a
bile some secto of the
American populace focuses on
a mythical phenomenon call
Black raci m, very Ji ttle
ttention is directed towards
t pervasive impact of racism
on Africa in America.
Sl very, segregation and
iscrimination are portrayed as
tbing that transpired iD the
past. Even some African
Americans are quic to uuest
that we leave the p t behind
c
la
By Se
ConwspotUltnl
About five ye rs ago, Dr.
Marc Siegler, a professor. of
medicine at the University of
Chic go. warned th t because
of Reagan Admini tration
cutbac ,bureaucr ts in he lth
care in iitution might try to
cut he Ith care costs for the
poor by ncour ging d.o�lOr
and patients to m ke patte nts .
die more quickly, using the
idea of death with dignity.
Thi ound sinister,
. particularly when the "right to
die" movement ha expanded
from one individual deciding
on de th to the ide of third
p rty euthan ia, where other
people are lJowed to ta .e life
from him, even when he 1 not
hope Ie Iy doomed to die.
What . i even more
frightening is a view expres ed
in influential medical' journ I
nd thc m s media in general.
hich would ubvert our
hole ideal of equ lity.
There i call to ab ndon
the principle of the "sanctity of
human life" nd dopt a "new
ethic", b sed on the "quality of
life." In short, the U.S. is
ked to abandon the idea that
all hum n lives are created
equal and adopt the belief that
there are grade B. C. 0, and E
lives, which can rightfully be
red: Th
THE IDEA 0 w hi te
up e r j 0 r i t y' and B I a c k
inferiority as legitimized by
the American Con titution and
ingrained into the fab . c of
and
destroyed.
I TRODUCI G THIS
"new ethic" into
would mean a
unequal Jim Crow
j u tice , hich
es entially be
Apartheid. "
Doe thl round armliar?
At th lime of the Declaration
of I ndependenc African
Am rican were con rdered an
inferior "quality of life." The
con titution con idered a lave
three fifth of a person.
The Dred scou Decision
ruled th t Blac per on had
no right that white people were
con titutionally ound to
re peer.
Whilc this "nc ethic" i
supposed to apply only to
individual wiih phy ical or
mental defect. racists
throughout the ages have
m naged' to invent reasons
why foreign r or persecuted
mi norities were nat urally
"defective. from the time that
the phi 10 opher Aristotle
declared all non-Greeks were
by ature" sla.ves.
From the day of the fir t
lave ships to the time of
William Shockley's theorie •
white upremacists have Qeen
very killful in arguing that
Black people are by nature
handicapped and genetically
our laws
epar tel
ystern of
would
"Legal
real
II
Americ n law ·and
juri prudence.
In the American
Consti tution the slaves ere
denied citizen hip, but th�y
ere allowed to be counted 'as
3/5 of a person for the purpose
of calculating voting
re reseatauon from the South.
In 1857 in the infamous
Dred Scott Decision, tbe
Supreme Court held that
Blac "had no rigbts which
the white man was bound to
respect."
There is Ii ttle wonder then
that the phrase "if you're white
you're alright, yello melJo ,
bro n stick around, but Bl ck
get bact" evolved as a telliD
part of the African American
vernacular.
And given the constant
reenforcement of tbe idea of
wbite uperiority by a
language, image and symbols
tbat almo t II ays portrays
white as good and Blact
evil, no wonder many African
Americans are convinced that
"the white man's ice is always
colder." .
BLACK SELF·HATRED
is a lingering, persistent leg cy
of raei m, very and cui tural
awe ion:
aclsm'
our capacity
contrary 0 white fears
Af ican Ameri ns have not
be n prone to ebel against
the r condition b hating white
pe pie.
lack people in a pattern
oft n played ut among a
op res ed peop e, frequently
tak out their f tration and
vi
vic imizer or t victimizin
sys em. Hence B ac -on-Blac
cri and vicle i rampant,
particularly in oor African
American comm nities.
Fraticide or B ck-on-Black
bo ocide i tbe
of death amo
America beIW
18-24.
Here again tbe ystem
reenforce tbe i
uperiority
inferiority. Bi c committing
crime agai t bite almost
IDvanab) recei e more time
Blac 5
gal'a
a
inferior.
I G WEDGE
for this "new' ethic" in
Michigan" is n euthanasia bill.
H.B.4016.
The bill uppo edly
designed to allow patients to
choo e an agent to make
medical d ci ions for th m
when they re unconscious or
incompetent to m ke their
own:
The law ould allow an
agent to remove medical
treatment necc ary to save
pari nr' life.
The originator of the bill.
State Representative David
Hollister, tate th t H.B. 4016
would allow agen to remove
extr ordinary treatment, when
patients re helples Iy
doomed.
, However, there is nothing
in the bill preventing an gent
from removing the mo t
ordinary treatment, including
in ulin for diabetic, feeding
tube nd po ibly (as a
st tement from .on of
HolH ler' upporter ,
included in hi own literature,
uggesl) even spoonfeeding.
Thi could h ppen when the
p lie�t ha a good chance for
recovery.
There are provi ions for
judge to review an agent's
actions, but the guideline are
not specific, ) aving uch
i ue up to the d scretion (and
prejudices) of individual
judge. Judges like anyone
el e c n h ve prejudiced
atti des to ard the
handicapped, m noritie nd
the poor.
T ERE
I ITS MOST de tructive
forms thi attitude and outlook
maDife ts itself in outright
distrust antagonism, and
bostility toward ones own
people.
Hence Black self-batred is
the real "reverse �ism" whicb
African Americans need to
understand and overcome if we
are to progre s as a people.
It is DOt at all surprising that
Blac self·batred is prevalent
among African American .
The idea of white uperiority
Tbe problem is tbat !be past and Black inferiority was an
is still very much with Africans integral part of, tbe slave
in America. brei ing system under the
Racism and cultural British American form of
aggression have resulted in Chattel Slavery.
evere psycbo-cultural �amage The slaves were taught that
to African Americans; dam ge their color w s a "badge of
bicb has erved to retard our degraduation" and tbat tlieir
gro tb economically and African ancestry "tainted"
politically a national them. Any wbite person, no
community. matter what their status in life,
Indeed the real "reverse was to be respected (It alf times.
racism" is to be foUDd in the Failure to re pect and
f ct that a sizeable segment of ubmit to "white superiority"
African Americans have re ulled in swift, evere and
internalized the concept of often fatal punishment.
Blac inferiority. lbati to say .
African Americans are not
comfortable itb beiq Black
aDd lack confidence in
lJleJnseJves as individual and
in the race as a hole.
lions g in t
a pa ient being i umidaten by
health care In titution into
pi king n agen. The poor
and racial minor ties whd re
often unaware 0 their right
would be mo t vi timized .
Th Michigan andicapp r
Caucu (MHC) Holli ter s
own state Demo tic Pary i
c lling for mendment
providing safegu rd again t
such intimidatio , similar to
tho e provide f r confe ed
murderers under he Suprem
Court' Mirand cis ion nd
making attempts to coerce a
patient punishabl .
MHC amend ent would
also prevent a ent from
removing ordin treatment,
proven o.utright st rvation and
would not allow removal of
rtificial feeding ube unle
the patient is do med to die
and the tubes cau unreliable
p in greater tha hunger or
thir 1. "
People are
their own state
crime ag inst Blac .
The me age' that white
people are precio and Blac
people are expen able. BI ck
life is seen as ch p and BI c
elf-hatred conditions many
African Americans to treat it
such.
Thu we African
Americans have real problem
with "reverse r cism". Black
elf-hatred is a �henomenon
which we must f head on.
Overcoming Blac self-hatred
i an important element in lh
formula for Blac urvival and
national and internatinar
development into the 21 t
century. We cannot continue to
believe that tbe hite man'
ice s alway colder.
ROil Daniels
PruidDat 0/ the' I
COlfllllunily Orga tion and
Developmen: in � ulIgstoWIl,
Ollio. He may be c ntacted. Ql
(216) 746-5747.
Sla e Senat r Fred
Oil ingham. he d of the
co miuee lookin into the I w
to upport t e MHC
am ndments (Wr te to them
c/o Michig n St ie Senate.
Lan ing, Michiga 48909.)
In a climate of raci m nd
om open lynching, we do
not ave the luxury of playing
g e with coo titution I
fe uar.d. In the ye r· that
el on and Winnie Mandela
com to Michigan demanding
equal protection of the law in
South Afric , it would b
ironic i 'our legi I tor
ab ndoned thi concept her at
home.
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