Category: Let's talk
I met a guy who perhaps turned me into a racist. Or maybe I'm in danger of becoming one. You decide.
And I have a question I want to ask, but I'll delay that for the very end.
First of all, how the hell would you feel, how would you react if you heard for the first time that your ancestors' way of life had been practically wiped out of existence? I met a guy not too long ago who speaks Nahuatl (I think that's how you spell it). He explained and told me all about the nice and kind things, you know, the pretty little atrocities, that the europeans or Spaniards committed against the indiginous peoples of Latin America. This guy came speaking things to me which at that time I'd never heard before.
"Don't go to these colleges," he said, "and keep out of the churches. My advice to you is: Return to the oral tradition of your ancestors, return to their religion and culture. They have their own spiritual beliefs; you don't need christianity, you don't need their philosophies in your head. Their words replaced or merged into everything we once were; language, literature, customs, nothing was left out."
Sometimes I dream of the majesty of Tenochtitlan, but then again I don't even know what I'm supposed to see in my dreams because its walls, its avenues, everything in that ancient capital was destroyed long before I ever got the chance to see it.
He talked on and a wave of mixed emotions splashed on me; I felt anger, hatred, disbelief, disillusionment. How would you feel?
Who's to blame for this? Do I have an excuse to be angry, to be a racist? And when I heard him saying those things to me, I couldn't help but ask myself: What good thing could possibly come from returning to my ancestors' way of life? Would it even be possible? What relevance would serving Quetzalcoatl have for me in these modern times? The process of futurity has rendered all those things obsolete, hasn't it? And I don't know how pleasant life is in those current places in Mexico where people have been trying to maintain their original identity. I don't know if I'd be willing to join them there. I'm a mestizo, therefore they'd probably not welcome me anyway.
But as my friend told me these things: "The indigenous peoples of Latin America will soon return to their roots. Our reform movement is picking up speed and people are beginning to learn the truth." I couldn't shake off the feeling that he was trying to turn me into a racist. But I honestly don't know what I was feeling. I mean, what he was saying sounded right, but I thought the motivation was wrong. You see, he told me that my ancestors had a rich spiritual way of life, and he told me that the things they did, which would lead modern man to believe they were savages, have in fact been misinterpreted. He told me many other things over the course of time, things that made him seem like some sort of preacher or something. I didn't know what to say. I became interested and thought to myself: Maybe researching this subject would help me understand who I really am. I was afraid though that what I would find out might turn me into an incurable racist.
And this is the question I want to ask: Am I racially motivated? Would pursuing a deeper understanding of this issue turn me into a racist? What do you think?
Knowledge, true knowledge, never turned anyone into a racist. It's what you do with the knowledge that makes a difference.
I say, research to your heart's content, it could be quite interesting. However, draw your own conclusions and make your own decisions.
Bob
I agree with Bob here. It's your reaction to what you discover which will determine whether or not you become a racist. Ultimately though, there is no way that history can be overturned, so the bad and good things which have happened cannot be erased. There is absolutely no point in taking up a quarrel with the people of European extraction because of something which their ancestors are to blame for, and you can't take revenge on their ancestors, because the likelyhood is that they are dead. It's like your grandmother being a murderer, and some ancestor of her victim coming to kill you in revenge, even though both of you weren't alive when she committed her murder.