The Mappings of Superiority

Apparently it starts at birth. It's something I can't prove scientifically however I strongly believe that the concept of White supremacy starts at birth and manifests itself through various structures including the family and media structures. Case and point. My youngling and I were doing our weekly father/son Thursday cookie at our nearby Barnes and Nobel. Of course our youngling is now at the age where everything in his world is literal and tactile. At least that is what his mom and the non verbal communication texts tell me. After our cookie, we head to his usual haunt, the Thomas the Train Station. As we are there at first we are the only ones there so he pretty much has the trains to himself. So while he is playing with his toys, I am taking some time to do some leisure reading (Mac OS leopard, WordPress, and other computer app stuff). Then burst in a little boy about 4 years old. A white child and of course, I think everything is benign on the surface. Inside of 5 mins this boy bumrushes my son and tries to take well not even tries, he takes his train. Needless to say, I have my eyes on this child because I really don't want anything to happen to my son. Also in my mind, I am playing the role of the dad thinking in the back of my mind, "clock him!" As any father, he doesn't want his son to grow up soft. I know--its a hegemonic construct, but everyone should know the rudiments of self defense. The boy's father shows up, about 6'0 even weighing in at 210 and he collects his rambunctious son. I'm trying hard to play this off because this episode could go wrong on so many levels. Sure I could play the role of the militant dad and say, control your kid, using the base and race of my voice. I could also play the role of the overprotective parent by cuddling him. This too would cause my son to be soft. That's just not going to happen. So instead, I played the role of the neo liberal chilled black parent and just sat back in the cut. There are times and places I need not let my son see his dad flash because one I have to set the example. In this case, I think the message I am trying to send to him is choose your battles wisely. Now on to this racial component. For some reason, this little white boy thought it was appropriate to take what he wants from smaller kids. In fact, I don't think the boy saw color, but it was just weird to see the race and class dynamics play out. He goes and takes something from my son in a rather aggressive manner. This is a trait I see in white folk in general. There exists a hyper aggressive nature we find which the media in my opinion allows to play in many of the story-lines (both real and dramatic) which endorses this pummeling of the weak, marginalized and oppressed. I am sure if we were to take a look at the ethnography's and biographies of white folk who have money, status and power, I would venture to say that this behavior, you take, you be assertive, you are different and above the rules for everyone else, these positions of superiority are interwoven within the developmental years of kids. Now if we couple this with a media system again which was orchestrated by and for those in the positions of racial and socio economic class hierarchy, the ideological base works only to their advantage. Albert Memi stated it best, those who own the means of oppression have no interest in dismantling a system which works exclusively to their advantage. It would be foolish.