In \u201cThe Case for Rage,\u201d Myisha Cherry justifies the use of anger in black activist movements, arguing that \u201cLordean Rage,\u201d as opposed to Rogue, Wipe, Narcissistic, and Ressentiment Rage, directly \u201ctargets those who are complicit in and perpetrators of racism and racial injustice\u201d (23). Its aim, in short, is widespread change. In this way, Lordean Rage operates in direct contrast to common conceptions of \u201crage.\u201d Ressentiment Rage, for example, \u201cis aimed at a racial group in power and is expressed by those who are without power\u201d (19). The aim here is revenge and it is informed by an envious and exclusive perspective, as those who express resentment rage often seek the very position their \u201csuperiors\u201d inhabit. Similarly, Narcissistic Rage targets \u201cthose forces that target [victims] as individuals.\u201d Those who employ it, in short, are \u201cangry at a system that doesn\u2019t allow people like them\u2026 to succeed\u201d (21). So whereas Ressentiment and Narcissistic Rage are informed by an exclusive perspective of freedom, Lordean Rage is informed by an inclusive perspective of freedom. <\/p>\n
The problem that Cherry identifies is that the former examples of rage \u2013 largely considered irrational, uncontrollable, and dangerous \u2013 are taken to be paradigm cases (16). As a result, Lordean Rage \u2013 or rage aimed to address systemic injustices that inhibit equal opportunity and emotional balance \u2013 is taken to be exceptional. This book can thus be considered a tool for black communities to understand their target and the perspectives that informs \u201cLordean\u201d action; it also serves as a framework for people not directly affected by racial injustice to engage black communities, and more importantly, understand why Lordean Rage is absolutely necessary for confronting systemic racism. <\/p>\n
Moreover, Myisha Cherry helps us understand that anger is (1) communicative, as a means of telling \u201cothers that a wrongdoing has occurred;\u201d (2) defensive, to \u201cpreserve the dignity and lives of [affected] people;\u201d (3) and motivational, to compel people to fight injustice, especially when that injustice is systematically embedded within the structure of society (63, 67). If we do not express our anger and let the concomitant emotions build up, we not only \u201ccommunicate that there is nothing to be angry about,\u201d but we also allow ourselves to experience the negative \u2013 irrational, uncontrollable, and dangerous \u2013 sides of anger. But because Lordean Rage, in fact, responds to injustices systemically embedded within the structure of society, and because those injustices will continue to manifest themselves in new ways, shapes, and forms, the fight for absolute equality, and the fight to realize a society of shared freedom, will likely continue on for a long time. Being someone who occupies certain communities that, at times, look negatively upon instances of rage, the path forward is a little less obvious. <\/p>\n
When I say that I \u201coccupy\u201d these communities, I do not mean that I am part of a group that despises racial justice \u2013 in fact, quite the opposite. I was born into a demographic that, precisely because we never experienced similar racially-targeted impediments to growth and vitality, lacks a foundational understanding of the situation, and by extension, knowledge of the necessary methods (i.e., Lordean Rage) to fix the situation. In these communities, talk of more \u201chostile\u201d forms of black activism often takes the following form: \u201cI agree that what provoked those riots was bad. However, why don\u2019t they just engage the rest of the country in political discourse instead of resorting to violence?\u201d This perspective, I argue, is not motivated by hatred towards the black community. It is simply ignorant of the reality these communities face on a day-to-day basis. Moreover, that the suggestion entails engaging the country in \u201cpolitical discourse\u201d actually reflects the problem. When black activists engage in political discourse, their words are often ignored in communities outside academia. And when they \u201cresort\u201d to rage, the response is often a command: \u201cengage in discourse.\u201d <\/p>\n
To address this issue, I propose we begin thinking about demographic communities more fluidly. We should not frame solutions to racial injustice as carried out by black communities with the support of white ones; rather, it can occur across, between, and within distinct communities. There thus needs to be a set of protocols for people like myself to spread \u201cuptake\u201d \u2013 or the acceptance of rage as the requisite and legitimate response to racial injustice \u2013 within more narrow-minded communities, so that when I interact with people in these communities, my words do not sound hollow and misinformed to people who have not taken the responsible steps to expand their own perspective and understanding of the issue. <\/p>\n
Like anything else in life, I think this is a slow, and at times discouraging process. However, when we look back on the history of various human rights movements, we can begin to see that those who came before us were forced to overcome greater obstacles with less of a foundational belief that they would prevail \u2013 precisely because their \u201ccause\u201d had never been realized before. It therefore becomes the responsibility of all participants to frame their situation, struggle, and fight \u2013 whatever it may be \u2013 within a broader context of human progress. In doing so, we may not only remind ourselves that \u201cit can, in fact, always be worse,\u201d but we will also come to accept our various struggles as perpetual, and our demise \u2013 inevitable. Quitting or remitting will no longer be an option when we understand that (1) our emotions (including anger) reflect an engagement with the world, and (2) the failure to express those emotions will adversely affect those who come after us: though, in the moment, anger may feel uncomfortable, the effect, we must be remember, just like the intent, is change. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
In \u201cThe Case for Rage,\u201d Myisha Cherry justifies the use of anger in black activist movements, arguing that \u201cLordean Rage,\u201d as opposed to Rogue, Wipe, Narcissistic, and Ressentiment…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":566,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-567","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"splot_meta":{"author":"Anonymous","license":"","source":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/gallegft.sites.wfu.edu\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/567"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/gallegft.sites.wfu.edu\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/gallegft.sites.wfu.edu\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gallegft.sites.wfu.edu\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gallegft.sites.wfu.edu\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=567"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/gallegft.sites.wfu.edu\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/567\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":576,"href":"https:\/\/gallegft.sites.wfu.edu\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/567\/revisions\/576"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gallegft.sites.wfu.edu\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/566"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/gallegft.sites.wfu.edu\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=567"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gallegft.sites.wfu.edu\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=567"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gallegft.sites.wfu.edu\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=567"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}