The Miracle
More thoughts from Nietzsche? Rumination on types of nihilism? Topics, all relevant to day-to-day life, which I intend to examine. On the other hand this remarkable collection of insights came my way. The current condition of America is described by the envelopment of the old Republican Party by the Trump movement, and his accession to the White House for a 2nd four year term.
The euphoria, the rampant dissimulation of Trump-politicos is energized to higher volume even in a blue state like Illinois by the result of the November4 election. It is impossible to imagine what is in store as this full-throated/bodied assault on civil discussion and compromise rolls on. After much thought I am certain that our situation can be understood in terms of White Supremacy Culture. So, I offer these thoughts from Characteristics of White Supremacy Culture by Tema Okun. If interested to learn more: CLICK HERE
While white supremacy culture affects us all, harms us all, and is toxic to us all, it does not affect, harm, and violate us in the same way. White supremacy targets and violates BIPOC people and communities with the intent to destroy them directly; white supremacy targets and violates white people with a persistent invitation to collude that will inevitably destroy their humanity.
Our experience of white supremacy culture and our navigation of white supremacy culture is very different based on who we are and our lived experience, our race, our class, our gender, our sexuality, our religion … all the ways that the ruling class power elite use identity to define who is human and who is not, as well as all the ways in which oppressions intersect.
White supremacy culture is inextricably linked to all the other oppressions – capitalism, sexism, class and gender oppression, ableism, ageism, Christian hegemony – these and more are all interconnected and intersected and stirred together in a toxic brew that is reflected in our devastation of the air and water and land and living beings we have and are destroying and disregarding in the name of profit and power. This brew is a cancer, a dis-ease, an addiction, an infliction and it infects everything with and without our awareness. The miracle is that we have survived as well as we have, the miracle is our ancestors who have fought to remember who we really are, the miracle is the earth and wind and water that restores itself in soft and fierce determination to keep us all whole.
And we are all impacted. And we are all impacted uniquely. And we are all impacted collectively. And we are all impacted differently.
I do understand the limits in being able to communicate the impact of white supremacy culture on you, the current reader of this website. I hope you find some support for navigating your lived experience here.
3 thoughts on “The Miracle”
Of course. This all makes perfect sense. The only sentence I disagree with is:
“. . . the miracle is the earth and wind and water that restores itself in soft and fierce determination to keep us all whole.”
In my mind, the earth and wind and water could care less about humans. If we anthropomorphize these elements of nature we make the assumption that nature is rooting for the environmentalist, that we have an ally who will help rationally minded people fight off white supremacy and the other myriad ills currently faced by our species.
Unfortunately this is fantasy thinking. We’re on our own. Nature will not interfere on the side of what we consider to be good. The sooner we realize that fixing the issues is solely up to us, the sooner we can become more proactive in the process.
Unless it’s already too late.
Your point is a big, big one. We are “of nature”, with the proviso of our ability to care and to destroy at a scale that beings limited by instinct are unable to achieve. Nature is non-partisan, could care less about human projects. We’re on our own here, and there is a great deal to be done.
Well said!