Stinkin' James Earl Jones!

So, here it is, the Stinkin' James Earl Jones story.

About 1/2 an hour from Lincoln is a small town called Crete. In Crete they have a small liberal arts college called Doane. Now Doane college is nice. It's in a beautiful location, and the perfect place for small towners to go to school with all their friends that they've known forever. The problem with that is Doane, while sufficient in its educational merits, is severely lacking in the cultural arts department.

And why shouldn't it be? You can count on one hand the number of black students there, and they're pretty much just chillin, but Doane insists they want to be more open to others, and thus they have a plethora of various excursions dedicated to educating the masses on multiculturalism.

It's actually very nice. They bring in big name speakers, have concerts, and various festivals. I usually can get a hook up whenever someone fun comes in, but I hadn't been in a while so when I heard the S'JEJ was coming in, I was all too excited to make the ill fated journey.

Anyhow, he started out talking about the many trials he had to overcome to become Mufasa, Darth Vader, and have the most recognized voice in the world. It was all very inspiring until he got into the meat of his presentation which consisted of telling black Americans that since we come from nothing, we are nothing.

Let me explain. He started talking about how each culture was like an onion, with the layers and the blah dee blah, but his point was that every culture can be traced back to a language. He surmised from this that since black Americans do not have one language that defines them, that they are not legitimately a culture. Now it's one thing to say this to a room full of black people who know better, but it's another thing to say it to a room full of white people, and yet another to say it to a room with like 15 black people that are going to have to explain that mess later on.

On the surface I can understand what he meant. He said that each culture is defined by a certain language and that blacks were at a disadvantage because Africa is full of languages most of which are either no longer spoken, or were not carried over during slavery. He said that since we don't have a language that unifies us, we can never be whole as a community.

The problem with that assumption is that there are many cultures that have the same languages, but have been able to be identified as a seperate culture. Look at South Africans vs Australians vs. the British. On the surface, they are all British, but they have very different traits about them that make them unique to their region. The same example can also be made about Spaniards vs. Mexicans vs. South Americans, etc. They, for the most part, speak the same language, but are completely different cultures.

So why can't the converse be true for black Americans? Yes, we have many languages, but due to "unforseen circumstances" have managed to form a culture despite it. Being the defiant one that I am, I immediately questioned him about it.

"Don't the practices of our race define it as a culture?" I said, somewhat sarcastically, but mostly sardonically, "I mean, take for example, food." And he looked mindful because he knew I was right. Every culture had a food that defined it. When you hear curry, you don't think of Mexico, just like when you hear chitlins, you don't think of China. Soul food has been defined as a black food and one that is almost universal in black kitchens.

S'JEJ gave a long complicated answer which mostly amounted to, "No." Later when asked what culture he identified with, he said none, but that his son currently identified with the Asian culture (just Asian? That's not a "culture" is it? Does he mean Japanese, Chinese, Saudi Arabian? Shut up S'JEJ!)

The main issue I have with all of this is that his deductions make it seem like the reason for our lack of culture was one that was self inflicted. Black people just came over here one day and said, "Screw our traditions and languages. We're going all out, American style!" Did he really forget about slavery? Did he forget about the breaking up of tribes and families, and that the intermixing was not voluntary, but mandatory? That we had to throw away many of the ancient languages and learn English? That every semblance of our last culture was destroyed so we had make a new one?

Yes, you say? He must of forgotten. Oh, okay, well, good thing someone reminded him.

Afterwards, every black person in the room came up and commended me on my questions to S'JEJ. They agreed and said it gave them plenty of ammo when they had to do the explanation rounds the next day.

So that's it, my S'JEJ story, and my conclusion that even if S'JEJ doesn't think so, black Americans have culture dangit! And it's pretty nifty too.