MyBlack^® Health

“Twoness” and the American Dream

Source: Psychology Today

Obama seems at peace balancing “two warring ideals” in one truly bi-racial, truly bi-partisan body. So must the nation. No matter what he does Barack Obama is a liberal and a conservative. He is both and therefore neither. This is doubletalk, but doubletalk is the only way to frame an intelligence statement about the world. Two propositions that are exactly opposite can both be true. It’s what scientists tell us they’ve learned about reality. All humans are conscious of their “oneness” with and their “separateness” from the universe. Oneness and separateness are the terms physicists use to describe these paradoxical strivings. Communalism and individualism will better represent these strivings in socio-political discussions. African Americans are usually not as discomforted by “twoness” or paradox. In The Souls of Black Folk W.E.B. Du Bois, the great African American thinker, wrote: “One ever feels his twoness, -- an American, a Negro; two souls, two thoughts, two unreconciled strivings; two warring ideals in one dark body, whose dogged strength alone keeps it from being torn asunder.” Since the beginning of the last century when The Souls of Black Folk was written, the dark body has learn to be at peace while holding in mind the two erstwhile irreconcilable strivings, the two warring ideals of the American spirit.

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