Scivillage.com Casual Discussion Science Forum

Here’s a touchy subject. I watched that video of Pelosi and the other Democratic Party leaders kneeling while wearing stoles made of Kente cloth. Well, my first thought was virtue signaling at its finest but other people said it was cultural appropriation. So, I was curious and read up on Kente cloth but apparently even that’s a highly controversial issue.

Quote:BBC and New York Times have been on the forefront in falsifying facts and making the world believe Africa did not have its own fabric. In recent times, BBC ran a story on African textile tradition and VLISCO where it claimed that they are actually European. The New York Times, on the other hand, wrote a story claiming that indeed Africa’s fabric was Dutch. However, this is nothing but falsifying facts with the intention of creating more controversies.
[source]

Quote:Although modern history would suggest that the Batik was introduced to Africa by the Dutch, the batik making process has been practiced in Africa long before the arrival of the colonial powers. One of the earlier sightings are to be found in Egypt, where batik was used in the embalming of mummies. 
[source]

I had no idea but I guess we’re not supposed to even wear braids because that is considered cultural appropriation, as well. I couldn’t really find anything giving black women a patent on wearing braids though. I don’t get. It seems like mixing multicultural elements in fashion has been around forever. Here’s something else that I don’t understand. Everyone seems to agree that both the cloth and the braids were worn by ancient Egyptians. Does this fall inline with the Balck Egyptian Hypothesis or am I missing something?



https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/African_wax_prints
https://amazingafrica.planetfem.com/the-...and-kente/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Braid_(hairstyle)

I don't know if cynicism is warranted here or not. But just to go speculatively down that route, because politicians garner almost as many jokes as lawyers...

Genuflecting with textile strips might be construed as another aspect of altruistic patronization. Which is complex, taking on many forms beyond the "hidden insult" speech patterns which Soloman Jones focuses on at the bottom.

IOW, these legislators routinely exhibit reverence with regard to the concerns and welfare of their "dependents" and "equals" by way of superficial speech, gestures, and ritual bonding. But privately and in between the lines may be regarding some of their constituencies as population groups with "special needs". Praising them as equal, strong, enterprising, diverse, etc -- but at the same time orchestrating protections and aid for them which cast suspicion upon these compassionate, empathetic appearances as being the pseudo-respect of opportunistic poseurs.

Since politicians and mediating leaders of _X_ groups further their careers by exploiting incidents and conditions of injustice (ranging from real to exaggerated to fabricated), the last thing they want is successfully eradicating such in the long run to the point that no more benefit can be squeezed out of it for them. This includes humanities scholars, as well -- profiting on the lecture circuit by inventing new slights and conceptions for victimization, digging up neglected grievances, discovering finer details to zero-in on in classic subject-matter for outrage, and proposing elaborate or extreme reforms.

- - -

Research confirms what I’ve always known: White liberals talk down to me (Solomon Jones)
https://www.inquirer.com/columnists/yale...81204.html

INTRO: Now that an Ivy League study has quantified the patronizing racial attitudes of white liberals, I can rest comfortably, knowing that I’m not alone in my belief that well-intentioned whites sometimes speak down to black people.

In a study called Self Presentation in Interracial Settings: The Competence Downshift by White Liberals, two professors from Princeton and Yale found that white liberals “patronize minorities stereotyped as lower status and less competent.” The study found that white conservatives don’t tend to do that.

The dichotomy brings to mind the adage I’ve often heard from older blacks. It goes something like this: I’d rather deal with white folks from down South. At least with them you know where you stand. In other words, white liberals are sometimes just as racist as white conservatives. They just hide it better, and, for black folks, that’s harder to navigate.

And therein lies the issue. In a quest to relate to black folks, some white liberals speak in ways that are not natural for them. And they do so because their biases tell them that blacks are incapable of understanding anything beyond rudimentary language. This results in unnatural and phony exchanges that feel forced and inauthentic... MORE

The Freudian slip in public...
Joe Biden, 2007: "I mean, you got the first mainstream African American [Barack Obama] who is articulate and bright and clean and a nice looking guy."

The private conversation reveal:
Bill Clinton: "A few years ago, this guy would have been getting us coffee. [...] The only reason you are endorsing him is because he's black. Let's just be clear."

Altruistic patronization, pseudo-respect and opportunistic poseurs: Oh my, the temptation of cynicism. I used to just use the term "idiot compassion" but yours has a little more bite.

In other words, patronizing compassion reduces people to objects of pity. Indulging in superficial gestures, (telescopic philanthropy) as Dickens would say, allows the more fortunate to reinforce their illusion of moral superiority. Personal validation absent any action, it is not only utterly useless, but it also reinforces indiscriminate compassion, which ignores individual responsibility. Even if it does bring awareness, overindulgence has the tendency to desensitize us to the suffering of others. We have awareness ribbons, wrist bands, bumper stickers, T-shirts, etc. Perhaps, this posits suffering as a result from some correctable unfairness rather than a bridge between where we are and where we hope to be.

There’s this ballsy professor, John McWhorter that wrote What’s Holding Blacks Back? It’s black attitudes, not white racism, that’s to blame. He’s speaking with Glenn Loury in video. They’re speaking the unspeakable. Like me, they agree that there’s a problem within police culture but they don’t think it’s a racial issue.



In regards to cultural appropriation, I was intrigued by Zepporah Gene article.

Black America Please Stop Appropriating African Clothing and Tribal Marks

Appropriation is defined as the act of taking or using things from a culture that is not your own. According to Wikipedia culture is an umbrella term that encompasses the social behavior and norms found in human societies, as well as the knowledge, beliefs, arts, laws, customs, capabilities, and habits of the individuals in these groups. It’s distinct ways that people living in different parts of the world classified and represented their shared experiences. It’s not attributed to genetic inheritance.

There are lots of the famous African designers that are black Americans. Their work is absolutely stunning but most of them are using Dutch wax fabric. I would think this would be a prime example of cultural appropriation.

(Jun 15, 2020 08:25 PM)Secular Sanity Wrote: [ -> ][...] In regards to cultural appropriation, I was intrigued by Zepporah Gene article.

Black America Please Stop Appropriating African Clothing and Tribal Marks ... Appropriation is defined as the act of taking or using things from a culture that is not your own. ... It’s not attributed to genetic inheritance.

There are lots of the famous African designers that are black Americans. ...

https://youtu.be/0Tm8znmwTzI

Good point. Not unlike someone named Smith owning a pizza shop or wearing German folk garb during a New World version of Oktoberfest.   

When Muhammad Ali went to Zaire (now DRC) for The Rumble in the Jungle in 1974, he stepped off the plane dressed in traditional African clothing. He was shocked to discover most everybody wearing American threads (like kids running around in blue jeans, T-shirts, sneakers, and wearing billed caps). He had made assumptions about a regional or whole continental culture that he was only superficially identifying with slash "appropriating".

It's yet another humanities dogma invented by motivated reasoning, that arguably can't be consistently adhered to in reality. Especially in the midst of a globalized version of the melting pot. Given legs by the "socreligious" patrols of call-out culture [social justice + religious, a spin on "sacrilegious"].

I suspect the deepest germ of it (prior to the 80s) stems from all those white, English pop musicians of the '60s (like The Rolling  Stones and Led Zeppelin) enriching themselves on the "stolen" riffs and musical styles/ideas from Delta blues guitarists. Some of the latter were living in old-age poverty by then, having received only a pittance for their shellac records back in the 20s and 30s -- not even aware that they had acquired legendary status in the world abroad since then (like Mississippi John Hurt). 

Quote:[...] There’s this ballsy professor, John McWhorter that wrote What’s Holding Blacks Back? It’s black attitudes, not white racism, that’s to blame. He’s speaking with Glenn Loury in video. They’re speaking the unspeakable. Like me, they agree that there’s a problem within police culture but they don’t think it’s a racial issue.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ggk5JglQskU [...]

Just from personal acquaintance with newspaper headlines in towns of childhood days, where the crime element was composed of so-called "white trash", I know police misconduct applies amply to non-blacks. These twins (below) convey the impression that it spills over to those with non-criminal pasts as well (to re-post that video again for a different reason.)

To play my biracial, almost ridiculous one-eighth Native American card, we exploited population groups were certainly "special" in the past when it came to being magnets for attracting injustice. But that "specialness" is getting so thin today that blaming everything bad that happens to one's self on racism and conspiracy rather than personal behavior (which includes dressing and acting like a negative stereotype), has a "Better Call Saul" resonace in politics to it, rather than applicable to lawyer shenanigans.

Possibly an unhelpful POV. Black women look good in strong colours whereas peaky white chicks look like something that's crawled into a salad.

Fact check: Yes, Kente cloths were historically worn by empire involved in West African slave trade

LOL! Democrats still can't help but display their affinity to slavery.

(Jun 17, 2020 03:11 AM)Syne Wrote: [ -> ]Fact check: Yes, Kente cloths were historically worn by empire involved in West African slave trade

LOL! Democrats still can't help but display their affinity to slavery.

Oh…my…god! That’s a major faux pas. How embarrassing. I wonder whose idea it was to wear them.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ashanti_Empire#Slavery

Edit: The New Yorker is reporting that the idea came from the CBC.

They all wear it though.



Google "Black US lawmakers wear kente cloth to protest Trump".

Weird. I don't get it.

Well, most black Democrat politicians do seem to believe in the talented tenth, where their elites basically sell them out instead of doing anything that could actually help black communities prosper.

(Jun 17, 2020 10:05 AM)Syne Wrote: [ -> ]Well, most black Democrat politicians do seem to believe in the talented tenth, where their elites basically sell them out instead of doing anything that could actually help black communities prosper.

I think that most politicians are like that.

I’ve been thinking about this a lot lately. It’s interesting, isn’t Syne? There’s a lot of history that I wasn’t aware of. Most Americans probably don’t realize that only 5% or less of the 12 million slaves taken from Africa were transported to the United States. They estimate that about 1.2 million were taken to Jamaica and roughly 4.8 million to Brazil. They say only about 388,000 arrived here directly from Africa. The total was close to 600,000 with the rest being brought here from the Caribbean. Henry Louis Gates Jr said that there’s still so many misconceptions about the slave trade. He said that black Americans were raised to think that slavery was all about us but it was worldwide. Many were transported to other areas in Africa, Asia, the middle east, but the majority were taken to the Caribbean. [source]

Quote:They constituted less than 5% of the twelve million enslaved people brought from Africa to the Americas. The great majority of enslaved Africans were transported to sugar colonies in the Caribbean and to Brazil. As life expectancy was short, their numbers had to be continually replenished. Life expectancy was much higher in the U.S., and the enslaved population was successful in reproduction. The number of enslaved people in the U.S. grew rapidly, reaching 4 million by the 1860 Census. [source]

I don’t know if I would personally want to display cloth associated with royalty since they were the ones profiting from slavery. Many of the descendants that still live in this part of modern-day Ghana, profited from their elders selling captured slaves, but it’s impossible to determine your tribe from DNA. Even I have small percentage from Cameroon and the Congo. Most black Americans, though, have a far greater percentage of European ancestry. On second thought, if they can trace their roots back to at least where their ancestors were transported from, then there’s nothing wrong with that, right?

They’re acknowledging they're wrong doings and apologies have been extended all along the slave coast. In 1999, former president of Benin, Mathieu Kireka apologized for his country’s role in the slave trade. A decade later, Ghana declared a Year of Return. President Nana Akufo-Addo kickstarted a campaign intended to encourage African diasporans to settle and invest in the continent. Nancy Pelosi attended along with the Congressional Black Caucus . So, I can sort of understand their choice in wearing Kente cloth, but virtue signaling...yuck!

Our country is so divided nowadays. I read something that caught my eye in regards to disinformation.

"Accusations, rather than argument, and compliance, rather than persuasion—are incompatible with a democratic dialogue."

All of our ancestor have made mistakes but they also made plenty of sacrifices. We’re all from somewhere else but this is our home—for better or for worse. But damn, if I ever have grandkids, I sure hope they don't ask me to explain this years history. 

Yeah, simple-minded partisans need to keep the messaging simple, "America is evil", so as not to confuse the young and gullible they are trying to get votes from with fear and misinformation. All the division in the US comes from Democrats trying to erode shared ideals in our country. Just look at the Democrat majors and governors response to looting and rioting. They don't do their duty and maintain order. They want the chaos and division. They feed the fire, when the truth is that the US was far from unique in slavery, fought a very bloody war to end it, very few unarmed blacks are killed by police, and the overwhelming majority of black murders are perpetrated by other blacks. Means BLM, if not addressed to black people, is a complete lie.

Too bad black people went the way of W.E.B. Du Bois, with his talented tenth, instead of Booker T. Washington, who believed black people could just work to prove they were equal, if not better, than whites.

Of course they want American blacks to invest US dollars in Africa. So I'm not sure that's as magnanimous as it may sound. Just another placating gesture that really enriches the leaders and elites at the expense of more significant help in their own existing communities. Pelosi and the CBC saying, "see, we care about you", but doing nothing for them at home.