WaitingforRuffcorn wrote:
The you will never understand what it's like argument.[/b] If you have some sort of primordial knowledge due to the accident of your heritage then there will always be a divide. I believe these divisions are of our own creating, and that if we really want to solve race issue this special status needs to go away as well. People can understand what it is like to be mistreated, bullied or overlooked. Is it exactly the same? Probably not, but to claim white people will never understand is putting this into the status of religion and original sin.
I think you're talking about two different things here:
1) The philosophical issue of guilt or "original sin"
2) Experiential knowledge
I see the two as separate. Not to speak for Nas, but I interpret the argument "you will never know because you're not xyz" as more along the lines of #2, and intellectually I don't see a problem with that argument. As a matter of fact, I will never know what it's like for someone who is black to be pulled over at night by a cop. And that black person will never know what it's like for me to be pulled over, or for you to be pulled over, etc. I don't see how this basic fact feeds into a larger narrative of "primordial knowledge" or what have you. That argument seems to be a separate issue surrounding guilt that I personally don't think is very persuasive. Even Coates' reparations argument seems to be more grounded in procedure (e.g. the U.S. Government owes the families/individuals it discriminated against some form of compensation...etc.) than it is in philosophy (guilt, original sin, etc.). Coates' article on housing is the one to read in this regard.
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