Page 8!
P«brwary 9, 1989
The Debate Over
Name Calling
By Dana Clinton Lumsden
There is a new cry for a name change
in the Black community. Reverend
Jesse L. Jackson has called for Black
people to call themselves African-
Americans — a reflection says Jackson
of the community’s new cultural
maturity. “Just as we were called col
ored but were not that, and then Negro,
but not that, to be called Black is just as
baseless,” Jackson said during a
Washington conference. “To be called
African-American has cultural integri
ty. It puts us in our proper historical
context. Every ethnic group in this
country has a reference to some land
base, some historical cultural base,”
said Jackson.
Jackson’s new call has renewed the
debate among scholars and members of
the Black community on what to call
Americans of African descent. “I think
what Jackson was alluding to is the fact
that when we speak of other ethnic
groups we say Italian-Americans or
Chinese-Americans, this is just another
way of creating an analogous relation
ship,” said Colin Palmer, professor of
African Studies at UNC. “Whatever
Blacks choose to call themselves will be
picked up by the general public.”
Some prevalent scholars in the Black
community favor the name African-
American because they assert that it
reflects a positive step in the direction of
nationhood. “Our situation will always
be different because we were descen
dants of chattel. Because of that, what
we call ourselves will always be a dif
ferent issue than (what immigrant
groups call themselves),” said JoNina
Abron, Black Scholar’s managing
editor in an interview in the Bay State
Banner. “For us to have that name
(African-American) as part of our
heritage is important i?l a society that is
not really a melting pot. We need that
type of identification.” Abron noted
that it is important for our children to
look toward Africa with pride.
Ever since the early nineteenth cen
tury, when names for Black people were
reflections of White supremacy and
were used to justify the slave trade, the
names for Black people have been
political maneuvers. It has been but
recently that Blacks have seized the op
portunity to name themselves and create
their own identity.
New political directions and objec
tives have always been signified through
name changes. In the 1820s, Blacks
stopped referring to themselves as
African or Free African because they
wanted to distance themselves from a
northern White movement that sought
to return them to their original conti
nent, said Wayne Dawkins, writing in
the National Association of Black Jour
nalists Newsletter. Blacks become
Negro or “Colored” when assimilation
was the desired political objective in the
minds of Black-Americans. As segrega
tion and certain institutions forced
Blacks to become more militant in their
politics, there was a scream for “Black
Power” during the sixties by Stokely
Carmichael and other members of the
Black Power Movement. Negroes and
Coloreds had become “Black,” a term
that used to be an insult.
There are still some members of the
community who cling to the words Col
ored and Black because they signify our
genetic and anthropological distinctions
from White Americans. Others believe
that it doesn’t matter what Blacks are
called as long as we are moving in the
right direction.
S3S3SSS3S3S3S3S3S3S3SSS3S3S3S3S393S3S3S3^^
Write
for
Black Ink
Swimming Cross-Current
Through the Hallelujah Deluge
Garraud Etienne, Editor
I didn’t appreciate being woken up after only two hours of sleep, especially
since I wasn’t in the mood for a discourse on the fabric of life.
Two hours of sleep, standing in the doorway braving sub-freezing temperatures
and Watchtower-packin’ Jehovah’s Witness: charming.
Despite having spent the past 24 hours waking up exhausted, doing a few hours
of last-minute cramming, getting spanked by a 30-page final exam, driving 10
hours through the night and being dragged from my much-deserved slumber after
a meager two hours, I still found myself managing a facade of politeness. They
made it tough.
Exhausted yet polite—“Yes?”
Witness—“Good morning and (something along the lines of blah-blah, repent,
yes Jehovah, hallelujah and amen).” I admit after two hours of sleep I wasn’t
alert enough to remember this pious broadside.
Exhausted yet polite—“Thanks, but we’re not interested.”
Witness—“But do you know who we are?”
Exhausted yet polite—“Ah, Jehovah’s Witness?”
Witness—“That’s right, son, but when you say you’re not interested, that sor
rows us. What do you mean?”
Exhausted yet polite—I wanted to say that’s a signal for you to get the hell out,
but yet Exhausted, ever so polite, refrained. “Well, we’re not too religious here.”
Witness—“Well, we’re sorry to hear you’re not interested in the gospel of God.
That means you’re not interested in life, and that’s a shame.”
Exhausted yet polite—“That’s O.K. Have a nice day.”
Between the “moral” God squads, the roving hordes of Jehovah’s witnesses
and those hysterical Hee Haw-reject televangelists, it’s hard for a good old-
fashioned atheist to lead a quiet, contemplative life.
I firmly and unequivocally reject the Judeo-Christian notions of an all
knowing, benevolent “he knows if you’ve been bad or good, so be good for
goodness sake” deity. I firmly reject fairy tale notions of an apple full of
knowledge of evil, Moses parting the Red Sea and other independently but equal
ly ridiculous historical exaggerations. Despite 12 years of Catholic education, by
the time I reached the fifth grade I grew increasingly insulted by the corny and
obscenely childish notions of guardian angels, the divinity of some dude elected
Pope and the whole entire world being repopulated (only about 5,000-10,000
years ago according to the Bible) by animals crammed into Noah’s ark. (Fossils,
geo-physical formations, and natural and written history must all be a fiendish
plot by Satan to confuse us!) Even as a child I found it ridiculous that grown, in
telligent people could swallow this without batting an eyelash. After Mass 1 would
venture into the consciousness of my fellow worshipers and hear;
“Gulp...ahh, now the world is truly ordered, purposeful and all I have to do is
be good and believe, and I’ll be saved. Hallelujah!!!”
I must admit though, atheism isn’t a topic I am totally at ease with, but I
believe whole-heartedly in challenging people, forcing them to think about entren
ched belief systems, and ideally have them respond and expound on their beliefs.
Many students are more interested in simply getting a degree than in truly learn
ing. You don’t learn anything by surrounding yourself with people of like mind
and retreating into the safe, cozy world of yuppie-dronedom.
Many people never progress beyond the fundamentalism of the Bible and the
Ten Commandments and explore the philosophy and dynamics of faith. I believe
the Bible isn’t the book created by some god but a masterful text oustanding for
its literary and philosophical merit. Of course the Bible isn’t verbatim directions
of “I am” but a guide, a highly principled one, as to what the authors believed
were universal principles and proper conduct for mortal man.
Morality is a non-entity, highly subjective and difficult to describe, but I’ll
wager I’m as principled, humanitarian and egalitarian as those of you who have
already picked up your pens to write a “you’re gonna burn in Hell if you don’t
get saved, son” letter. So, therefore, I serve notice on all holier-than-thou
crusaders.
Leave me to my inevitable damnation, and 1 will leave you to entertain
whatever religious fantasies you wish to hold on to.