Integration

It is a natural  human reaction to fear and perceive differences between people. It is impossible to see a person of different skin color from one's own and not understand that difference. In today's America we are, for the most part, evolved enough in our thinking that race does not cause irrational hate. However, we still see race and it is something to be overcome in interaction between people of different skin colors. When a white man talks to a black man, they both see that they are different from one another, but the initial realization that there is a barrier between them that is their skin color does not inhibit them for more than a split second. True color-blindness visually, the quality of not taking race into account in anyway by not acknowledging it, is impossible because people will always see differences first and foremost. However, we are growing closer to the color-blindness that Malcolm X learned about in Mecca wherein race does not matter because it is accepted and any cultural barriers are overcome. Malcolm X said that all races are inherently different by virtue of who they are, but this is not cause for hate of any kind.
The white man began to subjugate the black man out of fear and a desire to better his own race. The evolutionary reaction to better oneself and care for oneself above those of different qualities is the root of this behavior. The white man felt he was better than the black man, but was afraid of him because of his differences from them. So he subjugated them without considering that the men and women he came across were in fact just that, men and women. Evolutionary principles hold up between species. Differences between humans are not cause for any kind of subjugation, physical or economic.
In America today we are accepting enough of these differences that they don't matter as deciding factors. Most people in America do not care if a politician is black or white, but care about his views and ability to get the job done. We are still working towards expunging the prejudices based in race that we still hold in our minds. America has overcome racism in most areas in that people are not denied chances based on race. However, chances are narrowed by that barrier between people of different skin colors. When there is an obstacle to be overcome that can be gone around simply people choose the route of least resistance. Unfortunately that barrier is not going to go down completely because race cannot be unseen, but the barrier can be changed to the same magnitude that it has for any man, white, black, or any race.
If two men are interviewed for a job what should happen is the interviewer should notice all discernible physical characteristics initially. Candidate one: white man, well-dressed, short hair, Armani suit, etc. The details don't matter. Candidate two: black man, well-dressed, short hair, Armani suit, etc. The details matter suddenly. The white man coughs in the interview and fails to cover his mouth. Little bacterium are breeding on all of the interviewers important papers. The white man wipes his nose with his sleeve. His sloppiness is manifesting itself, but he waves it off: "I'm sick, allergies." The black man is perfect for the job, yet the decision is difficult because of the barrier. The barrier needs to be taken down so that we notice race simply as a detail, a way to see people physically, not a way to define that person's personality.
A popular example of how race is at the forefront of our minds is the story that involves a black man and it starts like this: "So I was going home today and this black guy gets on the train." Why does it matter that he is a black man? It doesn't and it has no impact on the story. There is no problem with describing people physically unless consistency is lacking. When the same person tells a story starting like this: "So I saw this guy when I was walking home today," and the man was white, the barrier is making itself manifest.
Integration is possible and already very present, but the barrier between people is not where it should be. Race is still something outside of physical description and until it means nothing more than a possibility of differences between people culturally we are not a united race, a human race. Differences of ideas and beliefs are the only differences that should separate people, physically or mentally. We may be physically integrated in America today, but our mental integration is behind because of that barrier.

Malcolm X reflection

Well shit. I'm white and my people have done some pretty awful stuff. I think that I'm having the right reaction when I feel awful initially, then analyze myself to see how I am sanity-wise.

I don't know any legitimate racists, but I can imagine. Malcolm X does an excellent job of making us understand why white people think they are better than everyone of a non-white race and how they exhibit that insane supremacy. I think that I'm also doing a good thing while reading this by not retreating to my cave (like the ALLEGORY) and listening to some Minor Threat because as unfair as it is to hate an individual for his skin color, even white devils, it's even more unfair to block out any anger against the white man. The white man deserves to feel pretty bad for a little bit, just long enough to know how wrong racism is.

I think that Malcolm X is a smarter man than the doctrine of the Nation of Islam forces him to sound. Some of the points about Dr. Yacub (whose story sounds like a hell of a sci-fi book) and women are downright not true. However, the points that Malcolm focuses on more are very important and very true. The white man, as a collective, acted like devils to the black man, which is why "devils" is the  collective term that the Nation assigns to the white man. I think that Malcolm initially did think of every white man as a "devil" and hated him for that despite his stance on civil rights. This hatred was overcome, however, by Malcolm's ability to think of the term "devil" as a way to question the white man. The purpose of using such strong language was to get people, specifically black people, to see the wrongs that the white man endorses. It creates an us vs. them mentality that is necessary for change.

Malcolm X's philosophy is a starter philosophy about change. I do not agree that two races should not be together because in the end everyone is a human being and while our races can be different and impact our cultural background in different ways, blacks and whites can live together. The problem that Malcolm X saw with integration and coexisting was that he saw no evidence that blacks that worked their way up to be legitimately on the level of whites would be accepted for who they are. When all is equal then different peoples can coexist, but when one people oppresses another to the point where the oppressed has no awareness of their culture, a major point of the Nation of Islam's goals, then there can be no benefits from integration. Malcolm X saw that this tokenism was a facade meant to pacify the black man to avoid confrontation.
Malcolm X wanted everyone to accept cultural differences and realize that we do not have to pretend to be color blind, but we can live together if we are equal. Malcolm X did not want that in his time because he did not trust the white man to keep everything equal, to act fairly.
I don't see why he would trust the white man. After all, they had acted like devils for a long time and the black man had not improved his social standing very much. I can't blame any black man in that time for hating white people, but if a black man can't get past that hate for the sake of true equality, beyond the tempting nature of revenge, then he is not acting righteously.

Frankly Speaking-Life is Beautiful

"Life is Beautiful" showed me the true meaning of realistic optimism. Frankl discussed this concept, tragic optimism, in "Man's Search For Meaning." Any rational person can see that at any given moment the likelihood of something good happening is low. Usually bad things happen because people generally aren't very nice to the vast majority of other people. But if everyone lived their lives in the mindset of eternal pessimism related to events then nothing would get done. I believe that humans are all optimistic and that optimism has to get beaten out of them by the pain of the world around them. Frankl accounts for this when he discusses getting through suffering in a concentration camp. Those who started smoking their cigarettes had given up on their optimism. They have had their eternal optimism beaten out of them. That optimism is hope and hope for a better life is the reason for living. Life is driven by goals, which Frankl talks about in his discussion of logotherapy.

In "Life is Beautiful," the father is happy because he sees that love is present in life and it is attainable. He finds love and he knows that he will always have it with him. Frankl discusses the eternal nature of love, too. Love is one of the purposes of life because it is the only emotion that goes beyond reason. That is the true nature of optimism, overcoming reason with hope. No, pessimists, broken people, hateful cynics, something nice probably won't happen in the next few minutes. Yes, I know that people do awful things, but people also fall in love and enjoy that more than anything in the world. Louis CK has a great line about optimism: "You know what an optimist is? An optimist is someone who thinks: 'Hey maybe something nice will happen!'"I love Louis, but he is not right here. I used to think of optimism this way and recognized how blinding it is for people who call themselves optimists. But really optimism is natural. We all want life to be easier, happier. That's why the father in "Life is Beautiful" lied to his son. He didn't want him to lose his optimism. Hoping for a happier life is natural and if someone decides to stop hoping for life to get better then they are lost to pessimism. Realistic thought processes are optimistic because we can realize that we can always overcome our situations to find meaning through love or some amount of joy.