George
I appreciate the link. You know I think highly of your article selection at Negrophile.
But "Go spur Earl Dunovant"?
Truthfully I was waiting for the holiday wekend to pass, both to give myself more time to try to integrate (heh) those disparate thoughts and so it wouldn't scroll off before folks got back to work. Besides, I don't really say or see anything that hasn't been seen or said before. I just have my particular way of saying it. Such as…Aggregation
by Earl Dunovant
copyright ©1994
Claude McKay said in his autobiography, "Negroes do not understand the difference between group segregation and group aggregation. And their leaders do not enlighten them, because they too do not choose to understand." This is all too true. Fortunately, I'm not a leader. I have chosen to understand. And I have chosen to explain the difference, and the difference that difference makes.
Segregation and aggregation both refer to a gathering together of things according to some shared characteristic. Both imply considering that group as a single entity. But just as all other things can be constructive or destructive, so can this viewing groups of people collectively. Aggregation is the positive side of this collective viewing, while segregation is the negative side.
What makes segregation negative is that it's something that's done to you, whereas aggregation is something that is done by you. Segregation is imposed on you, aggregation is chosen by you. When you aggregate, you draw together with people. When you segregate, you push people aside.
Black people are the only ethnic group that has to discuss the value of aggregation. All the other groups show obvious preference for their own. This is called solidarity. When Black folks do it, it's called "self-segregation". All other peoples mark their success by the possession of their own communities and institutions. Black folks mark their success by the degree to which they are allowed to partiipate in the communities and institutions of others. In a nation where you are heard to the degree that you have a constituency, if we accept that definition, we oppress ourselves.
Aggregation and segregation are similar. They can be looked at as the same thing when you're not personally involved. Their effects can seem the same if you're not part of the group that's aggregating. There is a difference though, and we Blacks must keep that difference in mind in our collective efforts so that our aggregation cannot be used as an excuse to segregate again.
