Abstract
In this article, I depict the notion of being aggrieved and its relation to crises in or struggles of , faith, using racism to illustrate my claims. I begin the discussion by explaining what I mean by being aggrieved and its relation to faith vis-à-vis racism, relying on theological, philosophical, and psychological frameworks. In the second section of the paper, the faith journey of Malcolm X serves to illustrate this hermeneutical perspective. More specifically, I argue that his faith journey, marred by experiences of racism, led him to a faith wherein his experiences of being aggrieved no longer meant that his being was being aggrieved.
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Notes
See Fassin and Rectman (2009), Empire of Trauma, for a discussion of the overuse of the concept of trauma in Western life.
In this article, given the limits of space, I focus on racism as a source of experiences of being aggrieved, but it is important to point out that racism is usually accompanied by classism. Sayer (2005) notes that “racism is a necessary condition for the production of ‘race,’ but ‘classism’ is not necessary for the production of class” (p. 94). Capitalism necessarily produces class and classism. Classism, which is largely based in the illusion that wealth makes one superior and poverty is equated with inferiority, is easily connected to racism, though not always. So, for instance, many African Americans are impoverished and deal with both racism and classism, whereas wealthy African American entrepreneurs face racism but not the negative effects of classism.
The notion of being aggrieved is similar to what Simone Weil calls affliction. She argues that affliction is distinct from suffering. Weil writes, “There is not real affliction unless the event that has seized and uprooted a life attacks it, directly or indirectly, in all its parts, social, psychological, and physical” (p. 119). Moreover, “Affliction is anonymous before all things; it deprives its victims of their personality and makes them into things” (p. 125). I am sympathetic to this notion, but I am troubled by the idea that it “is a marvel of divine technique” (p. 135) and eschew the overly individualistic focus. Although the notion of being aggrieved is similar to affliction, it focuses on human beings who aggrieve individuals and communities.
I will say more about the attributes and consequences of racism. At this point, I offer a brief definition, recognizing the political and cultural complexities of this term. Dalal (2002) provides a general overview, arguing that “racism is anything—thought, feeling or action—that uses the notion of race as an activating or organizing principle. Or to put it another way, racism is the manufacture and use of the notion of race” (p. 27). He takes this further and notes that “racism is a form of organizing peoples, commodities and relationships between them by making reference to the notion of race” (p. 28). And finally, racism is “a form of hatred of one group for another” (p. 28). Kovel (1970) identifies three types of racism, namely, dominative, aversive, and metaracist. The dominative type involves direct mastery, such as slavery and forced labor, which requires daily forms of humiliations. Aversive racism is separation and avoidance, and metaracism involves a group’s commitment to racial superiority, reflected in and enforced by political, economic, and social means. In this essay, racism falls under the latter two categories, with special emphasis on ideologies of superiority and inferiority. Systemic racism refers to how the organizing principle of the notion of race is manifested in political, economic, and social structures and attending narratives, policies, etc., that impact daily life.
I am relying on Niebuhr’s (1989) notion of the dynamics of faith (belief-disbelief, trust-distrust, loyalty-disloyalty), and I add the dimension of hope–hopelessness. When I address the dynamics of faith, I am addressing it primarily in terms of its social dimension, though this social dimension may be connected to persons’ faith in God. I also note that this relational and dynamic understanding of faith is distinct from the more cognitive, developmental view that Fowler (1980) used in his discussion of Malcolm X.
I stress here that lynching is an extreme example of the politics of misrecognition and distortion of the space of appearances (Cone 2011). The mob may kill an individual, but they do not have the power to destroy the soul. The ontological lie of racism is powerful and has real consequences in the lives of African Americans, but it cannot destroy the ontological truth of the event of being. To suggest that racism is that powerful would be to deny the power of God’s creating human beings in God’s image—a created act that is not under human control, only participation.
Autobiographies, like Malcolm X’s, especially when they are written over a period of significant life changes, are complex. In addition, biographies often include stories of others instead of direct memories. These stories become part of how the writer views him or herself, others, and the world. Add to this the idea that an autobiography written in one’s 30s will likely be very different from one written in one’s later years. That said, I am using Malcolm X’s autobiography as a compilation of his experiences, his self-understanding at that point of his life, not necessarily as a compilation of truths or facts. Moreover, like any person, I understand his recollections to include not simply his memories but also the stories that others told him.
Although there are other variables involved in his mother’s suffering (e.g., failed romance, little support from her religious community, lack of help from extended family), I contend that the social, political, and economic features of racism placed significant obstacles to her being able to care for her children.
Fanon (1952/2008), an Algerian psychiatrist, encountered the suffering of racism and colonialism in his patients and sought “to enable [the patient] to choose an action with respect to the real source of the conflict” (p. 80).
When President Kennedy was assassinated Malcolm X commented: “Being an old farm boy myself, chickens coming home to roost never did make me sad; they have always made me glad” (Marable, 2011, p. 273). This comment became a negative political issue for Elijah Muhammad.
Of course, it is important to point out that the absence of race did not mean there were no problems with the space of appearances. These spaces of appearances were also tied to patriarchy and the sexist logic of male superiority and female inferiority.
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LaMothe, R. Being Aggrieved, Faith Crises, and Racism. Pastoral Psychol 66, 27–44 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11089-016-0713-5
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11089-016-0713-5