Quoted: The RZA on Metaphors for the Black Man in America
In this culture, some of the deepest wisdom comes from horror movies. A perfect example is Night of the Living Dead. That movie and its sequels teach you about life.
For one thing, Night of the Living Dead predicted the dawn of crack. If you lived in the hood in the ’80s, you saw that movie come to life on the street. There’s a reason Public Enemy titled that song “Night of the Living Baseheads.”
Secondly, Dawn of the Dead was the great metaphor for American society. The zombies were Americans, just walking through the mall, lost, trying to find excitement outside of themselves. They forgot that excitement is not buying a new TV; it’s taking your shoes off and walking in the grass in your backyard All those movies were really showing us ourselves.
When I first saw Night of the Living Dead, I was scared to death. But when I watched it again at age sixteen (when they were up to Day of the Dead), I’d gotten knowledge of myself, and could relate to what it was saying about America. The dead were alive, but they were blind, deaf, and dumb. So to me, they were symbolic of black men in America.
The dead in those movies are alive – that’s just a description of physical matter, it’s active – but they don’t have life. Life comes when you have knowledge, wisdom, and understanding, when you can see for real, touch and feel for real, know for real. Then you are truly living.
Finally, all the Of the Dead films work as metaphors for the Five Percent. The survivors are holdouts living among the mentally dead. And interestingly, they tend to be led by black men. At the same time, though, after the black man survives – he fights off destruction through the whole movie – a white man kills him. (pp. 44- 45)
Take a cartoon like Dragon Ball Z. I mean, it’s a cartoon, but it’s one of the deepest cartoons in history. It’s hero, Son Goku, starts out as a kid, begins martial art training like San Te, and goes off on a quest for seven balls that unleash dragons that can grant wishes. Now that’s a fantasy, obviously, a children’s story. But it’s also based on a sixteenth-century Chinese folk novel, about a Buddhist monk who travels to India to find the Buddhist sutras. That voyage represents a journey to enlightenment. But to me, Dragon Ball Z also represents the journey of the black man in America.
You see it more clearly as the story goes on. You learn that Son Goku is part of an ancient race called the Saiyans, who come from a distant planet and were known as the fiercest warriors in the galaxy. So Son Goku has superpowers but doesn’t realize it – a head injury destroyed his memory, robbed his knowledge of self. Then one day, he gets stressed beyond his limits and Hulks out into his alter ego, Super Saiyan – a nigga with dreadlocks. (Get it?)
This kind of story comes up in world literature, even in the Bible: Abraham is told his seed will be lost for four hundred years, in a land not their own, not knowing who they are or where they’re from. That’s the story of the Jewish people, but it’s also the story of the black man in America.
So I say we are the Saiyans; I even use the name Goku as a tag when I write. And when my hair is in an Afro? Word up: I’m Super Saiyan. (pp. 54-55)
–The RZA, from The Tao of Wu
Carmen Van Kerckhove is co-founder and president of
Yemisi Blake wrote:
Brilliant post.
thank you!
Posted 20 Jan 2010 at 8:32 am ¶
atlasien wrote:
Hmm…
Just wanted to add a note: if anyone wants to check out Journey to the West, the Chinese Buddhist classic mentioned, it’s not only very meaningful, but also full of monster-fighting adventure and raunchy humor, and highly readable for modern audiences.
The full four-volume English translation is available. There’s also a much shorter, abridged, less accurately translated, but really fun version called Monkey: Folk Novel of China.
Posted 20 Jan 2010 at 8:50 am ¶
Bronx chick wrote:
truly a unique perspective and gem as a genorously talented and inspirational man. I now recognize why, I along with my siblings, infathomably loved that show with great fanatacism and why I, to the distain and confusion of some family members loved David lachapelle’s movie Rize- it was my unique cultural identiy recognizing itself unconditionally. Wonderful!
Posted 20 Jan 2010 at 9:02 am ¶
malted_tea wrote:
Self- and community affirmation via pop culture created or further bastardized by Western media?
What I’m saying is that the lens being used for this view is very foggy (understatement). But OK…I’ll just be glad it’s can potentially get younger folks reading.
Posted 20 Jan 2010 at 11:26 am ¶
Suitepuma wrote:
I found this post hilarious except for one thing…
Why does he keep referring Black people as “the black man”? Is he sexist??
Black people =/= the Black man
Its 2010, we no longer have to think in 20th century terms
Posted 20 Jan 2010 at 1:46 pm ¶
Logan wrote:
Am I the only one a little unnerved about comparing black people to a race of people whose super power is to transform into a giant ape (Saiyans under the full moon)?
Posted 20 Jan 2010 at 11:01 pm ¶
XB wrote:
Haters Gone Hate, Gotta pick up this book, at least he’s trying to get us youngins to read
Posted 21 Jan 2010 at 12:48 am ¶
mieko wrote:
Zombie movies are my least favorite kind (they freak me out like none other), but I do have a love for them because it’s the only film universe where I’d be MOST LIKELY TO SURVIVE if I was dropped into it. Perhaps this is why I’m zombie-paranoid? Or is it PREPARED?
Posted 21 Jan 2010 at 12:49 am ¶
Digital Coyote wrote:
If I’d known what the inspiration/source material for DBZ was, I might have paid more attention to it.
No. Wait. I lied. I want nothing to do with Mr. Popo
In the meantime, I’ll actually read “Journey to the West.”
Posted 21 Jan 2010 at 12:57 am ¶
Lisa wrote:
“The dead were alive, but they were blind, deaf, and dumb.”
“a head injury destroyed his memory, robbed his knowledge of self. ”
This post is dripping in ableism.
Posted 21 Jan 2010 at 3:59 am ¶
Kadi wrote:
@Lisa
I’m sorry I have to speak against Lisa decrying RZA’s post for “dripping with ableism”. It is use of description. If you are deaf, you cannot hear, meaning you are missing something. Yes, if you are deaf you miss out on hearing, and RZA is not diminishing the ability of deaf people to live decent lives. If you cannot hear, you are not going to LISTEN to an inspiring speech which is important to people who can hear. You maybe able to read a King speech, but you miss the cadence.
Its not fair to “abled” people to have to deny that they enjoy the ability to hear because that is considered ableism? What do you think we use our senses for? Its not like skin color which has no effect on how you live your life; being differently abled make life different.
That’s like saying the Olympics is a gross display of ablesim. No, people are showing their ability, which is why it is perfectly acceptably for people who are differently abled to perform and show their skill as well.
A head injury can damage the brain, which can destroy knowledge of self, and even change a person’s personality. Why are you trying to make that an insult?
Posted 21 Jan 2010 at 9:54 am ¶
pinksghetti wrote:
@ Suitepuma. I’m not sure if RZA is being sexist because I took it as being literal because for some reason many only look at racism through the male point of view (instituted only by men to men only).
Posted 21 Jan 2010 at 11:06 am ¶
A.D. Nix wrote:
@ mieko
It’s PREPARED. Every time I think I’ve thought too much about how to survive a zombie apocalypse? I remember the first 15 minutes of ‘28 Weeks’ later. Which leads me to . . .
@Kadi
Well, for one – zombies are typically depicted fully sighted and able to hear (that’s how they see when you’re fleeing and hear you when you’re hiding). So, I’m not even sure why he threw this in there.
RZA is regurgitating the (wholly ableist) mantra of a strain of thought that historically (see: the number of asylums for the ‘deaf, dumb and blind’ that existed in the U.S. deep into the last century and the treatment of inhabitants), and even today, marginalizes people who experience the sensual world in ways most people do not understand (or value). Which is foul. One can enjoy one’s ability to hear without linking “lack” of that ability to zombies.
I can’t imagine breezing over “black, brown and dumb” as a descriptor for the living dead without a double-take. That he may have been speaking metaphorically, makes this ‘ish no less toxic.
Posted 22 Jan 2010 at 2:04 am ¶
Eric wrote:
Not to disagree with much of this post’s analysis, but I wanted to point out that a lot of the various “Super Saiyan” iterations in the Dragonball series involve black-haired individuals powering up into blonde-haired ones with green/blue eyes. Asian characters turning, in essence, into Caucasian/European superheroes, which always struck me as a form of strange wish fulfillment.
Posted 22 Jan 2010 at 2:37 am ¶
Lisa wrote:
@ Kadi
I think you’re wrong. The assumption in this post seems to me to be that not being able to hear, see, speak etc results in a lesser form of life:
“The dead in those movies are alive – that’s just a description of physical matter, it’s active – but they don’t have life. Life comes when you have knowledge, wisdom, and understanding, when you can see for real, touch and feel for real, know for real.”
Which is ableist. As is stating that a brain injury ‘robs someone of their knowledge of self.’ I find that term quite patronizing. I agree that a brain injury can change someone’s personality, but it does not follow from that that a person has had their knowledge of self ‘robbed’ from them.
Deafness, blindness, or any other forms of disability are not simply metaphors to give literary depth to able bodied writers.
You say that disability is “not like skin color which has no effect on how you live your life”. Which is an interesting statement. I would suggest that skin colour DOES affect the way you live your life, since those around you will base their judgments of you on your skin colour. The same is true of disability. Yes, a person with disabilities usually has functional differences. But typically what is most ‘disabling’ is an ableist society that does not value the life of a person with a disability.
Posted 22 Jan 2010 at 9:09 am ¶
WER wrote:
@ lisa
i totally agree with you, dripping with ableism
@ kadi
check yourself…and check out this great blog feminists with disabilities http://disabledfeminists.com/
i had a head injury that causes me epilepsy and memory loss…did that “rob” or “destroy” my personality? hell no! but it does make my experience of the world different, yes, and i wouldn’t give it up and don’t think i’m “missing anything”. mostly what i hate about it is running into people who think i am “broken” or “missing something” or the best i can hope for is living just a “decent” life.
thinking of disabled people as lacking and missing something (ability) is to say that abledness is the natural and preferable state of being. which is intensely ableist. would the same statement be ok in these situations….transgendered people are “missing something” by not being cisgendered? women are “missing something” by not being men? umm…yeah maybe the privilege that goes along with be cis and male….but that’s about it. i’m proud to be disabled!
Posted 23 Jan 2010 at 1:07 pm ¶
ulises wrote:
how could you describe a zombie? Unless you distinguish its abilities from a living human. The RZA has described life as “when you have knowledge, wisdom, and understanding, when you can see for real, touch and feel for real, know for real.”
I think the RZA wasn’t trying to imply that disabled people are less human, but only that zombies, by being completely disconnected from human senses, are uniquely inhuman.
My mother, my sister, and myself all carry some degree of disability, and i wouldn’t say i’m proud of it, but it does give me a different perspective on life from most people. To go as far to say that abledness ISN’T the natural or preferred form of being though, i think is a bit misguided.
I don’t think anyone would choose to be born, knowing their life would automatically have one more difficulty to deal with.
To be disabled is to be missing something, missing an ability, it does not mean to be missing humanity. It is a description. How else would you describe the lack of ability to see, touch, feel, hear, etc?
Its not comparable to transgendered, or female, because those worlds don’t describe an inability.
Posted 24 Jan 2010 at 3:09 pm ¶
ulises wrote:
^^^ *words
Posted 24 Jan 2010 at 3:10 pm ¶