What is melanin? A phytochemical that evolved through evolutionary adaptation to sun exposure. This complex polymer is reflected in coloration of the skin, eyes, hair and other things. It is present in humans based on their historical exposure to the sun's rays with, generally speaking, those who were closest to the equator having higher melanin content and being significantly melanin enhanced.
Melanin enhanced = increased presence of melanin. This results in the increased presence of skin pigmentation and other colorations throughout various parts of the body, e.g., eyes, hair, etc. This is generally accepted by the scientific community as a phenotypical variation in human appearance that does not reflect, define or determine innate ability, proclivity or potential.
Melanin deficient = pronounced absence of melanin. This results in the decreased presence of skin pigmentation and other colorations throughout various parts of the body, e.g., eyes, hair, etc. This is generally accepted by the scientific community as a phenotypical variation in human appearance that does not reflect, define or determine innate ability, proclivity or potential.
The significance of physical appearance in American society is conflated with human potential, capacity and capability. Assumptions are made regarding ability, aptitude and expectations based on the presence or absence of melanin . The ability to exploit others is based on domination, either mental or, so times and, militarily and differentiation. The basis of the differences can vary from physical to philosophical. American society has chosen physical differences as the signifer that identifies the exploiters from the exploited. The most significant indicator of difference is the presence or absence of melanin.
The social significance of the presence, or absence, of melanin is reflected in its impact in the economic, employment, incarceration and education experience, opportunities and outcomes in the lives of melanin enhanced and melanin deficient people. We strongly associate melanin with 'African.' But geographic, or national, indicators as identity attributes are no more valid that racial categories. Our brother, El Haj Malik El Shabazz, stated "Just because a cat lays kittens in an oven it don't make them biscuits." This is reflected in controversy related to former South African nationals of European descent who upon gaining American citizenship claim ownership of the designation "African American." The phenotypical characteristics that are associated with melanin are no more definitional in terms of human potential than national identities.
They say that possession is 9/10ths of the law. I believe that, similarly, perception is 9/10ths of reality. The basis for the concept of so-called "racial identity" is based on the 1/10th of reality which is the existence of melanin. But the 9/10th perceptual overlay reflects ideas, information and iconography that asserts and affirms the false reality based on 'race' where the absence of melanin is a marker for divinity and the presence of melanin is a marker of debasement. Melanin's social meaning connotes that those who are melanin deficient are suprahuman and those who are melanin enhanced are subhuman. It further denotes the superiority of appearance, ideas, attitudes and cultural technologies and expressions for people who are melanin deficient (white supremacy) and inferiority of appearance, ideas, attitudes and cultural technologies and expressions for people who are melanin enhanced (black inferiority). This is the social meaning of melanin in European society.
How much of reality is socially constructed? To what extent is our experience politically constructed?
Saturday, August 5, 2017
Sunday, July 30, 2017
Melanin Matters
Over the years I have tested many life theories against my experience. This does not always provide me with the insight required to see through the fog of life clearly. The ancient people of Indus Kush said that all life is illusion. I understand that to mean our reality is based on our perception. Our perception is based on our conditioning. Our conditioning is conditional and idiosyncratic based on the variables that have informed our expression based on gender, culture, physical status, etc.
In this regard I have continued to seek insight into the social condition of people of African descent the world over but particularly in the United States of America. In this regard I confess to responding to the social context and emotional environment that I entered at birth. In response to the my experience I adopted the ideological orientation of Black Nationalism. This seemed a reasonable and necessary step in the face of the white supremacist dominant narrative that had crippled some and crushed others of African descent as well as other members of non-European ancestry.
Fighting for the "right" to be "white" is fighting for the justification of the privilege and power that rationalizes the dehumanization of the First Nations people and the theft of their land and the dehumanization of African people and the theft of their labor. Anything short of addressing this issue is cutting branches. It is not enough. We have to strike at the root.
When I am met with objections and recriminations when I decry the dehumanization of the African personality in the European imagination, I point to the social experiment created by Dr.s Mamie and Kenneth Clark called the "Doll Test."
In this regard I have continued to seek insight into the social condition of people of African descent the world over but particularly in the United States of America. In this regard I confess to responding to the social context and emotional environment that I entered at birth. In response to the my experience I adopted the ideological orientation of Black Nationalism. This seemed a reasonable and necessary step in the face of the white supremacist dominant narrative that had crippled some and crushed others of African descent as well as other members of non-European ancestry.
Fighting for the "right" to be "white" is fighting for the justification of the privilege and power that rationalizes the dehumanization of the First Nations people and the theft of their land and the dehumanization of African people and the theft of their labor. Anything short of addressing this issue is cutting branches. It is not enough. We have to strike at the root.
When I am met with objections and recriminations when I decry the dehumanization of the African personality in the European imagination, I point to the social experiment created by Dr.s Mamie and Kenneth Clark called the "Doll Test."
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