Redeeming the Post-Metaphysical Promise of J. Saunders Redding’s “America”

Abstract

proposed rendering of society. If it has value in the reordering of society, as very much believe that it has, its claim must be argued from the position that it tells the truth and does not engage in myth-making. ground for Afro-American Studies is weak, if not altogether untenable, if it operates on the premise that persons of African descent possess some mystical qualities that are denied to others. (Franklin 1969, 166 )4 This content downloaded from 157.55.39.112 on Wed, 07 Sep 2016 05:32:18 UTC All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms Michael Lackey % 221 black integrationists of Haverford Group did not oppose Black They only opposed it when it was premised on metaphysical or essentialized view of race, because they considered such an approach to be intellectually untenable and ultimately antidemocratic. Redding makes the distinction most clearly. problem with prominent white supremacists was their view of race as metacultural essence that links whites from one age to the next. In the Haverford Discussions , Redding condemns such an approach to race when he mentions early race theorists: got Gobineau, you've got Houston Chamberlain. You've got all these people who are saying rah, rah, us whites, you see. Based on this claim, it would seem that Redding condemns every urge to segregate, as Gates claims. But the rest of his claim indicates that this is not the case: I don't think we can counteract with rah, rah, us blacks. don't think we can, but think that kids should feel that they're in position to say rah, rah, us (1969, 45). How are we to explain Redding's apparent contradiction? After the first formal meeting of Haverford Group, the members agreed to publish essays that would clarify why black separatist philosophies are premised on faulty and even dangerous assumptions, and Redding was one of the first to get an essay into print that was titled: The Black Revolution in American Studies. In the first paragraph, Redding faults then-contemporary black separatists, who presume no less than the universal social, cultural, and literary history of blacks from pre-Islamic times to the present and the biological and anthropological linkage of all black people. Redding opposes this view because it is premised on the idea of a constant, although the theory of constant has been repudiated by the best scientific minds for hundred years (1983, 8). Redding rejects Black Studies when it is based on metaphysical or essentialist foundation. But just because he rejects the metaphysics of race, it does not follow, as Gates suggests, that he opposes blacks coming together to celebrate their common heritage. Indeed, Redding wrote books about the African American literary tradition {To Make Poet Black), black perspectives of slavery {They Came in Chains: Americans from Africa), and the extraordinary contributions of blacks to the making of the United States {The Lonesome Road : Story of the Negro s Part in ), and he co-edited an anthology of black literature ( Cavalcade : Negro American Writing from 1760 to the PresThis content downloaded from 157.55.39.112 on Wed, 07 Sep 2016 05:32:18 UTC All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms 228 • Redeeming the Post-Metaphysical Promise of Redding's America ent). Put simply, not only did he participate in racially segregated forums, but he also defined and celebrated black achievements. He only objected to the urge to segregate when it was premised on an abstruse metaphysic or genetic constant.