What do New Mexico and Africa have in common?
Thoughts on the brotherhood of Man



I have not been to Africa. But I have been a consumer of vast amount of media about Africa. And I now live in New Mexico having moved from the east coast a few years ago. I would like to comment on media and perception, and how that affects places.



Let me start with New Mexico, since it is closer to home. I will admit that never having been to New Mexico when I was growing up, it really wasn't on my radar screen. It was sort of a blank spot on the map of the US. I had neither positive nor negative interactions with it. Then my girlfriend at the time (now wife), started raving about it. And that at least got me thinking about it. All I could think of was Arizona: was that what it was like? Wasn't it near the bottom when it came to poverty and school achievement? That was about all I knew about it. My impression was dry, harsh and barren.



Then she started to describe Santa Fe, where she had gone to college. Sounded interesting and I agreed to go on a vacation to check it out. Coming in to the airport in Albuquerque it seemed deathly dry and brown. And then Albuquerque itself reminded me of Phoenix, because of the importance of the interstates, the sprawling layout, and the climate generally.



From there we arrived in Santa Fe. This did seem different. The mountains were there, it wasn't too hot, there was the ubiquitous "Santa Fe" style homes. Interesting. Went went out to eat at some places she remembered, and some of the same servers were there...and they were very friendly! More interesting still. Then of course there is all of the history in the area, most of which I knew nothing about. And the mix of peoples you don't find on the east coast. And of course the tremendous open space and recreational opportunities in every direction. VERY interesting, and appealing.



But it was still very dry, it didn't seem like there was much of an economy, and I wasn't sure why there were still so many unpaved roads and so few public spaces. I think I understand these things better now that I have some more context and experience with the place.



And that is my main point. It is very interesting what perceptions and ideas of places and people get transmitted to people outside of that community. I feel like it has been a somewhat arduous and frought process to get to know this place more deeply. And of course I still just at the beginning of my learning. It is amazing to me how far apart the east cost of the US is from New Mexico...and not just physical distance but socio-cultural-historical distance as well. The information that gets transmitted to those outside and even to new arrivals is only a small fraction of the reality, and even that fraction is more than partially incorrect. It's as if the difference in the cultures must be crossed with as much effort (or perhaps more) as the physical distance that separates them. Real understanding comes slowly.



Now that I have been here a few years, it is funny for me to see the charactured, "Disney World" way in which the cultures here are portrayed to tourists. It is such a superficial, cute portrayal, but I suppose that it is what it must be. And I would not be surprised if the people who originated and are from those cultures did not find it funny at all. It must be very hard to see one's culture reduced to the cutsy and commodified for outsiders.



I had another experience recently that deepens the point about perceptions and those from the outside. I had the privilege of being about to attend a seminar on education at Santa Fe High School. It was very good for me to be on the campus for a day and see what school life was like. And what was remarkable to me was that it was unremarkable: it looked like what would be a pretty nice high school most anywhere. Kids were going to class, etc.



This is not the perception that gets communicated to people new to Santa Fe. We hear that the Santa Fe schools are horrible and there are only one or two elementary schools you should consider sending your kids to, and then they should go to a private school, if not private school all the way through. There is the perception that putting your child in a public school is like throwing them to the wolves and under the bus all at the same time. This is the only message I heard about the schools for nearly 2 years while in Santa Fe.



The reality that I directly perceived once I actually went to the high school was that it was fine. I am not saying it is not without problems: every school (even private schools) have problems. But having gone to public school myself, I could see that with parental guidance and support my child would be just fine there. This was sort of a revelation to me.



I started thinking about why I would have been given this perception. And the closest explanation I can come up with is either conscious or subconscious racism, classism and elitism. By reinforcing that there were only a few "good" schools to go to, in the very wealthy areas, creates an us and a them, and overclass and underclass: a two-tiered city. Which is what Santa Fe does seem to have. It's a sort of conspiracy that we forgot we are a part of.



And I think this conspiracy is much broader than just Santa Fe. I can see it perpetuated by white people against people of color, by the United States against other nations, and by men against women.



What surprised me is that I have done a lot of anti-racism work, diversity training, examined institutional racism, etc. and it still sneaks up on me in ways that I don't notice it happening. The schools in Santa Fe are the perfect example: I didn't know what was happening for two years. And to give myself some credit, no one around me, not even the long time residents and Hispanic people I know framed it this way. It seems like it affects us all at a a deep, subconscious level.



It's a kind of subjugation from the inside. I guess we call it "internalized" racism, classism, etc. because it lives within us: both the privileged and the disadvantaged. There are forces in our society and culture that perpetuate inequalities. It seems to serve the same purpose as the caste system in India. Most people reading this in the US would say, "Oh, we are nothing like that!" but that reaction is just this internalized elitism at work. There is a deep rooted assumption that we are beyond these problems: that we "solved" racism, classism, etc. decades ago.


Returning to Africa, I see a very similar dynamic at play. Most people have never been there, and the images we get of the country are outrageous chaos and atrocity. We get the impression that this chaos and atrocity has been going on forever.

I recently saw the movie Blood Diamond. As someone from the US who has liberal leanings but has never been to Africa, my general impression that it was a good portrayal of things we normally don't think about (e.g. how getting your wedding ring may have resulted in dealth and slavery). But as I thought about it more, I felt those familiar reactions welling up: "those people are crazy," "Africa is a lost cause," etc. I started to question them. And the movie also helped by pointing out things like how the Belgians brought the practice of removing a hand of captives as part of their subjugation. But of course we also know that there was slavery in Africa before any white people every arrived. So it's a complicated picture.

But bottom line, our sense of superiority in the west and our deep fear of what we perceive as unavoidable violence in Africa means that most of us will never go there. And so the entire continent gets written off. But this only reinforces its marginalization and exploitation. And so we are complicit. By distancing ourselves from the place, we distance ourselves from any responsibility.

This is something we need to look at: how we distance ourselves every day from certain places and people, and how this helps to concentrate resources around us and perpetuate inequalities.

One question I don't have answer to is: "If we stopped this habit of distancing ourselves and embraced our connections, would there be enough resources for everyone to enjoy a good life, or would we all begin slipping down into a more equal but poor existence?" In other words, is life on planet early still a zero sum game to some extent, or not? Are we still running from the problem of limited resources (which only gets worth with increased population), or is this an illusion? Would we find that everyone could be well off in a world in which we did not distance ourselves from various "others."

I think the fear that we are still in a zero-sum game is at the deeepest level what perpetuates inequality. We are afraid to try the experiment of real equality. This fear, and the habits of mind and action that support our level in the current system, are what need to change to have a real brotherhood of humanity.