it is not magically exempt from the baggage of race. The term “people of color” evokes the One-Drop Rule: the “pure” White people vs. all those “others.” Also, “people of color” is too close to “colored people,” which brings to mind the legal segregation of the past. If I’m talking about all races except White, I say “non-White,” just as I would use “non-Black” to describe all races other than Black, and so on and so forth.
LikeLiked by 2 people
@Open Minded Observer
I second Mary Burrell. Well said.
LikeLike
@Paige
I also dislike the term, “people of color”.
To me, it implies a false unity between non-White peoples that does not exist in the real world. I notice Black people use it a lot without thinking of how flimsy the the “unity” tent really is: muddy floors, rickety supports, gaping holes in the sides and top.
LikeLiked by 3 people
@Afrofem
‘it implies a false unity between non-White peoples that does not exist in the real world.” You have NO IDEA how true that statement is. Thank you.
LikeLike
@Afrofem: Yes to that statement about “people of color ” and that false unity tent. Great example of why that term “people of color” needs to be done away with.
LikeLike
I have used POC in the comments I have made here and there. And I admit I didn’t really put a lot of thought into it until I read Paige’s and Afrofem’s replies. Thank you for opening my eyes.
LikeLike
The word people of color is a specious word and there is something disingenuous about it Paige and Afrofem made some great points why the word needs to go away I too have used it and in the future will be mindful that it’s a disingenuous word be it implies unity among non whites like we are all sitting around in kumbaya mode holding hands when in reality there is acrimony between many non white ethnic groups. It is unfortunate but this the reality in our society.
LikeLike
@ everyone
I never felt that Black people had any special unity/comradery with others.
Heck, we could use lots more UNITY within our own ranks!
But that’s another discussion.
IMO, “PoC” is merely another way of saying “non-white.”
I dislike the term “non-white” more because I think whiteness is placed at the center of what’s normal, the default. I don’t care to describe Black people as the NON (entity) before *white.*
I don’t care to describe myself as a non, minus, or minor(ity) anything negative because I do not see myself (Black people) as such.
So if I’m describing or referencing people who are Black AND other people who are not white, I’m going to stick with using PoC or perhaps the term *Melanated People*.
Tomorrow or 20 years from now, I may change my point of view…. but today, I’d prefer to reference myself as a Melanated Person instead of a non-white individual.
LikeLiked by 4 people
Would it be accurate to say that Oprah appears to “transcend race” in that she markets her image for white consumption ?
It’s interesting that Mohammed Ali “transcended race” after he passed. He conviently wasn’t available to object. The media, both conservative and liberal, resurrected him as representing white American values when in reality he was one of white America’s greatest critics.
What Hillary has learned is how to speak the language of inclusion while simultaneously supporting corporatism.
Here’s a quote from Donna Brazile:
“There’s a different language that must be spoken, a language that now speaks to the fact that women and minorities can compete for the top prize in the United States of America.
It’s a language that says, you know, we’re all together, that we understand how to talk about our problems and our issues without referring to gender or using metaphors that may be conjure up racial, you know, slogans of the past or racial signs of the past.”
The emphasis is put on how white people speak not on what white people actually do.
So while the Clinton’s record have in fact hurt Black and marginalized communities, she has been able to create a brand for herself that those same communities support her today and that is in part tied to her use of language and how she markets herself. The other lart is the Clinton poltical machine that is now in charge of the Democratic Party.
As Abagond has pointed out, some Blacks have embraced American exceptionalism, while others after passing, get rebranded as a part of that American identity regardless of what they actually represented, said or did.
Blacks that market themselves for white consumption are those that transcend race.
LikeLike
This would be a great think piece for all so called “new black” celebrities to read and give them something to think about when they start talking about how they are not black but they are just “Americans ” or something stupid like ” I am color blind” Raven Symone and Zoe Saldana and Pharrell I see you. These so called “new blacks” annoy the he!! out of me being delusional and stupid.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Abagond
LikeLike
Mary!
LikeLike
@Fan
Your reason for preferring the term “people of color” over “non-White” is valid. It the main reason young Black, Latino, Asian and Native American activists started using “people of color” in the 1980s. They did not want to be defined by what they were not—–White.
I think “people of color” and all it implies works best in the activist community. They actually network and collaborate with each other on a level (and frequency) that the communities they represent might find uncomfortable.
I have witnessed Black activists in productive alliances with Asian, Latino and Native American activists even when their respective communities were at odds and sometimes downright hostile to each other. That is the gift of activists.
For the masses of people of African, Asian, Latino and Indigenous descent, there is very little practical unity with other groups. In this country, it is mostly support your own group exclusively and compete with everyone else.
For me, “melanated people” has some of the same problems that “people of color” has; people we define as White also have a range of colors, shades and degrees of melanin.
I totally understand why you choose to stick with “people of color” or “melanated people”. However, like Paige, I find myself avoiding amalgamated terms and going for “non-Black” or just accepting the very tedious task of writing out everyones group name.
LikeLiked by 2 people
@Abagond: I am back I am typing on my tablet and it was doing something crazy. Maybe you should do a post about the use of the word people of color and all theses terms being used to construct new language when having discussions about intersectionallity and marginalization among the different racial groups. I am starting to get confused about what we should or shouldn’t be saying.
LikeLiked by 3 people
@michaeljonbarker
Your words made me think of how, Dave Zirin at the Edge of Sports described the way Muhammad Ali has been lionized since his death. Younger people may not know how much the White Establishment and most Whites on the street hated Ali and everything he stood for.
Zirin writes of the contradictions:
I also agree with an observation an Edge of Sports commenter made when he or she wrote:
“…when these… profitiers of human misery can take the most personal and prominent positions in claiming to be admirers of the man without being immediately and openly and roundly mocked, then what they represent has won, not the other way around.”
In other words, why on earth do the children of prominent Black figures keep inviting anti-Black mass imprisonment architects and war criminals (W.J. Clinton, et al.) to speak at the funerals of people who struggled against them?
LikeLiked by 2 people
@ Mary Burrell
I think you should just use words you are most comfortable with, like Fan.
LikeLike
I like Dave Zirin and his commentary he understands intersectionallity and marginalization. I used to see him when he was a guest on Melissa Harris -Perry on MSNBC. And Afrofem brought up a good question in regards to Bill Clinton being invited the speak at Muhammad Ali’s eulogy. All I could do was roll my eyes because he is a narcissist and he did a lot of grandstanding talking about himself when the occasion was about Ali it was so annoying.
LikeLike
@Afrofem: But you and Paige had some very valid points about how people of color is a specious word. Thanks for the food for thought. Everyone in this forum brings something to the table and I learn from everyone.
LikeLike
@ Mary
I do have a post on just the term “people of colour” itself, but not one more generally on racial terms (a Good idea):
LikeLiked by 1 person
I pretty much agree with Fan.
I am not a huge fan of the term “people of colour”. It is super awkward. And now that I capitalize Black and White it has become even more awkward. But, like Fan, I like it better than non-White. And way better than “minorities”.
When talking about racism or a racist society you do need some kind of word for those affected by it, regardless of their level of unity.
LikeLiked by 1 person
@Mary Burrell
It’s too bad there wasn’t a way to remotely vote for W.J. Clinton to fall into a vat of water when he grandstanded at Ali’s funeral. I hate politicians at funerals. They don’t know when to stop stumping.
LikeLike
@ Abagond
I agree, the term, “minorities” is truly awful. That is doubled when the writer or speaker is only referring to Black folk.
LikeLiked by 2 people
As a white commenter its hard for me to choose the right words. Sometimes I use non white, sometimes POC and sometimes communities of color. I avoid “minorities”. It seems that their is some subjectivity between which words are the “right” ones amongst the commenter’s here on the thread.
I try to be non offensive but I am always writing from the default even if some commenters agree with me.
LikeLiked by 2 people
@michaeljonbarker
“As a white commenter its hard for me to choose the right words.
….
I try to be non offensive but I am always writing from the default even if some commenters agree with me.”
.
I see your writing as from the insightful heart and mind of MJB, not as some default opinion/understanding from the unending ratchetness of whiteness. Your words are just fine.
LikeLiked by 1 person
@michaeljonbarker: I respect you as a commentator on this forum and I always find post insightful and honest.
LikeLiked by 1 person
@michaeljonbarker
Me three! What Fan and Mary said.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Transcending race is akin to transcending species.
LikeLike
“When talking about racism or a racist society you do need some kind of word for those affected by it, regardless of their level of unity.”
I think that’s true, and in our racist society, those most negatively affected by racism are non-White, because most of the racism was created and is perpetuated by White culture. Therefore, in the context of discussing our ideas of race and racism, I think it is appropriate to refer to people as White and non-White (or a more specific racial designation).
Ideally, we would live in a world in which everyone would be united and arbitrary historical categories would be abolished. However, we do not live in that world (yet?) I think ignoring the idea of being non-White is as unhelpful as thinking of oneself as raceless. Of course, everyone is free to identify themselves as they’d like, but I find some terms more realistic than others. “People of color” feels false to me personally.
LikeLike
might be interesting—apparently its called “minority-majority”—
http://www.citylab.com/housing/2015/04/where-minority-populations-have-become-the-majority/390126/
LikeLike
i been thinking about this one for three days or whatever it’s been now, and i am still drawing a blank. i can definitely see and certainly the connotation of the article is that the white default expects people to speak proper english and be presentable in the white lens in order to fulfill the condition of having transcended race, but if white people were able to step outside of that expectation model? idk
LikeLike
This article/post is one of the reasons why I love this blog.
(My eyes might be deceiving me, but Hilary Clinton is looking more like Donald Trump these days. )
I am listening to this conversation and all the viewpoints brought to the table.
However, I am one of those people who have been uncomfortable and tentative about using racialized terms originating from the crucible of scientific racism and language employed by colonizers and including terms to blanket and blank out and derogate people- ‘non-white’, ‘minorities’ ‘Oriental’ , ‘natives’, ‘tribes’.
Hearing and reading ‘brown’, ‘yellow’ and ‘red’ , makes my skin crawl.
Of course, all racial epithets, too.
Even saying ‘Asian’ does not roll off the tongue easily. Asia is a huge continent. I don’t think of ‘Asian’ people. I mostly refer to their specific nationality- Korean, Taiwanese, Bhutanese, Tibetan, etc . And only if I am sure, will I mention ethnic groups- Karen, Parsi, Hmong, etc.
I make an effort to differentiate between Canada and USA, and Central and South America – not lumping the two continents to white people of the USA. I am not always sure and consistent, and sometimes use ‘Asian’ (since people of Asian descent use it) and other racialized terms in a reclaimed manner.
I have never used ‘race’ as in ‘white race’ and ‘Black race’ simply because I do not believe in that artificial construct. I prefer to say ‘people’. On another thread, I quoted Susan Sontag’s use of ‘race’.
‘PoC’ has also never gelled with me, either- people are lumped together as an amorphous mass of (skin) colour. I have used it once ever (on this blog) because I try to write out people whom I am referring to and thought it more compact then. For the reader, it probably is tedious. On the other hand, naming people- for example- Xhosa, Dakota, Laotian Shangaan, etc., is a humanizing acknowledgement of the multitude of etchnicities in the world and an attempt at accuracy. Granted, it is not always possible, for example to write out the different ethnic groups in South Africa or South East Asia and I then employ ‘etc’. Still, I am ambivalent on Indigenous/ First/ Original/ Native people and use them interchangeably. Reading Russel Means and Ward Churchill and both use ‘Indian’.
LikeLiked by 1 person
@ Fan…
“I dislike the term “non-white” more because I think whiteness is placed at the center of what’s normal, the default. I don’t care to describe Black people as the NON (entity) before *white.*”
Agreed 100%.
“Non-white’ is one word I absolutely hate. The ubiquitous apartheid signs that were sources of heaped on humiliation. This is one word I have never used(except now because it is necessary). It is too painful – bringing up unwanted memories. It is not neutral.
(https://www.google.co.za/search?q=apartheid+signs+nie+blankes+nie&safe=active&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwj_vuu3lbTNAhXjB8AKHYtABIUQsAQIGw&biw=1366&bih=577)
On a technicality: I do not want any part of ‘white’ to describe me.
LikeLike
@Taotesan
“On a technicality: I do not want any part of ‘white’ to describe me.”
.
Same here. In fact, I’d like to see white people give up being called “white” and refer to themselves only as “non-Black people.”
LikeLike
@Paige
I enjoyed reading your clarification. Thanks.
LikeLike
@v8driver
…speak proper english and be presentable in the white lens…
Based on that criteria, whole swathes of people who identify as “White” are not making the cut. They need some help “transcending” themselves.
LikeLike
@taotesan
That was a thoughtful comment that touched on a lot of issues around naming ourselves and others.
I noticed that too. Sometimes I am pulled to refer to the original people of the USA (and hemisphere) as “Indians”, but to me Indians are from a place called India. So, I end up using another (hopefully respectful) term for Indigenous Americans.
Funny how every other skin color but “white” is also used as racial epithet.
Controlling names, descriptors and what is derogatory and what is laudatory is very powerful indeed. That is one reason I discount “poor little discriminated me” comments from drive-by* and stroll-by** White Supremacist trolls. Why give much attention to people who are too stupid (or manipulative) to see the power and privilege they swim in everyday of their lives. When the term “white” become so pejorative that they shrink from it and attempt to re-name themselves, then and only then, will I give the concept of “anti-white” discrimination with any consideration.
Yes!
Finally, H.R. Clinton and Trump are looking more alike these days to me too.
In more ways than one. LOL!
*drive-by trolls make one quick and dirty comment and rarely return.
**stroll-by trolls will stay and and make increasingly far-fetched and noxious arguments.
LikeLike
@Fan
Pan European Americans? (LOL!!!)
LikeLike
@ Lavern
Comment deleted for moderated language.
LikeLike
“By Whites who choose to remember certain things and forget others to make the Black person in question safe enough to admire without having to question their own Whiteness.”
examples: Muhammad Ali, Prince, Martin Luther King Jr.
aka: being sanitized by White people.”
Abagond, I would add another whom they lionize: Nelson Mandela.
I feel their fawning and hypocritical admiration emasculates, not elevates them.
Malcolm X , Steve Biko, Patrice Lamumba were dangerous men in the best way.
I am thinking of the statue of the white statue of Martin Luther King, Jnr, that looks in the tradition Chairman Mao , amputated at the knees, is symbolic of cutting a Giant down to size. Even in death, keeping him in his place. That statue is a blatant piece of propaganda.
@ Mary And Afrofem
A Black American guy commented on Bill Clinton’s presence at Muhammed Ali’s funeral, that white people have to be at every stage of Black death.
“Funny how every other skin color but “white” is also used as racial epithet.”
This sentence jolted me – that even after efforts in challenging/ fighting white supremacy, the internalization of the meaning of this very word, ‘white’ brings about an acknowlegement of its power, along with the many subjective thoughts one has about it.
LikeLike
Supreme Court Blocks Obama Immigration Plan – Part 1
(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F3K7Q4m-ZEM)
LikeLike
@Joe – that is a good thing. Do we want those Mexicans in our country? I didn’t think so…
LikeLike