PLACE BEFORE RACE (Random Thoughts)

A respectable view in today's world is that there are not different races, only different ethnicities. And how these ethnicities are formed have more to do with place--climate, geography, community--than race.

If we govern our places immaculately, they will garner respect. If our place garner respect, so will our people who live in them.

If race is a social construct, for the convenience of a dominant group, we cannot just wish race away. As long as the social structure that created it remains--and we can't expect it to vanish overnight--race will remain as cogent a designation as when MMG addressed it. 

So, in relation to a global paradigm, a certain group of us, owing to geography, culture, appearance, etc. are lumped together as Africans. Physical features are a major way to identify us at a glance. And we are all regarded in pretty much the same light by global power regardless of where we originate

Our homeland is, inarguably, the African continent, but I doubt that MMG would object would object to looking at our African place as extending beyond the mainland. What about all the places where we are in the majority? Most of the Caribbean, for example? What if, through no fault of its own, Africa has now garnered additional territory--a sort of reverse colonialism--in the West? 

MMG spoke of an African empire. While he might reluctantly have thought of the usual ways in which empires are won (force of arms), what if our empire simply came to us by itself? What if our only responsibility is to recognize and own it? 

And then, what government structure would we need to administer it? In a place like jamaica, we have two political parties hell bent on slaughtering each other. Our economic and environmental situation is a catastrophe. Can we be as clever as our own Brother Anancy, and try to figure out a peaceful way to get around all our governance obstacles? Could we do some seemingly ridiculous thing like start a Facebook All Africa party? Incluse the UNIA. Include the political parties. But have such a clear and logical sense of mission that we are unlikely to be derailed?

I would propose that we attempt to govern each small jurisdiction in a decentralized fashion, and work online to bring needed resources to all of them--again, in a coordinated and systematic fashion. Would that be a reasonable approach to Garveyism in our modern time?