Crazy fucking shit, Black supremacist screamin’ on some Jews at York University

 

 

The incident described in this post took place approximately two weeks ago; I forgot to post my reaction then.

Yo I just witnessed some of the CRAZIEST SHIT IN THE FUCKING WORLD. There’s a big contentious explosive debate on York University campus, right? Very strong and powerful pro-Palestinian activist movement. Strong marriage of the Palestinian cause to anti-racism, leftism, anti-imperialism, anti-capitalism, the whole shit, and they’re a big presence on campus. So there’s all these accusations that Israel is an apartheid state and there’s this booth that’s been set up daily with a wall of material cataloguing the atrocities visited on Palestinians by Israelis. Plus you got these strong assertive pro-Israeli Zionist groups tryna counter all that, calling out Islamic states as the real perpetrators of apartheid, and demonstrations in the big spacious main hall depicting the fence Israel built in the Palestinian territories and how it’s necessary to keep out bombers and terrorists, and organizing against Hamas and Hizballah and Mahmoud Ahmadinejad an’ all these folks that’s aligned against Israel an’ working for the destruction of Israel. And there’s been mad confrontations, lots of mudslinging, right, security scuffles, flaps, brouhaha, sturm und drang, whatever. Fuckin’… craziness. But yo.

YO. This afternoon it got tooken to a new level. Okay so there’s this booth in the hall, right? Palestinian activists from Students Against Israeli Apartheid with they wall, an’ they holdin’ court as usual, keepin’ watch, an’ debatin’ a bit with some Jewish and Zionist students like always, right? Heated, natch, but civil. An’ then out of nowhere this Black man comes barreling in, intercuttin’ into the conversation, an’ spewin’ summat at the Jews ‘bout “You’re a white supremacist racist, you’re supporting oppression” and he’s got this loud foghorn voice an’ he’s screechin’ ‘bout “you gotta learn that you white folks can’t be runnin’ the world, you’re imperialists an’ racists” an’ he’s talkin’ how the Tunisian Jewish kid who’s arguin’ with the Arab SAIA folks is jes’ a wannabe white, a lackey of white supremacism. He’s spewin’ this shit, this crazy shit, screamin’ an’ screechin’, never lettin’ these fellas get a word in edgewise, and this European Jewish student joins the fray, this tall Jewish conservative fella, and he starts screamin’ back at ‘im, like, “You a racist, Nelson Mandela and Dr. King would spit on you”, an’ the Black gent—who looks a good spot older than I am, an’ he claims he ain’t a York student, but God knows—he’s like, ‘Well, all whites are devils an’ you’re a white so you got racism in your soul”, an’ he’s callin’ out the Jews in Palestine sayin’ they’s perpetrators of White supremacy, an’ the Jews is talkin’ bout “No they ain’t, Israel lets in Sudanese refugees from Darfur an’ shelters ‘em, plus there’s Black and Brown Jews from all around the world livin’ in Israel”, an’ it’s the Tunisian kid sayin’ this, an’ the Black man is like, “You a wannabe white, you know full well you can’t do nothin’ without the White man’s say-so, like this n***a Barack Obama runnin’ for President but he can’t do nothin’ if it ain’t got the White man’s assent, an’ you’re a racist and an imperialist, you’re a white racist”, an’ the Tunisian Jewish kid is like “A minnit ago you said I was a wannabe white”, an’ the Black man is screamin’ an’ screamin’, on and on and on, jes’ screamin’ on these motherfuckers. And it goes on and on and from about 20 people millin’ about, discussing this shit, suddenly it’s several hundred and they’s all videotapin’ it an’ phonin’ they friends tellin’ em “Get over here and watch this” or sayin’ “Where’s security? Where’s security?” an’ A HALF A HOUR goes by an’ still ain’t no security, an’ then finally Security shows up an’ they’re tryna apprehend the screamin’ Black man an’ investigatin’ the scene askin’ folks what’s been goin’ on, an’ ‘e’s like, “Typical, you run to the other White man try to get him to bail you out, run to protection from him”, and the European Jewish kid is like, “Right, that’s what the White man is supposed to do”, an’ the crowd is gaspin’ an’ videotapin’ tryna be puttin’ it all on YouTube an’ it goes on an’ on until finally the shit is dispersed an’ the hall is quiet again.

CRAZY FUCKING SHIT.

Par for the fuckin’ course, of course. When the Tunisian kid axes ‘im, “Are you with Farrakhan?”, tryna find out if he’s Nation of Islam, he says he don’t know who that is but most likely he was NOI or 5% Nation of Gods and Earths, or if not belongin’ to one of those then definitely influenced by Black nationalist thought. Hatred of white folks and Jews and the supremacy of nonwhites as superior beings to whites. That shit is par for the fucking course, yo. That shit is everyplace in hip-hop. Mad rappers who talk about politics follow that school. Political rap wouldn’t exist without it. And I’ve studied the NOI and the Five Percent. So I know from that shit. Trust me, I know from that.

Clarifying the “eat itself” business (anxiety about Bahá’í rules and norms)

When I referred in the title of an earlier post to the possibility that the Bahá’í Faith could “eat itself”, I had lifted the phrase sans context from a post I’d been working on much earlier, and had never been able to complete, so I never fleshed that remark out. What I’d meant is that from what I’m learning, it would appear that the Bahá’í Faith’s central administration is authorized to act in such a way that certain dealings in the personal lives of the believers are subject to vetting by local or national institutional authorities, and further, that there are serious limits on the kind of political behaviour and activism that can be engaged in. The worries I have about this are twofold: number one, I feel that the  integrity of religion is undermined if it exerts too strong an influence over the free mental lives of its adherents; and number two, the prerequisite to work toward a unity of perspectives among people, while it could presumably have marvelous beneficent effects in a strife-torn environment where people could be brought to discuss issues civilly and recognize their common humanity, would create morally problematic conditions in a circumstance where speaking out with a potentially partisan voice on contentious issues would be a moral prerequisite for the advancement of human wellbeing in a given issue. A Quaker activist friend of mine who has worked as an irrigation specialist and elections monitor in nations like Rwanda, and who is closely involved with the work of the Christian Peacemaker Teams, has commented on his work with Bahá’ís by saying they’re “very good at taping over corners”, or something to that effect—what he meant was that Bahá’ís are never in a position to take a meaningful stand on serious political issues of the day, because fears of appearing “partisan” and thus being barrier to human unity are too strong. That attitude also leads, or so I’ve heard, to a kind of micromanaging of the activities of the intellectual class, and a vetting of the opinions they’re allowed to publish in the common arena, so as to avoid bringing shame on the community’s reputation or putting persecuted Bahá’ís in danger by dint of some risqué opinion being advanced by some Bahá’í thinker in some magazine somewhere. Simply put—there are severe limitations on freedom of speech. And also, I’ve heard, of thought. And that’s disquieting. And in addition to that, the political quietism advanced by the religion’s institutions means there are only certain approved channels through which a Bahá’í can direct her activism, which might lead to missed opportunities to make meaningful contributions to human betterment that can only be made by wading into contentious political waters.

 Sure, Administration-approved Bahá’í activism has sometimes led to great things. Yes, there’s a certain integrity and a great deal of bravery involved in the fruits of the non-confrontational Bahá’í approach to problem-solving. And yes, my anxiety over these issues—un-assuaged even after hopeful discussions I’ve had with some of my Bahá’í faith-teachers and friends—is partly owing to self-interest, in that I’d like to one day become a global opinion leader, member of the political-journalist class, influence the global conversation on political issues, say it how you will. I’d like to become a political editorialist, engage with other intellectuals on the issues of the day, and be free to speak my mind however I like about what’s going on, even to the point of critiquing individuals, policies, governments, decrying human-rights scandals, standing up for personal beliefs and causes dear to my heart, and so on. Some of this may be able to happen if I become a devoted Bahá’í, but most of it probably can’t. And either way, I’d have to wait ‘til I’m officially an adult, and I’m in such a milieu, before I deal with those issues, and that’s going to bother me until then. So I have major concerns, and I’m not sure if it’s possible to deal with them.