I don't know exactly why, but I've been thinking about a discussion that keeps coming up at interesting points in my life. Race.
I think it first came about in high school, when I was a member of and later president of the "Multicultural Committee". We did some interesting things, and had some good ideas for exposing our fellow students to the diversity within our region and how that reflected global diversity. It was there that the idea of Race first got discussed at length, and all of the problems inherent in the word Race. Culture was considered a nice euphemism for the great "black vs white" struggle and was a nice politically correct way to approach the subject.
Later in high school, I was involved in the Connecticut Forum, junior edition. Connecticut Forum is a group committed to discussing hot issues in a formal setting among experts. The high school version was an outgrowth of this spirit, bringing together inner city and suburban schools from all around the state. In one meeting, discussing Race, I made some fairly inflammatory remarks - though completely honest - about equality and suffering. They were only inflammatory because of how sensitive the Race issue is in the States - and that a white person said it. That led to interesting discussions for a few weeks, and just like in my own high school, no conclusions.
Then I went to CWRU, a "white" school in "black" Cleveland, where these ideas of Race sat and festered, almost completely ignored. There is significant racial tension in Cleveland, though most of it isn't violent. It's an unspoken perceived class difference and more than that, a basic cultural difference. This stirred around in me for a while, until I hit upon a class my fourth year that addressed culture and race very directly, in the form of communication. We had some very interesting culture and race discussions over the course of the semester, leaving more questions than answers at the end.
And then I left for Mozambique. In training, we had a discussion on Race that once again brought out some honest and trying remarks on what exactly race and culture are. I posed the still unanswered question to Charles, "Is Race skin color, culture or somewhere in between?"
About 10 years of on-again off-again discussion of Race all boiled down to a very simple question of defining the word. And no answers.
During my first month at site, and again over the past couple weeks, I read "Zen and Art of Motorcycle Maintenance" which poses and analyzes the idea of Quality, of being the one undefinable thing which begets all of reality and the perception of reality. Different spiritual beliefs have different names for Quality, such as God, The Way, The One, Truth, etc. But problems lie in trying to define this entity that binds life together. It is only after painstaking thought - or a flash of clarity - that it's seen that this one thing can never be defined because the descriptors (words) we use to define it are created by that single entity itself. All that can be done is to describe its various manifestations and try to understand its inaccessibility and make peace with that.
The idea of a concept that exists in nme only because its meaning is undefinable is very interesting to me. I think it makes sense that the term Race is such a concept.
Many of us are taught that Race is the difference between black people and white people, because of the multitude of issues surrounding this relationship. My dictionary says it's a "group of persons of common origin", tantalizingly vague. Other definitions only require one commonality, others point to culture as the origin of Race. The problem is, there are no discrete measures of skin color, origin or culture. Who's "black"? I live in an area where there is a full spectrum of colors - including albinos. Are albinos "black"? By a skin color definition, no.
OK, so how about origin? Sure, everyone was born someplace, but does that determine your Race? What if you were born in the States to parents of African descent (they were born in Africa) and the next day you left for Africa? Do you lost your racial status as African because you were born in the States and lived there for one day?
And then there's culture. Good luck defining culture. I don't think I want to even touch this one. Let's just say it's impossible to separate cultures in discrete ways.
So all of a sudden the very foundation of Race is seen to be a pile of sand, full of a thousand different pieces that can be molded into whatever shape the owner desires. The fact is, Race does not exist. We have cultural differences, nationalistic differences, skin color differences, but there is no such thing as a racial difference. The very word Race is a blanket term for expressing frustration, ignorance and unfortunately hatred in terms of interpersonal relationships. What we do with race is inexcusable and dumb. We draw lines, dividing up cities, states and nations upon perceived differences in race. People are assumed to be different because of this racial inequality. But there is nothing inherent in the Human Race that determines these classifications. In fact, the only true race is the Human Race, a philosophical realization that might save a lot of grief within some circles.
So when someone says "I'm black" or "I'm white", as happens all the time here in Mozambique, that's all they mean. They point to their skin and then point to yours, just to emphasize the point. But that's all it is. Color.
At school, my sense of humor is finally coming through. I think it was a language barrier and not a cultural barrier, because I trade pretty good barbs with students who are giving me problems, to the delight of the class.
But as far as language goes, I'm realizing how hard it is for them to do all this in Portuguese - harder than it is for me. I know what letter-perfect Portuguese is. With focus and patience, I can even speak it. But it's not well understood - and if I had presented myself as a Brazilian or Portuguese person, it would be better understood because the students would try harder.
But they know the burden of understanding is on me. It frustrates me greatly to pronounce something perfectly only to be met with "Huh?" and then have it repeated with a Changana accent.
And listening to the Changana of younger kids, more and more Portuguese seems to be slipping in. The earmark of a creole. Rumor has it that local languages will be taught starting next year in primary school - so hopefully that will improve the quality of both languages!
And since in the 6th grade, English instruction will begin, in a few years students in the 6th grade will be learning three languages at the same time - how exciting!
I miss roller hockey. I miss going over the boards, stealing the ball, checking a defender, shipping a pass over to the middle for a one-timer and seeing it fly past the goalie. I miss blocking shots, too. Laying in front of the shooter and seeing his frustration when the ball bounces off my legs, knowing my goalie is happy he had to deal with one less shot.
Peace
John
