Fanon + Kendrick Lamar + Bald
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Fanon describes how one's perception as a Black person is delimited and structured by white supremacy. One is not a "kinesthetic" subject, moving their body in space to achieve a desired outcome, they are objectified by those whose perception of Black people has much more to do with received stereotypes and prejudices than any actual experience. When one is moved this way and that by the whims of white hatred, a force untethered to any perceptible logic, they begin to feel more like the cigarette than the person smoking it. This ties into Kendrick Lamar's song "The Blacker the Berry" which deals with this objectification vis-a-vis racist stereotypes. Lamar also speaks to the hypocrisy one perceives in themselves when they "confirm" racist stereotypes, e.g. lamenting Trayvon Martin's death while also committing acts of violence. But with the line "You made me a killer," he shows this hypocrisy to be an ouroboros. Racism, in the form of redlining, segregation, etc., creates fertile ground for gang violence, which in turn confirms racist stereotypes. Bald shows us the alternative to this in the form of J.J. Singh, a Pakistani Sikh who renounced his faith and traditional garb in order to win the approval (and money) of white society. Singh's testimony before congress confirms this approach, as he argues for increased naturalization, but mostly for wealthier, more skilled South Asian immigrants. This approach was to win out, taking the history of South Asian immigration to the U.S. from its beginnings among farmers and seamen to its eventual concentration among doctors and businessmen. However, as Fanon tells us, the obsession with excellence among minorities seeking to evade the white gaze is a losing game: "The black physician can never be sure how close he is to disgrace." What is one to do? Assert themselves as a "BLACK MAN" as Fanon did, drape themselves in stereotypes as Kendrick Lamar did, or make the struggle of their countrymen known as Ibrahim Choudry did.