2800 By Izlan A. Dar
New Black Ethnographies Professor Shaka McGlotten Fall 2017
Although in present times, true African-Americans have become virtually impossible to find, in the past they were visible in countries like North and South America, Africa, and even some parts of Europe and Asia. Currently, we live in a state of Uniformity, which means that most people are of a ‘Beige’ race, a familiar combination of multiple races, i.e. AfricanAmerican, Asian, Caucasian etc. As many know, Uniformity was achieved approximately 200 years ago, when what we can only presume to be the last living descendants of independent racial groups disappeared; the rest became integrated into Uniformity. Uniformity is a result of a combination of multiple races interbreeding as racial tensions diminished over time and ‘encouragement’ by the government to do so, as it was understood that uniformity would achieve world peace. In a sense, it can be said that Uniformity was non-violently enforced for what was perceived as the betterment of society. Many technological advances further led to uniformity,
where children could be genetically engineered to fit the new look of society. Even though this was not enforced, humanity as a whole began to take a new look, everyone wanted his or her offspring to be the face of uniformity, the face of world peace. It is predicted that Uniformity was attained somewhere around 2600 A.D, which is approximately 200 years ago. There is currently a mixed opinion on whether contemporary society, with its singular government, homogenous race and free and open global trade markets is utopian, and so studying the separation of races in the past will lead to a more reasonable conclusion of whether we currently truly live in utopia. A large part of this ethnography is inspired by the video from SAAVY Contemporary Performers, who examined African-Americans from a futuristic lens; in their YouTube video, Kapwani Kiwanga looks at the development of African-American culture from the future ‘Afrogalactica’ perspective. The ethnography will be conducted using a neo-Marxist perspective, which amends some of the traditional Marxist perspective’s radical features and incorporates the theory into a capitalist framework. Neo-Marxists believe that gender, racial and other forms of equality are necessary to produce a utopian society. Some, however, view neo-Marxism (with its rigid structures and suppression of dissenting thought) as an oppressive system. The goal, here, is to demonstrate the ethnography from the point of view of a community that has exceeded the unfair and class-based systems of its predecessors; this includes eliminating racially and ethnicallyinduced poverty, racism, through the creation of the One race, Uniformity and other ‘historical’ features of class division. The proposed ethnographic study is about a site found in the abandoned ruins of what was formerly known as Detroit; it is now called Section 13 of the American States (AS). While Section 13 is now a resident settlement populated by middle class citizens (interestingly, the past
included class differentiations between lower, middle and upper classes), it used to be populated by what were then known as ‘impoverished’ individuals mainly of African-American origin. We discovered the remnants of an old house with very little technology in it. We discovered interesting clothing articles, such as a bandana, t-shirt and large jeans, housed in the closet of the residence. Field Notes [Onsite at Section 13, formerly known as Detroit]. I started my exploration by walking through abandoned area of Section 13. On my way, I see the streets are empty, which makes sense considering this part of Section 13 is extremely outdated in comparison to the massive structures we reside in now. The old house, which is the base of our research and area immediately surrounding it remain abandoned and tarnished, with newspapers and tools lying in the front yard. Amazingly, researchers and scientists could preserve these tools using cutting-edge technology. The newspapers and tools are sitting in glass cases on tables in the front yard of the old house. I am walking toward one of the glass cases now to view the newspaper and its contents. Looking at the front cover, it appears the newspaper was written on September 3rd, 2017. Amazingly, the headline is still fully intact, with the front cover featuring a president with a seemingly orange face, strange indeed.. I walk into the house to examine what it looks like inside for a moment, attacked by the smell of musty walls and old furniture. Using ‘environmental recreation technology’ I can visually see how the house looked before it was abandoned. There is a narrow hallway when one walks in, the walls punctured by old photographs. The photographs feature people in front of stores, children playing in the sand and a dog yapping happily in a front yard. There is a coat
rack to the right of me with one coat still hanging on a peg; it looks strange and is made of what would have been leather (leather was banned a long time ago due to animal cruelty laws). Walking down the dimly lit hallway, still relatively dark despite the daytime outside, I can see a doorway to my right leading to a living room no bigger than about 10 x 10 feet. There is a flat screen TV in the middle with what appears to be an old-style video game system, replete with controller and console and a couch in front of it. I walk over to observe the console and note it has no VR features. Presumably, the game system projects the image onto the television, which then presents the game’s contents on its screen. Today, such gaming devices would be considered impractical and unusable by youth, who prefer the immersive world of VR. When I leave the small living room, I make my way back to the hallway and walk to a kitchen at the end of the house. The kitchen is vastly different from what we have today. Instead of a combined heatingcooking pad, there is a traditional stove with stovetop and oven. The food is stored in a ceramic refrigerator with magnets featuring the superhero Black Panther. There is a small foldout table in the center, with chairs arranged around it. The house produces a sensation of hope and joy; even though this family was in the projects, they were still happy to be alive and part of the community. I leave the kitchen, entering the main hallway once again, and walk back toward the middle of the hallway. Attached approximately to the center of the hallway is a set of stairs nestled in an alcove. A green panel featuring white and blue flowers runs across the bottom of the stairs. They are brown, with a golden hand railing traveling alongside their slope. I walk up the stairs, which prove rickety and unsteady due to the time decay and arrive on a central platform, two doorways visible to my right and left. I move to one of the rooms, opening the door and stepping inside. The socioeconomic status of the family is apparent from the way three beds sit snugly together
by one of the walls, one of them just a spring mattress while the other two sport shoddy, wooden box frames. There is one desk in the nearest corner by the door, buried under various textbooks, notebooks, printer paper and other stationary. On top of the desk is a laptop; it is thick and clunky, even for the year 2017. I walk over to the closet by the three beds and look inside, seeing a few clothing items, a box of playing cards, a tricycle and what appear to be remnants of toys. Based on the clothing I see in the closet, which are comprised of a combination of dresses and pants, both males and females lived in this room. After the observation of the house, I decided to continue walking through the streets. Some walls of the houses looked refurbished, as the paint seems less damaged in certain areas. And here in this area I saw something extraordinary, something that you couldn't even imagine to see nowadays. It was the image of a man of African-American origin with the inscription “Can U breathe?� It was quite destroyed, but with the help of our tech we were able to easily recreate it. This drawing was executed professionally and detailed. The man in the figure stood in full growth, and his head was turned to the side. His left hand was placed on his neck, and his mouth was half open. There was indignation and despair on his face. It was difficult for me to identify his emotions, but I could only understand that they were negative. From here I made my way back to the Old house Interviews Using evidence collected from this site and other historical sources and inputting it into our OS. An AI reconstruction of several individuals who lived in this are was created. With the few exceptions, my procedure has been, first, to identify interviewees who would represent the general public of there race in such an area and then to question them on there personal experiences with race. A total of three interviews were performed. The first two interviewees,
Tomas Edison and Markus Rider, were local residents of observed area, who were living in a site. The third interviewee was Peggy Anne Clarington, who one of the last known residents of the observed house. The topic of interest was sufficiently described for all three interviewees by explaining to them that racial inequality is an interesting and unsettling historical and ethnographic phenomenon in terms of the development of Uniformity. Furthermore, these interviews were conducted in a one-day period after the observational data and field notes were collected and organized. Considering the interviewees were just AI reconstructions consent to record was not needed. Interview questions were established and developed from the observation as they emerged as a result of the witnessed site. The following were the key questions asked. The first, tell about the struggles you face because of the racial tensions in America? The second, what can you tell about the social and economic factors that keep African-Americans’ sphere of influence narrow? The third, how American political leadership is affecting minority neighborhoods like yours? The fourth, what about community and school efforts to help impoverished youth escape these conditions and better their lives? The fifth, what do you think could help communities like your own thrive? The last, what if I told you all these problems would dissipate in the future, as racial diversity is not an issue anymore; all of humanity is just one race? Interview with Markus Rider, an individual who grew up in this neighborhood and went on to become a schoolteacher. He lived his entire life here, and seemed to have been held in high esteem by the community.
Me: Hi, Markus. I appreciate your help with this important project. Let us begin. Could you, please, tell me about the struggles you face because of the racial tensions in America? Markus: Because of social and political tendencies, the black population in our country has always been an unprivileged category of people. Unfortunately, it is a fact that we all need to accept. Me: What can you tell me about the social and economic factors that keep AfricanAmericans’ sphere of influence narrow? Markus: Oh, yes. It has always been narrow especially here in Detroit. Our government probably never tried to change it. I remember the lack when I became a teacher, I had ambitions, I wanted to take the youth of this neighborhood and make them into something. But I never could, it always felt like a uphill battle. What I could do, just wasn't enough in comparison to how little THEY cared. Me: How do you think American political leadership is affecting minority neighborhoods like yours? Markus: Despite the initiatives of American political leaders to support our community and other minority neighborhoods, most of us still face challenges from the deficiency of affordable housing and inadequate infrastructure to income discrimination and poverty. Besides, racially prejudiced landlords have long supported the isolation of blacks in certain neighborhoods. They try to help, I will give them that, they try. Nevertheless, nobody ever does enough or wants to. Me: What about community and school efforts to help impoverished youth escape these conditions and better their lives?
Markus: Well, education is another crucial aspect where we are let down. I should know, I was part of the system. As I told you before, it never felt like what I did was enough. Black youth always encountered barriers when it came to education. Schools are not helping impoverished youth escape these conditions and improve their lives, I was, but the school wasn't. And that right there is the problem, individuals might care but the system throws us aside. Me: What do you think could help communities like your own thrive? Markus: Despite everything, I am a positive man and believe in a positive future. But let me say that it is hard to believe that the near future is bright. One day it will be, but it isn’t on the horizon yet. Me: Well Markus, here is a question regarding what is on the horizon. What if I told you all these problems would dissipate in the future because multiple races do not exist anymore and humanity is just one race? Markus: Is that even a possibility? Should it be? The issue isn’t race itself, but it is our treatment of it. I don't think the solution to these problems should be taking away the color of my skin, rather it should be acknowledging it and whilst it being acknowledged it not make a difference. One race just supports the idea that we cannot look past the color of our skin and that we are forever a racist society. It would be a racist fueled move to end up as one race. I don't think that this is possible in near future, nor should it be. Interview with Tomas Daniels, owner of the small barbershop adjacent to our site. He seems to have had an upbringing riddled with petty crime and served some time in prison as well. Me: Hello, Tomas. Tell me, please, about the struggles you face because of the racial tensions in America?
Tomas: Discrimination and struggle is all I know. Whites don’t want to communicate or help us as we are. Sometimes they just ignore our existence, and sometimes the just hate us. Me: What can you tell me about the social and economic factors that keep AfricanAmericans’ sphere of influence narrow? Tomas: If the social system were even interested in us, then we would see change. Our economy does not allow for the change. The incarcerate us, they incarcerate me for things that should be a slap on the hand, for things thing I needed to do to survive. And where does that lead? To struggle. I struggled just to get this shop open. Took me years. And that's not right. Me: How do you think American political leadership is affecting minority neighborhoods like yours? Tomas: They actually don’t care a lot. Either that or I’ve been to crazy to notice any changes. The same people who tried to mass incarcerate us years, ago, our running for office now pretending like they've always supported us. It’s all a hoax. We are on our own, everybody is on there own. Me: what about community and school efforts to help impoverished youth escape these conditions and better their lives? Tomas: I don't know much about that, at least when I was kid. There was nothing there stopping me from doing the things I did. No support, no care in the world. The teachers, the staff, the faculty, the school…they never noticed if I was there or gone. I was just another statistic to them waiting to happen and them not caring enough to stop. Interview with Peggy Anne Clarington, one of the last known residents of this house.
Hello, Peggy. Thank you for being a part of this very important project. Tell us about the struggles you face because of the racial tensions in America. Peggy: Hello, dear. It is great to see you! The black community has always struggled because of the social and political issues that have historically kept us from being more, ah, meaningfully engaged in society and politics. As you know, we did have one black president (Obama), but he came directly before Trump (the individual with the orange face we mentioned before). Me: What can you tell us about the social and economic factors that keep AfricanAmericans’ sphere of influence narrow? Peggy: Our sphere of influence has always been narrow because, to be frank, the system would rather keep us a secret. It is easier to bury our stories and deem us ‘minorities’ putting us in prisons and making them perpetual victims of the criminal justice system, than to willfully acknowledge there are problems here. One of the factors is the lack of access to education. While it seems like all white folks are enjoying College education, most black people are unable to afford such luxuries. Some of the kids in this neighborhood can barely afford school lunches, let alone a College education. Here in the projects, you do what you can to survive. The older men are not the best role models, either, with many of them incarcerated or just released from prison for petty crimes, but what choice did they have when the system is rigged for them to fail. Guess what they tell the young boys? They tell them school is ‘lame’. They don't stop these boys from getting involved in crime and other nonsense, hell some of them even encourage. It is a cycle, nothing changes.
Me: How do you think American political leadership is affecting minority neighborhoods like yours? Peggy: The way the country is run is important to how our neighborhoods function. It seems like its always a struggle for us to get to the top, and there is surely not much help in doing so anyway. The attitude towards African-Americans and minorities as a whole seems to be ‘out of sight, out of mind.’ It is almost like we are not even considered American. They want to keep us down, they want to leave us in the projects and forget about us. Me: What about community and school efforts to help impoverished youth escape these conditions and better their lives? Peggy: Well, I will tell you one thing. Even white people are uncomfortable with nothing being done. They have to at least pretend that they are setting up special programs and ‘initiatives’ (as they call them). These are boosted by ‘progress reports’ that usually talk about how our neighborhoods are improving. Even North Korea’s Kim Jong Il knew how to set up a storefront with plastic fruit to make it look like he was providing for his people. These programs fail to address the core issues, which are related more to the social structure within these neighborhoods. You see, the problems we face cannot be solved quickly or with the help of ‘community initiatives.’ Community initiatives provide some, although very limited, funding as well as bring in white social workers to ‘transform’ our black youth. These efforts at transforming often do not work because, however well meaning they might be, the social workers bring in their own racial biases. For example, many of them think young black men are incapable of attending a higher learning institution; instead, they propose trade colleges or work in restaurants as
‘feasible’ solutions. This language of what is feasible for us continues to downgrade our communities. Me: What do you think could help communities like your own thrive? Peggy: I highly doubt anything could help us at this point, unless the entire system is changed all together. Massive reform needs to occur. However, I have been alive long enough to know some things might never change, at least in my lifetime. Even now race is such a heavy topic. I mean its 2017, and the black community still needs to have movements for people to see it isn’t ok to let off on us because they claim we reached for a gun…There needs to be a social restructuring, possibly the elimination of race altogether. If humans existed as one race, inequality based on race would disappear. Me: So Peggy tell me, what if I told you all these problems would dissipate in the future, but they dissipate because multiple races do not exist anymore. Humanity is just one race. Peggy: I don't know if I would be ok with a world like that. These problems the black community face disappearing would be amazing, but racial diversity is important. Being Analysis Further study allowed us to reach the conclusion that the residence was part of what was then known as ‘The Projects,’ which were lower-income, disadvantaged communities that had apparently received no support from the government. Of course, many will wonder what that means. In the past, not every community had access to adequate education, health care and basic resources. Because now in the modern day recreational drugs are all readily distributed monthly by the state, the notion of illegally obtained substances is ridiculous for contemporary humans to understand. What is also interesting is the massive amount of violence and unnecessary incarceration produced just by the sale and distribution of such substances. We gather that for the
most part, the government of the AS (known then as the US, or United States) failed to address the needs of African-American communities. We compiled the following image based on historical observations and what was found in the house: the African-Americans’ lack of access to education often led to poor employment; feeding families required income, and so individuals might resort to the illegal development and distribution of substances for income. We know that African-Americans were disproportionately incarcerated and because of this, did not enjoy the same social opportunities as other separate races. We can only begin to surmise what kind of unfairness existed in this world, where separate races were forced to live in unacceptable economic and social conditions, violence and illegal activity. In order to immerse myself, I have tried to understand the interviewees’ points of views from an empathetic position. As a part of this process, I made connections between responses to emerging themes and indicate categories that could help to explore the present point of view of a community that has exceeded the unfair and class-based systems of its predecessors, including an elimination of ethnically induced poverty and racial inequality through the creation of Uniformity. In general, the concept of a modernized society is not conceivable without discussing the role of culture in the process of its formation. Besides, culture acts as an effective socio-cultural mechanism for modeling the world picture. The art that was observed by me in the field site demonstrates that some of the images refer to visual activism. It is a form of street protest, which had a place in the past. The graffiti that I witnessed was highly influenced by the social environment of that period and aimed to transmit the racial context through visual means.
Additionally, the image of a man of African-American origin with the inscription “Can U breathe?” showed the protest against the treatment of African-Americans. Probably, because of this, it has became a universal sign of the racial tensions on the streets that stand in line with the concept of the role of race in the past. Resistance through graffiti consisted primarily of transforming the visual field of the ‘ghetto’ space. Nowadays, Uniformity encourages and develops singular cultural values by showing that there are no unequal citizens anymore. The past historical facts only confirm that the such neighborhoods as the one explored in Detroit have high crime rates, systematic poverty, continuing racism and a further plethora of problems. In contrast today’s Uniformity allows people to live equally in one society without any of these issues in any of our current neighborhoods.. However, the government artificially accomplished Uniformity, which is incompatible with the concept of a utopia, as I have come to realize through this ethnography. Furthermore, in the pas the social order of the government in an explicit and latent way translated the notion of whites' dominance in public life and the displacement of blacks in the private sphere, fixing the difference in status positions on the basis of race in the social hierarchy. Quite a number of respondents mentioned feeling oppressed by the social and economic factors that keep African-Americans’ sphere of influence narrow. Notably, despite the potential causes of discrimination, race occupied a dominant position in most interviews. Moreover, a number of informants paid special attention to the fact that racial differences are more important than class, gender, etc. In this sense, race exists as a kind of social and cultural construct, regardless of whether it is “biological” or not. Racism as a phenomenon was based on the assumption that a person is somehow connected with inherited physical characteristics that distinguish one race from
another. In this case, the concept of Uniformity reintegrates this idea by the eradication of multiple races and the creation of one race for the development of a utopian society. Interviewees also indicated that all initiatives provided by the community as well as school efforts were not helpful and expressed the doubt that anything could help these communities to thrive as they felt there was no apparent want too. Education is a key element of individual and social development, and the dissemination of the values of a civil society. However, based on the interview it is possible to conclude that despite all the benefits that brought Uniformity, including the disappearance of all the racial problems that AfricanAmericans faced, it seems not to be utopian. Remarkably, respondents showed that the racial diversity is essential and the idea that multiple races would not exist anymore is not the solution and simply impossible. This idea is opposite to the modern reality of course, whereas Uniformity is a significant factor in forming what is widely considered a utopian government. Still, since the government enforced these processes, it seems not to fit the image of an actual utopia. Interviewees also stressed the fact that racial diversity is a unique phenomenon, which supports the idea of individuality. Moreover, the propagandists' nature of Uniformity to “eliminate discrimination� seems not to fit the utopian ideology since everyone to a certain extent was manipulated to change oneself for the bettering of the society. This utopian image seems to be a social illusion. This ethnography allows us to conclude that despite the historical facts and struggles that the black community experienced, the notion of Uniformity was not the best way to improve society or achieve utopia. As it seems through the interviews, a utopia should proclaim dreams and perfect qualities for all residents, without having to change anything about ones general
identity. Indeed, the individualistic perspective is a more important issue in terms of social formation and development. In summary, the current speculative ethnographic research allows us to gather the data that for the most part, the government of the AS has failed to support the idea of a true utopia and that uniformity was not the way to solve the issue of racism or to help marginalized communities such as that of the black community. This historical observation showed us that the idea of one race actually erases the boundaries of individuality from the racial point of view. Uniformity has become a sort of collective expectation, a gigantic and comprehensive opportunity for false peace. For now, all we can do is look back at what kind of unfairness existed in this world, where separate races were forced to live in unacceptable economic and social conditions, violence and illegal activity and hope that our solutions to problems in the future will not be to erase individuality.
Images of modern day structures in Section 13:
The abandoned area/ethnography site of section 13: