The Great Negro Writer, Charles Johnson

A friend of mine forwarded me an essay by the great Negro writer, Charles Johnson that I didn't like all that much.

Part of the reason I say "Great Negro" is because Mr. Johnson strikes me as someone for whom the term "Negro writer" would be an insult. It seems to me that Mr. Johnson is one of these Negroes that thinks that all Black people, regardless of their experience or understanding, should somehow, by some means suddenly acquire his experience and perspective and forsake their own personal Negro Histories.

Here, I will address the problems in his essay, The End of the Black Narrative which can be found here:

1. This piece is way too long. Not because of how many words it has, but mainly because it's flawed. I'm sure Mr. Johnson would agree, that if someone is wrong, it's better that they be brief. As the Great Black Playwright Shakespeare wrote, in Hamlet

...since brevity is the soul of wit,
And tediousness the limbs and outward flourishes,
I will be brief...

2. When Mr. Johnson states,

This unique black American narrative, which emphasizes the experience of victimization, is quietly in the background of every conversation we have about black people...

I do not agree. This argument makes the error commonly known as petitio principii or otherwise known as "question begging". Mr. Johnson assumes falsely that victimization is the background for discussions about Black People. I have certainly not found this to be the case. The only Black people I know who consistently state that Blacks are screaming, "victim", are Negroes like Charles Johnson, who place themselves in the position of having to explain themselves and the Black race to the very White people who actually do believe, that Black folks have assumed the victim role. "Black People" or at least, the vast majority and vast minority, quite naturally, and inescapably are lead to the contemplation of the question of the historical and present day inequality of American justice. Just because White folks call this American tradition of natural, inescapable questioning "victimization" does not make it so.

I sense in Mr. Johnson's essay a lack of compassion as well as truth. If he were to live in a Black community, like I do, or Work in social services with Black folks, like I do, he would find that in Ghetto's, Mental Institutions, Jails, Public Health centers, Public Hospital Emergency Rooms, Schools, Foster Care Agencies and in courts, Black folks rarely, if ever consider themselves victims.... Or at least not any more or less than any other nationality, or group that finds themselves in similar circumstances.

It has been my experience that almost all people, regardless of color, in casual, or formal discussions, do not accept Black victimization as a basis of understanding. The most predominant feeling is one of admiration, beauty, creativity, athleticism, resiliency, disparity, injustice, inequality, intelligence, innovation, cultural cohesiveness and perseverance. Another general assumption made about Black people is that they are human beings, faced with issues that all humans are faced with, and with the added burden of 400 years of unabated racism and discrimination. That is the basis of conversation in virtually all groups, when the topic of African-Americans is discussed.

3. I must give Mr. Johnson credit for quickly and lucidly recounting the African experience in America, as well as his worthy praise of the African-Americans accomplishments in this country of ours. He also does a good job of talking about the overshadowing of the present day accomplishments of African-Americans. That is nice. Then for some reason, Mr. Johnson turns for a moment to kick at a prone and irrelevant Louis Farrakhan, which is.. I don't know... Silly? Does Mr. Johnson believe, along with all White, right-wing radio hosts that Mr. Farrakhan truly speaks on behalf of Black America? Or does he bring up Farrakhan to more firmly establish his cuddly nature with those who thrust Farrakhan, Sharpton, Rev. Wright, Bill Cosby and other off-kilter, Negroes in the woods as the apcryphal Black "true north"? Once again, I must ask, what Black America does he speak of? Certainly not his Black America, or my Black America. Once again, his argument is flawed and tainted by a strong hint of White refusenik/Black apologist flavor.

4. Mr. Johnson finally wends his way to his prime example, Emma Dunham Kelley-Hawkins, Dr. Henry Louis Gates Jr., and the Oxford University Press’s 40-volume Schomburg Library of Nineteenth-Century Black Women Writers. Mr. Johnson focuses on the fact that it has recently been discovered, or at least alleged, that Emma Kelley-Hawkins never was Black. Mr. Johnson goes on to talk about Dr. Gates undertaking "damage control" over this discovery. At this point I would like to point out one very important fact that was not mentioned about this "controversy", and that is, that African-Americans have never had power to define who was and who wasn't "Black" in American. Seeing as Ms. Kelley-Hawkins lived before and after the turn of the 20th century, it's fair to wonder just who said she was Black? was it Black people? I doubt it. We did not have the power to define that.

In any event, Mr. Johnson apparently was not satisfied with Dr. Gates statement as weighed against the historical backdrop of America's Race Politics and the reality of the dubious racial definition of America's defined Black population. Johnson instead stokes the flames of the imaginary fire by saying, that Holly Jackson, (who discovered Kelley-Hawkins was white) acted as a "true scholar" and "would not allow this intellectual scandal to be swept under the rug." and that she makes 2 important statements and asks 2 equally important questions.

Statement #1: “There is so much at stake here, because of all the writing that has been done based on a false assumption about race.”
Statement #2: “We have stretched our understanding of how black women have written in America to incorporate texts that do not fit.”
Question #1: “How have her [Kelley-Hawkins’s] overwhelmingly ‘white’ texts successfully passed as black for so long in the absence of any corroborating historical data?"
Question #2: How does this discovery change our understanding of African American literary history?”

To answer these important statements and questions, I turn to Mr. F. James Douglas, author of, "Who is Black? One Nation's Definition". Of this dubious definition, Mr. Douglas writes (and please read all of this, because it's essential to your understanding of one of Mr. Johnson's errors):

In the South it became known as the "one-drop rule,'' meaning that a single drop of "black blood" makes a person a black. It is also known as the "one black ancestor rule," some courts have called it the "traceable amount rule," and anthropologists call it the "hypo-descent rule," meaning that racially mixed persons are assigned the status of the subordinate group. This definition emerged from the American South to become the nation's definition, generally accepted by whites and blacks. Blacks had no other choice... Not only does the one-drop rule apply to no other group than American blacks, but apparently the rule is unique in that it is found only in the United States and not in any other nation in the world...The concept of passing applies only to blacks--consistent with the nation's unique definition of the group. A person who is one-fourth or less American Indian or Korean or Filipino is not regarded as passing if he or she intermarries and joins fully the life of the dominant community, so the minority ancestry need not be hidden...a fractionally black person cannot escape these obstacles without passing as white and cutting off all ties to the black family and community....Because blacks are defined according to the one-drop rule, they are a socially constructed category in which there is wide variation in racial traits and therefore not a race group in the scientific sense. However, because that category has a definite status position in the society it has become a self-conscious social group with an ethnic identity...State courts have generally upheld the one-drop rule, but some have limited the definition to one thirty-second or one-sixteenth or one-eighth black ancestry, or made other limited exceptions for persons with both Indian and black ancestry.

Blacks did not say that someone 1/32nd, or with "one-drop" of Black is Black. That's something that Whites dictated to define slavery and Jim Crow for the purposes of control, access and to manage the system of discrimination. Not surprisingly, this definition, ridiculous as it may seem, still holds true today. White and Black culture has become defined by this dubious distinction.

The point is this. Seeing as "one-drop" of Black makes one Black, philosophically, how much difference does Emma Dunham Kelley-Hawkins' being White have to do with the questions Ms. Holly Jackson asks above? I mean, really? Culturally, Ms. Kelley-Hawkins could be White, which, apparently she was if the themes and stories she told were any indication. But, then again, she may have been "Black" in many respects, otherwise, why the confusion? many Black writers did not write on "Black Themes" most notably, Alexandre Dumas, and, if you believe it, William Shakespeare, neither of whom considered themselves Black men.

Overall, the willingness of African-Americans to embrace and accept Ms. Kelley-Hawkins as Black is an interesting story all it's own, and something that Black Americans have been trained to do. The social and cultural meaning of this, is much more interesting to ponder than the alleged "damage control" that Mr. Johnson says Dr. Gates undertook. Dr. Gates was exhibiting understanding and a realistic assessment of the situation by telling a reporter that the work of Kelley-Hawkins would be removed from future editions of the Schomburg series. What else is to be done? Is that "damage control"?

In conclusion to his essay, Mr. Johnson states,

I’ve gone into great detail about the Kelley-Hawkins story because it is a cautionary tale for scholars and an example of how our theories, our explanatory models, and the stories we tell ourselves can blind us to the obvious, leading us to see in matters of race only what we want to see based on our desires and political agendas.

Once again, I find it interesting, that with the backdrop of America's dubious definition of "Black" Mr. Johnson would use the Kelley-Hawkins example as a "cautionary tale for scholars" of how our stories can "blind us to the obvious, leading us to see in matters of race only what we want to see based on our desires and political agendas." There is nothing obvious about race in America, other than the fact that Race is a powerful dividing, defining and exclusionary force in the working of America, that Mr. Johnson would like all of us to ignore.

5. Mr. Johnson ends his essay with this thought,

In the 21st century, we need new and better stories, new concepts, and new vocabularies and grammar based not on the past but on the dangerous, exciting, and unexplored present, with the understanding that each is, at best, a provisional reading of reality, a single phenomenological profile that one day is likely to be revised, if not completely overturned. These will be narratives that do not claim to be absolute truth, but instead more humbly present themselves as a very tentative thesis that must be tested every day in the depths of our own experience and by all the reliable evidence we have available, as limited as that might be.

In many ways I agree with Mr. Johnson here. In some other ways, I don't. I generally agree, because I see modern man as simultaneously attempting to escape eight major contemplations. 1. the true past 2. the present 3. the unavoidable (as distinguished from the fantasized) future 4. true identity 5. intimacy/love 6. responsibility. 7. death 8. the meaning of life. I agree with Mr. Johnson that the real richness of subjective/objective narrative is not to be found in the past or the future, but it is to be found in the present, albeit via the past. For the past is the motivation, the dramatic tension, the element of truth that propels us headlong into our existential groping for "present" meaning and our role in it, as well as responsibility for it. Intimate love is the hidden guru, the "other" and a concept that to explain, would be irrelevant as well as to take us too far afield.

New grammar? new vocabulary? yes, but not a wiping away of the past, but a transformation of that past, into a deep meaningful search inside the simultaneous realms of "self" and "present". That is the only escape from an uncontrolled headlong death dance into the future.

I can see Mr. Johnson's point, for if we can not look at the past and be transformed by it and use it to not repeat it, then it can form a type of prison. Black people are not the only ones held dysfunctionally to the past. The Black history of "victimization" does not have the power to destroy the Earth, nor the future of life on Earth. The White history of domination and dividing up the Earth as a resource, does. The American White narrative of Entitlement and soullessness, is definitely closer to the front of the line for a tune-up.

I also disagree. because I have more than just five points of contention on Mr. Johnson's essay, but the overall one that I have, that existed long before Mr. Johnson's essay, is the truth that for the entirety of the Black experience in America, there have been nothing but denials as to the disparities, disadvantages, inhumanity and barred access that Blacks have had to both America and the American dream.

Each successive generation has been placed in the position of having to argue for equality. As slaves, we had to argue that we were human and deserved to be free. As free men, we had to argue that we deserved full rights of citizenship. As citizens, we had to argue for access that was not "separate but equal". As equal citizens, we had to fight for the right to vote, unfettered by racism, terrorism and poll tests and taxes. As holders of the vote, we had to fight for access to home loans, school loans, and the right to buy and rent homes and apartments, as well as access to public Universities and opportunities for public and private jobs. As right holders to Universities and Jobs, we now have to fight to eliminate the ongoing disparities in education, incarceration, and access to opportunities for uplift and advancement.

What's the common theme in all of this?
1. At each stage, we were told that we were taking the role of victims, rather than accepting the "truth" of the circumstances.
2. Our history, our struggle, our pain and wretched treatment, is very real, (like the blanketing of Sancho Panza) and has always been silenced because the White man, and those in power have continually told us, "Now with (whatever minuscule, incomplete concession that Whites in power concede) you are free. Stop talking about your history and just accept that we will never, ever, acknowledge your history, nor treat you as truly free."


As long as the Black American narrative is dismissed, repressed, and not accepted and disseminated truthfully across the nation, it will persist. It must be taken as it is, for all Americans to be able to move on. And to be taken as it is, will be very difficult for America as a whole, because it requires an accounting of not only the past, but as Mr. Johnson points out, "on the dangerous, exciting, and unexplored present" of previously unknown equality.

To render White America vulnerable enough, humble enough and daring enough to take this previously untantilizing Black American narrative at face value, will require The White American narrative, to change substantially from it's present-day soaking in denial, false history, and contempt. Until such a time comes, we will remain in our stubborn entrenched positions. Blacks calling for a full accounting and attendant equalization. Whites calling for a dismissal of previous treacheries and a final acceptance on the behalf of Blacks, as separate and unequal.

I for one hope that the Black narrative persists and continues unchanged and unabated, regardless of the accomplishments of Blacks, because like the Jewish people (whom Dr. Johnson does not mention a single time as "victims" in his essay), it is part of our history.

Deep underneath all of this is one truth that Whites in power cling to, as dearly as their own sense of entitlement, and that is, they think of Blacks as unequal, and so with each incremental concession, it's not that they feel Blacks have achieved equality, rather, that they have acquired all that they deserve to acquire.

We did not ask for it. We certainly did not want it, but there it is. And it is not a story of victimization. It is simply, "our story" complete with accomplishments, great men and women, inspirational leaders and overcoming the odds.

Overall, I must congratulate Mr. Johnson, on a very robust and sprawling document that clearly states not only his opinions, but also his process and position. As a Black man, I acknowledge his position as one of many among the Black race, and as a prime example of the diversity of ideas and traditions to be found in the present day African-American. And for that, I love Mr. Johnson; however, my final note to Mr. Johnson is this; you can end this narrative thing wherever you want to, but your essay as well as this response is where the Black American narrative will always begin.

natural drugs, imagination, spiritual conceptions & abstraction

This thought is horribly under-developed, but important. one day, I hope to re-work it. It is an important point, because there is a very strong societal trend, at least in the United States, to label and disable, (perhaps we should coin a new term "dis-label) individuals by either their mental states, issues, or addictions. I'm a firm believer that we are who we are, and as such, our karma in life is to find balance in that thing. From the time we are born, we have our lifetimes (or at least we should have our lifetimes) to come to terms with ourselves. (this is the horror of an insufficient upbringing, because then, instead of coming to terms with who we are, we are forced to come to terms with what happened, or did not happen to us... I've been able to figure out, that it doesn't make any difference if your mother is a crack head, or a princess. The point is, once children make it here, we owe it to them to give them everything possible to further their lives. Part of this responsibility is to only have children, that we are able to take care of, and that we are able to take full responsibility for. So it makes no difference if you have one child, or 8. Take care of them, love them, and give them everything you can possibly give. enough said) Perhaps, at a time in the past, where we had our lifetime to come to terms with ourselves, each and every lovely flower of humanity, whether privileged and luxuriant in their existence, or short and brutish, had the opportunity to find something, or nothing... so be it. In this current modern day society, we are labeled, from the earliest years, based upon the most marginal and subtle issues and then, put on a separated track. In fact, at any point in life, when we encounter a label, it seems that we are put on a different track, and, coincidentally, there are industries ready and waiting to make profit from your condition. Be your condition a mental illness (pharmaceutical) a genetic pre-disposition (medical and diagnostic, and devices) or social (programs, counseling, specialized therapy) or even drug treatment, incarceration, or help organizations, including non-profits, ombudsmen, eap's, consumers, etc.

This post is about the sanctity in individuality, and the importance of diversity in maintaining a balance in our options. The trick, I believe, is that for society to not label, but to assist and to push individuals towards their passions, rather than turning individuals into a label, a disability, a condition, a product, or profession. enough said. One day, I hope to develop this thought more fully.

it seems that one of the greatest innovations in the history of man, was writing. But before there was writing, there was semi-abstract thought to the degree that a language was necessitated to represent these ideas. If there was only "what was" then there would be no need for language. language only becomes necessary, with the advent of "real" abstraction. I only call it "real" because what is abstracted, is a "real" thought that may become real one day.

the first languages are generally accepted to have begun in response to the need to facilitate trade, and to measure and account for items. Along with writing, there also became the need for numbers. there were many 19th century philosophers that speculated that had the ancient Greeks had a zero or a complex representation for partial numbers, then they would have made it to the moon a few hundreds of years prior to the United States of America. But that is another tale.

The point I would like to make with regards to abstraction, language development and the attendant expansion of imagination entailed in/facilitated by language, is the role of ancient religions, conceptions of spirit and god(s), and the role of hallucinogens and other drugs in furthering the vision quests and possibilities of man.

It is not by ideas alone that man progresses, it is also by imagination.

Today, there is a movement afoot across the land to "integrate" mental health and substance abuse services. The role of drugs, mental illness and spiritual conceptions in the ascent of man, can not be underestimated. This type of "experience" and subsequent "genius" and brilliance in the creation of ideas and possibilities, as well as the ability to record and build upon such experiences, afforded by language, is a not very well understood, nor respected precursor to modern societies and the organizing principles of such societies.

the subjective experience of hallucinogenic abstraction, by ancient sages on the cusp of language abstraction is what made the ancient Greek sages, and the pontificating upon the nature of philosophy and man, was the main factor in early history of the technological age.

Black Panther Blvd.

In the fall of 1966, Huey P. Newton and Bobby Seale created The Black Panthers to defend the rights of Oakland's Black citizens and protect them from police brutality.

Several high-profile incidents followed, including the Panthers fully armed stroll through the California State Capitol, The recruitment of former SNCC leader Stokely Carmichael, and Huey P. Newton's acquittal on murder charges.

Soon, thirty-four Black Panther chapters sprouted up across the United States, awakening a forceful new spirit of empowerment and activism in oppressed communities. The infectious immediacy of the Panther platform and their "10-point plan" integrated key philosophical components that were also shared by Paolo Freire and Frantz Fanon. Freire like the Panthers, advocated a passionate embrace of the needs articulated by the oppressed community. Frantz Fanon, deconstructed the psychology of those oppressed by colonialism and pointed the way towards the authentic praxis of liberation .

Today's acceptance of a national politics that incorporates the needs of Blacks--and, by extension, all people of color--is a composite of the demands articulated by the Panthers, as well as Black Liberation leaders such as Martin Luther King, El Hajj Malik El Shabazz, Robert F. Williams, and organizations such as The Deacons for Defense, the SCLC, and SNCC.

Sixty-five social programs, including Head Start and the free breakfast program, were started by the Oakland Black Panthers. Other programs such as the sickle cell screening program were adopted and expanded by the medical community in later years as indispensable tools in preventive medicine.

Today, the Black Panther Party is acknowledged by social justice researchers and in academic circles as a prime example of an oppressed people in a neglected community not only successfully articulating their needs but addressing them through pragmatic political action and an all-out "by any means necessary" appeal for social justice.

The City of Oakland owes The Black Panthers, city residents, and the international community a BLACK PANTHER BOULEVARD to serve as a permanent memorial to the birthplace of the organization's accomplishments and enduring legacy.

That the Black Panthers have been so steadfastly maligned throughout their history will, most likely, be the cause of any opposition that might arise to a Black Panther memorial. The enduring negative image of the Black Panthers is a testament to the coordinated efforts of the CIA, the FBI, and local law enforcement through the domestic counter-intelligence program known as Cointelpro. Cointelpro was used by J. Edgar Hoover to disrupt, smear, discredit, incarcerate, and kill prominent party members. J. Edgar Hoover, in fact, believed "the Black Panther Party, without question, represents the greatest threat to the internal security of the country".

The actions of Cointelpro have been well documented by numerous sources such as Frank Church, Ward Churchill and Jim Vander Wall.

This is not to say that there were not significant organizational challenges and issues that impacted the Black Panthers efforts. But it must be understood that the Black Panthers were a grassroots organization who adhered to a code of conduct, and that they encouraged the community-building efforts of committed individuals. As the Panthers became part of the community, the community became part of the Panthers. This intimate community involvement in the workings of the Panthers is the reason why BLACK PANTHER BOULEVARD is a memorial not only to the Panthers, but also to Oakland, and to all of the communities and individuals who benefited from, and were inspired by their actions.

THE MISSION OF BLACKPANTHERBLVD.COM is to honor the accomplishments of Oakland's original Black Panther Organization, as a major contributor to the civil rights movement and as a model for politically oriented, grassroots community activism.

the real issue with death in the 21st century

I remain unconvinced that the precarious nature of life is any more or less precarious now than it has been in the past.

Coercion was surely a strong factor in the ability of man to exhort his fellow man to lay down his life for a greater cause; yet, all in all, methinks things were more than likely much more simple, "back in the day". If one were to find oneself on a war campaign "back in the day", there was no one or thing to appeal to for subsistence if you to find that you had a sudden change of heart. No. If you decided the soldiering life was not for you, then your ass was more than likley killed, or, if you were lucky, turned out to the elements. Yes, any such realization that one were, in truth, and in ones heart, a conscientious objector would be as death provoking at that time, as swallowing a handful of lethal pills would be today.

No doubt, the vast majority of soldiers in earlier ages were simply living in the moment, chasing their next meal, their next step and their next problem, issue, or pleasure, as more intelligent persons recorded the weight of booty accumulated through their efforts.

Today, the horror of death is not the violence of it all, rather, the expectation that we will have extended futures, and funds, insurance, retirement, comfort, income but, more to the point, the horror of death is essentially, the essentialist duality of not existence/non-existence and form/spirit, but the duality of semi-present/future and selfish individualism/materialism.

The horror of death is that we will no longer be able to spend, to purchase, to indulge, to see, hear, smell, taste, gratify and reflect. that is the horror of death.

We are in an age, where the contemplation of a future, is as revered as history, culture and convention had been in the past.

No one wants to die, when the virtual entirety of their conscious orb's are dedicated towards, the almost Egyptian aesthete of the pre-afterlife, which is another way of saying, the period of time between the present, and death.

I share in this horror. not because I want to, but because it is a cultural trait and obsession of our present day lives.

Black God

It's obvious to me that we all have our own unique conception and understanding of God. Even if we have the same idea, if we were to explain it, order the priorities of "godliness" and spirituality and what is helpful to us to know and how we center ourselves or in what ways we are helped by the idea of a higher power, or if we were to talk about how we came to this idea, or heard of this idea, or our experience or personal confirmation of a higher power or understanding of creation, existence and the trials of man and the lessons we have to learn or what sin is or forgiveness, or how we recognize these ideas and ideals with how we operate or how the world works or politics or racism or culture or society, it's clear, that regardless of how similar our ideas are, they are all unique and different, in the same way as the proverbial and literal snowflake.

whew!

The surviving ideas, concepts, culture, tradition, rights, ethics, morals, and society of native and indigenous African culture and the mish mash of traditions that occurred through the diaspora and within individual journey's, teachings, collisions, exchanges and understandings between peoples on the shores of what is now known as the United States of America.

The application of the new religion of Christianity, and it's basis in the old testament, and the ways in which it has come to be understood, is a demonstration to it's power. Rooted in God, but moreso rooted in the trials of man, the inclusion of reality in the suffering and persecution, and the yearning for understanding. The mythic allusions to God, Man, the Quest, the finding, Identity, universality, redemption, humanity, sharing, charity make Christianity, regardless of whether it is spread by death, or by life, by charity, or by oppression, whether the intent is control, liberation, exploitation, or whatever, only serves as a testament to it's malleability and also completeness.

The fact of it's living nature as a living word, is what has allowed us (as African peoples) to take this word, and our understanding of this word, and to make it uniquely understandable to our plight and eventual salvation from the condition of slavery.

Black religion, like Christianity, can not be divorced from the circumstances of the situation of Blacks in America, thus, the ideas of the bible that were gravitated towards, were those that assisted the most spiritually and resonated most clearly.

Ideas of the suffering and redemption of Christ. Of forgiveness, of everlasting heaven, of the holy spirit, of spiritual visitation, of charity, of perseverance, of resurrection, of the trials in Egypt, the salvation, the lost tribe, of the fall of pride, of the rapture, resisting the temptations of the devil, of re-birth, baptism, the virgin mother, the birth in a stable manger, the three wise men, the forgiveness of Joseph, the son of God, the "way"... all of these ideas, resonated deeply within the bosoms of the Africans rendered into slavery.

What has developed, evolved, and survives to this day, is a different religion which is the synthesis of Black African traditions, Black American Suffering, and Black America salvation in the present day.

It is a wholly different religion than any other form of Christianity practiced anywhere else in the world.

The ability of the African sons and daughters to take what exists in America and was at one time foreign to them, and make it into a fully expressive element and vessel for the most meaningful cultural aspects of Black culture is one element of the African, that has never, and will never diminish.

Whatsomattayou? Africa Ain't Green Enough For Your Ass?

Before all this bs started, and the gods of war went throughout every nook and cranny of this green world to wring every drop of blood from the oppressed peoples of the world, we didn't have to worry about all this "Green" bs. I find it hilarious how all these yoga posin' socially conscious, environmentally friendly, negative carbon footprint mf's think they're so green when every time they pick up a carton of eggs, some herbs, some veggies, some bread, some meat, some cheese, etc, it comes in a package that can not be reused, but instead, must be melted down, ground up, or otherwise transformed to become "recycled" into the environment.
They laughed at beautiful blacks in Africa for living in dung houses, washing their babies in urine, drinking cow blood, wearing animal skins, putting bones through their noses, fighting with spears and making love in front of their children. They called them "heathens" and "animals", and so, to show us "the way" they made us eat processed ham, canned fruits, drink alcohol, wear cotton, put diamonds on our fingers and shoot bullets through one another, and raped wives, daughters and grandmothers in front of their husbands and their children. Yeah, thanks for the lesson on civilization!
The problem, is that these folks wants "green" technology which is an oxymoron. Don't worry, soon they'll get with the program, and before long, we'll all be blowin' smoke signals to let whoever survived the coming apocalypse, that we need some more low suds detergent and another pack of diapers.