Reflection on Superiority

A dismissive and condescending memo sent out by a senior administrator yesterday caused me to remember Jerry Farber’s essay, The Student as Nigger. Dr. Mary Smith “required” our freshman English class at Nebraska Wesleyan to read it, and it’s sad to realize that things haven’t really changed in the forty years since Farber indicted the institution of education. There are those who crave positions of power and authority because they feed on the subservience of those “beneath” them. This is nothing new. It appears to have been going on since the dawn of humankind. The competition paradigm requires a winner and a loser (as does primitive evolution) that rewards the victor with the privilege of belittling and demeaning the defeated. From my study of it, I am convinced that the Christ’s revolutionary gospel is that of a non-hierarchical paradigm of cooperation. Certainly those who revel in being “king of the mountain” have little incentive to level the playing field and have every reason to keep us niggers in our place. I continue to pray that those of us who are subjected to bigotry and authoritarianism can remember Jesus’ admonition to turn the other cheek, to walk the extra mile, and to love one another—even our enemies (i.e. masters). It may well be the day of reckoning for those who covet injustice and abuse power, because it looks to me like there’s a nigger headed for the White House, and that’s good news for all of us!