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February 03, 2004

The Root of the Resistance

This was originally posted as part of the Racism Series, a link to which is available in the Best of P6 box.

Don't worry, I'll get around to posting new stuff this month.

The Root of the Resistance

I've already pointed out that I feel our physical, animal nature is a prime determinant of our needs, capabilities and reactions and that I'm a fan of the way Maslow described what motivates humans. I need to quickly review Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs to make sure we're on the same page. The following text has been stolen from Educational Psychology Interactive:

Maslow posited a hierarchy of human needs based on two groupings: deficiency needs and growth needs. Within the deficiency needs, each lower need must be met before moving to the next higher level. Once each of these needs has been satisfied, if at some future time a deficiency is detected, the individual will act to remove the deficiency. The first four levels are:

Physiological: hunger, thirst, bodily comforts, etc.;
Safety/security: out of danger;
Belongingness and Love: affiliate with others, be accepted; and
Esteem: to achieve, be competent, gain approval and recognition.

According to Maslow, an individual is ready to act upon the growth needs if and only if the deficiency needs are met…

Cognitive: to know, to understand, and explore;
Aesthetic: symmetry, order, and beauty;
Self-actualization: to find self-fulfillment and realize one's potential; and
Self-transcendence: to connect to something beyond the ego or to help others find self-fulfillment and realize their potential.

That the deficiency needs must be met first is critical to understanding the position Black people find themselves in today. The third and fourth needs are social in nature, the first and second (because we are social) are best fulfilled in a social context; though they are possible to fulfill as individuals, instinct compels us to seek out social means of doing so. This means the primary requirements of living successfully as a human are only (belongingness and esteem) or best (physiological and security) met as an integrated (in the non-sociological sense) part of a functioning society. Only then is it reasonable to expect a human to grow into the pursuit of knowledge, beauty, wisdom and all the higher aspects of human nature made possible by intelligence.

Unfortunately, potential members of a group do not get to simply attach themselves to the group. Africans in America, and their descendant African Americans, have sought to do exactly that and found it outside our power to compel the mainstream to grant us full membership in American society (which, unless you're in absolute denial, you will admit is more than a matter of legal status). Unreasonable people have actively resisted that inclusion… though in strict terms I'm hard pressed to call it unreasonable because that inclusion would change the nature of the social "laws of nature," which would affect them much like changing the rate of gravitational acceleration would change the life of your average bird. Reasonable people (and those who would appear reasonable) place a requirement on membership—Black people must demonstrate proficiency ("be qualified") in exactly those areas Maslow says cannot be approached successfully outside the context of the membership we seek.

This is the crux of the dilemma Black folks find ourselves in, and its repercussions are legion.

Posted by P6 at February 3, 2004 02:46 PM
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