Commandante
This past Saturday I went to a benefit night that friends of mine had organized to raise money for the victims of hurricane Stan in Guatemala. It was a great night, with lots of food and music and art (and I won a prize in the raffle!).
The later part of the event was a series of performances by musicians who come from Latin American countries. They sang songs about love, and dreams, but also about politics. At least, they sang about a political figure... Che Guevara. In Canada we know Che as the rebel guy whose face keeps showing up on kids' t-shirts... it used to be a more radical symbol, but now it's commercialized to the point where some are calling him "Cliche Guevara". I found it tragic that someone so important to so many people can be so trivial in much of our society. To many of the people in Latin America - not just Cuba - Che Guevara is a hero that unites them and their history.
So then I was cynically thinking, "Jeez, who's our hero... Adam Smith?" since he seems to have had such an impact on how Western society operates. And then I realized what a racialized idea that was. By "our hero" I was thinking the hero of...who... white people? Europeans? North Americans? Westerners, I guess... but that notion of "whiteness" was still there, because I didn't think of someone like Martin Luther King Jr. as being a hero of "my people"... Now, before you disown me, let me explain that I don't approve of how my thought process played out. Of course I admire Martin Luther King Jr. and what he accomplished, and I do consider him a true hero - the fact that I didn't consider a hero of "my people" is what's bothering me.
Let me put it this way: I have identified - and aim to remedy - the racialized thought processes that happen in my mind, and perhaps in the minds of others. Lord knows how they got there, but there they are. I suppose the first step is to realize that racism is there, and the next step is to figure out why, and I think something is accomplished by that.
Getting back to our heroes... True, the two figures mentioned above were meaningful to particular "races" of people, but I think what is more important about Che Guevara and Martin Luther King Jr. as historical figures is that they stood up against human exploitation and discrimination. Now those, as heroic principles, can be shared by all.
The later part of the event was a series of performances by musicians who come from Latin American countries. They sang songs about love, and dreams, but also about politics. At least, they sang about a political figure... Che Guevara. In Canada we know Che as the rebel guy whose face keeps showing up on kids' t-shirts... it used to be a more radical symbol, but now it's commercialized to the point where some are calling him "Cliche Guevara". I found it tragic that someone so important to so many people can be so trivial in much of our society. To many of the people in Latin America - not just Cuba - Che Guevara is a hero that unites them and their history.
So then I was cynically thinking, "Jeez, who's our hero... Adam Smith?" since he seems to have had such an impact on how Western society operates. And then I realized what a racialized idea that was. By "our hero" I was thinking the hero of...who... white people? Europeans? North Americans? Westerners, I guess... but that notion of "whiteness" was still there, because I didn't think of someone like Martin Luther King Jr. as being a hero of "my people"... Now, before you disown me, let me explain that I don't approve of how my thought process played out. Of course I admire Martin Luther King Jr. and what he accomplished, and I do consider him a true hero - the fact that I didn't consider a hero of "my people" is what's bothering me.
Let me put it this way: I have identified - and aim to remedy - the racialized thought processes that happen in my mind, and perhaps in the minds of others. Lord knows how they got there, but there they are. I suppose the first step is to realize that racism is there, and the next step is to figure out why, and I think something is accomplished by that.
Getting back to our heroes... True, the two figures mentioned above were meaningful to particular "races" of people, but I think what is more important about Che Guevara and Martin Luther King Jr. as historical figures is that they stood up against human exploitation and discrimination. Now those, as heroic principles, can be shared by all.
posted by Emily at 3:51 p.m.
4 Comments:
It's always struck me as odd that so many North Americans wear shirts with the Che's image and are so ignorant about him, like about how little he cared for Gringos...
And as for Great Heroes, they tend to come at a steep Price in suffering, don't they? Maybe it's a good thing to live in a country that hasn't yet needed an Abraham Lincoln, a Ghandi, a Saladin, or even a scruffy, misguided, but usually well meaning Che.
I agree with that Alex guy. My knowledge of our history leads me to beleive that Canadians have always been so united and inately peaceful that we haven't had a need for any such martre.
I'm sure there are many countries where if a huge chuck representing less than 1/3rd of the population wanted to seperate, there would be a lot of violence. In Canada, such a decision is decided in a democratic reforendum; where the voters are not hostile towards the rest of the country at all, and get along quite well on a social level. Even in a more seperatist town like Gatineau, a lot of citizens work in Ontario.
All this said, we still have a number of heros: MacDonald for starting this great country; Trudeau for bringing our constitution home, and medicare (that was him, right?); Mulrony for fixing Trudeaus mistakes (The Meich Lake stuff, trying to pay down the debt Trudeau created.), our Military for being world renouwn for peace-keeping; and surely there are a lot more.
Oh, as for heros, lets not forget that meteror that sacrifised it self to get rid of the dinosaurs so that mamals could take over.
So it's wrong that you recognize that you're not black?
You said that it disturbs you that while you see MLK as a hero for people everywhere (ie humankind) you don't see him as a hero of "your people." Personally I don't really see what's wrong with that. What's racist about recognizing differences between people and identifying with a particular group? Identifying with one group does not lead to contempt of all other groups (racism) by necessity. Racism to me is lumping white and non-white (or other races instead of white) into frameworks of good/bad, superior/inferior, or what have you. It doesn't seem to me like you've done that at all. And yes, you could argue that in order to apply those frameworks, you have to first identify a difference between the groups, but that doesn't mean we should tiptoe or avoid part of the most fundamental base of our identity.
In fact, I think you're further along the road of tolerance than someone who claims to see no difference between races. I don't believe ignoring that people are different is a particularly healthy attitude to take. The word "human" does not describe a homogenous group of people (think of those terrible "everybody in khaki" gap ads); we ARE all different, and those differences should be celebrated, not feared and subsequently glossed over. Furthermore a recognition of differences should not be feared either, and that is the unfortunate route that I think many people and, more generally, society is taking.
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