The Light Comes On Slowly

This morning, I was listening to Tavis. He was doing a piece on newly naturalized citizens. As he began the second segment, it hit me. This is about new nationality replacing a former nationality. Put another way, this about new nationality replacing what is, in most cases, the person’s ancestral nationality. Wait a minute. Ancestral nationality is what I have been talking about...yelling about...since 1996!!. I knew this!!

Knowing I knew this, why is this startling?

I had always interpreted the circumstance of those of us who are of unknown African ancestry to require...require...the self-declaration of identity to have an ancestral nationality. I was right, but there is more to it that simply that.

Naturalization is the process of replacing one citizenship with another. The 14th Amendment did not do this. The 14th Amendment created citizenship for a group of people who were not only without citizenship in the nation in which they resided, namely the United States, they had no citizenship in any other nation in the world. Not only did no member of the group have an existing citizenship, no member of the group knew of any former citizenship of any nation of the world.

Further, no nation of the world acknowledged the citizenship of any member of the group..., including Liberia which had been formed by immigrants who were former residents...not citizens...of the United States who had been members of that group. This is not to say that members of the group were not welcome...I think. Anyway...

It should be noted that the lack of citizenship was intentional. The political power of this group had always been exploited to the political benefit...the power benefit of others, and States in particular. The Naturalization Act had been passed in 1795. It was not for them. While they were persons, as defined in the Unted States Constitution, they were are also property...as defined in the United States Constitution. Again, anyway....

There was no ancestral nationality available to the members of this group. While this circumstance is important, it is irrelevant to the issue. There simply was no ancestral nationality ‘at play’ in the process of enacting the 14th Amendment. The government simply when forward with creating that which was fully within its authority.

The problem:

We became the only citizens without a national identity beyond their citizenship. We were made the only people in the world of such circumstance. One might say, ‘So what? Well, let’s examine this...briefly.

If you have on identity beyond citizenship, you have no placement in the hierarchy of the society...since...the entire society is composed of members of groups who have such identity. You cannot be compared with others, in parity, in the society. You are simply ‘One of them’. You must be identified by some other parameter. The people who are members of the group that operated the system that gave you your citizenship. Members of that same group then set the parameters by which you shall be known...not only by others but EVEN by the members of the group being described.

Incredible!!!!!!!!!

Clearly...CLEARLY...the members of this cannot with validity do other than ‘give you a name’.

We must work backwards. We must define the nature, and character of our citizenship...if it is to happen with validity. All other citizen-groups of the nation had done before becoming citizens. They brought that definition with them.

We must lift ourselves out of our ‘history and circumstance’, and declare our own ancestral natioanlity...our own identity.

It is only with this parity position in our society that we can effectively change our circumstance going forward.

Our history will always be the defining parameter of who were are.

Our future will be determined by how we establish ourselves in the pantheon of peoples of the society.

We are who we say we are. Our children are who we say we are.

PEACE

Jim Chester