'WHAT I AS A BLACK MAN HAVE LEARNED FROM BEING SURROUNDED BY WHITE FACES ALL OF MY LIFE'
"Growin' up the son of a huge plantation owner in Mississippi puts a white man in contact with a whole lotta black faces. I spent my whole life here, right here in Candieland, surrounded by black faces. Now seein' 'em every day, day in and day out, I only had one question: why don't they kill us?"
- Calvin J. Candie DJANGO UNCHAINED
Great scene from django unchained. And an even better line. One that has stuck with me. And made me consider similar questions of my own.
Growin' up with decendents of huge plantation owners in America puts a black man in contact with a whole lotta white faces. I spent my whole life here, right here in the U.S.A., surrounded by white faces. Now seein' 'em every day, day in and day out, I only had one question: why do they want to kill us?
Idk the answer to that. But I'd say its a bunch of different reasons. But another question does come to mind from hearing and reading that movie line. And that is what have i as a black man learned being surrounded by white faces all of my life? Coming in contact with them. Having spent my whole life seeing them day in, day out. Surely something has rubbed off off on me after all this time. Depending how influenced and perseptive and willing to learn a person is will determine that answer for someone else. Producing many different answers from many different people. But for me, the most important thing I've learned from being around white people is the importance and ruthlessness of 'collective progression'. To not dwell on the past. Nomatter how terrible. To embrace the endless, unrelenting 'collective' need to progress. To move foward. To explore, to master, to learn, to conquer and to resist nomatter the cost in human lives. Theirs or others. By any means. An innate, advanced, unigue and frighting collective way of thinking.
I've learned from whites not to fear this prerequisite for progress. But to admire, strive for and emulate it. Does this overwhelming want make the heart colder? Yes. But i have also learned from whites that inorder to satisfy this need, sacrifices must be made. Sounds harsh. But in a harsh world this zeal is effective. And necessary.
Noother race of peoples possesses this 'collective' need. Or it is simply not so important to them. So far, it has worked wonders for them. Though to the detriment of others. But what i have yet to learn from whites is how to teach, or assimilate others of my same race to go along.
So. What have you learned being surrounded by whites?
-jonathan donnell riley
- Calvin J. Candie DJANGO UNCHAINED
Great scene from django unchained. And an even better line. One that has stuck with me. And made me consider similar questions of my own.
Growin' up with decendents of huge plantation owners in America puts a black man in contact with a whole lotta white faces. I spent my whole life here, right here in the U.S.A., surrounded by white faces. Now seein' 'em every day, day in and day out, I only had one question: why do they want to kill us?
Idk the answer to that. But I'd say its a bunch of different reasons. But another question does come to mind from hearing and reading that movie line. And that is what have i as a black man learned being surrounded by white faces all of my life? Coming in contact with them. Having spent my whole life seeing them day in, day out. Surely something has rubbed off off on me after all this time. Depending how influenced and perseptive and willing to learn a person is will determine that answer for someone else. Producing many different answers from many different people. But for me, the most important thing I've learned from being around white people is the importance and ruthlessness of 'collective progression'. To not dwell on the past. Nomatter how terrible. To embrace the endless, unrelenting 'collective' need to progress. To move foward. To explore, to master, to learn, to conquer and to resist nomatter the cost in human lives. Theirs or others. By any means. An innate, advanced, unigue and frighting collective way of thinking.
I've learned from whites not to fear this prerequisite for progress. But to admire, strive for and emulate it. Does this overwhelming want make the heart colder? Yes. But i have also learned from whites that inorder to satisfy this need, sacrifices must be made. Sounds harsh. But in a harsh world this zeal is effective. And necessary.
Noother race of peoples possesses this 'collective' need. Or it is simply not so important to them. So far, it has worked wonders for them. Though to the detriment of others. But what i have yet to learn from whites is how to teach, or assimilate others of my same race to go along.
So. What have you learned being surrounded by whites?
-jonathan donnell riley
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