Wearing the Veil. Without being the Bride.

*In case you are wondering, the name of this blog is called Engineered Ethics because I am an Electrical Engineer. Though ethics really does not have much to do with engineering, I am happy to infuse my love of words with my love of logic. Also, I plan to always incorporate an original media production into every blog entry as an ode to my technological roots. Enjoy*

            
           The world exists in a three-dimensional realm (excluding the notion of time). As one understands a relative location, there are directional coordinates that correspond to that exact position in space. For example, the x-coordinate signifies an axis moving from left to right, the y-coordinate signifies front to back, and the z-coordinate signifies up and down, respectively. Therefore, any possible location in space can appropriately be pinpointed using these three coordinates. Now, let us approach this coordinate system with knowledge instead of numbers, abstractions rather than absolutions. Let the x-coordinate be the various lengths taken in order to perpetuate the Lie that America has taught its Black children since birth about who they are. And let the y-coordinate be the forward thinking, yet backward reflecting Truth of personal purpose that the Black son or daughter fights so desperately to uncover. Next, let the z-coordinate be the magnitude of the highs and lows of Struggle that the Black soul must endure to wrestle betwixt the Lie and the Truth. Amidst these dogged realities and ravaged dreams, at the point of intersection of these three abstract axes, is the precise location those born Black in America call home.

            When someone blatantly lies to you, regardless of intention, what is the proper course of restitution? One can argue, ultimately, that the first step to right this wrong is to find out the truth. So, what if the lie is not blatant – rather, it exists in what is NOT being said? Does this change the course of action in rectifying the lie? It should not. Yet, this is the plight of the Black in America. As Du Bois beautifully articulates this “double consciousness” in The Souls of Black Folk, the audience is forced to reconcile the reality that to be Black is to be a problem. The blatant lie is that “despite compromise, war, and struggle, the Negro is not free (Du Bois, pg. 24).” Notwithstanding all of the luster and appeal given to this historical event, the Emancipation Proclamation did not simply spell out freedom. In response to this lie, it is not extremely difficult to discover the truth. The truth is that America deliberately replaced the ugly auspices of a physical slavery with systematic emotional and mental bondage such as sharecropping and anti-suffrage. The concealed lie is less easily identifiable if one has not first come to the cathartic realization that his/her whole life has been swaddled in a blanket of fiction. However, once the truth of this lie has been uncovered, a bare bed of covert facades subtly wait for deeper investigation.  This unspoken lie is the reality that America had no plan for the day when the Black human would no longer be enslaved. As much as America tries to make you fit into the tapestry of being an equal part in the Land of the Free, your very being, as a Black person, exposes the denial this country is comfortable in. Blacks were supposed to be the animal that never left the zoo and the experiment that was never supposed to graduate past beta-testing. It is within the implications of these truths encapsulated by non-truths, that Du Bois is able to illuminate the Veil inherent in every Black American.

            Though written in excess of a century ago, Du Bois’ assertion of the Veil is especially poignant and pragmatic; not because it steers a person to ask if the Veil exists, but because it points one to the question of why the Veil exists.  Why does the Veil exist? It exists because Blacks were not ever to be citizens of the United States, only property.  Property only needs record of when it was fabricated and how many owned it in its duration. As the property is passed on from generation to generation, sold, auctioned, or given away, the very life it lives changes shapes and all its significance is lost in translation. The same is true for any Black man or woman. Once our beings were hijacked from the rich soil of our Motherland and our souls were raped of our history in exchange for slavery in America, our significance was lost in translation. As a result, in our hungry searching for our stolen identities, we traded our royalty for what America thought we ought to be. Therefore, the Veil, in a contemporary sense, indicates the inner battle within a Black person’s soul involving the contention between Blackness and American-ness. These silent but deafening arguments contain feelings of being unworthy, unwanted and unloved by the land which kidnapped and adopted you, yet forced to reconcile your existence despite the hostility intrinsic to this environment.

            The Veil, then, represents a plethora of things to its Black participants. It can be representative of the mask we must wear daily as we traverse the world of people who are not also Black. It can signify an unwritten understanding between Black strangers that bonds them to a “common consciousness, sprung from common joy and grief (Du Bois, pg. 41).” Though not stated in Du Bois’ work, one can contend that the Veil can even surmise itself as a sort of boundary line that keeps us protected from the evils of a white-washed world. The Veil, while objective in ideology, takes on a personality that is subjective to its host. The personality it imbibes is a direct correlation to how you choose to handle your double consciousness. For example, if you want to accept a more Americanized way of life that is less visibly congruent with an African identity, then your Veil will encompass the questions that will help you to navigate an assimilated lifestyle. Conversely, if you wish to remain as Black as your Blackness will allow, then your Veil will permit you to address the pride in your heritage. The Veil is not a dead fabric. It is a living, breathing function of your identity. All things considered, one must ask oneself how the Veil will impact daily interactions with those who will never know the feeling of double consciousness. Will the Veil interrupt your thoughts and actions towards others? How will you use the Veil to interpret your dealings with others?

            The existence of the proverbial Veil is not to serve as ornamentation. However, to a certain extent, there is a hermeneutical responsibility that comes along with it. In whatever community you approach, you must know how you intend to operate within the Veil and how, if possible, you can venture past the Veil. Namely, consider the Black church. In the article, “Subversive Joy and Revolutionary Patience in Black Christianity,” Cornel West affirms that “Black people do not attend churches…to find God, but rather to share and expand together the rich heritage that have inherited (West, pg. 437).” In this instance, an inference can be suggested that the Veil plays a vital role in what drives people within the Black church to stay in the Black church. Not because the experience has culminated in a closer relationship with God (though this could be a part of the reason), but only because of the fellowship gained with those who share common experiences as Blacks. If this is true, the Veil could be seen as a hindering crutch rather than a means of communing support. While the Veil still exists, will there ever be a time when our lens will not have to be appropriated by its context? In other words, will a Black person ever be able to choose whether or not to wield the Veil as a means to either protect or preserve him/herself from society? Arguably, a community of faith should be the obvious choice of a place in which God’s love supersedes the color-line. So, then the answer should be yes. Black persons should be able to enjoy worship anywhere and not be confined behind the Veil. Yet, we know that this is not a fair statement. Just because the color-line prescribed by Du Bois is Black and White, issues of acceptance in the faith community are just as gray as they have ever been.

            In conclusion, as we internalize and reflect upon the nature of the Veil, we must ultimately understand its conception and birth. The Veil was conceived when Black truth had non-consensual intercourse with an American lie; and, it was born when America tried to give Blacks a life that was not theirs to give. In the after-birth, or maybe the aftermath, what was left was a gaping hole – a hole that was missing the true history of our people.