Incognegro: An Insider's Perspective

After graduating from Morehouse College, I embarked on a Euro trip, intended to broaden my burgeoning worldview and celebrate four years of house parties and switching majors. With globalization at an all time high and post-college employment at an all time low, I felt I had nothing to lose and everything to gain. A six country tour, I cooked out at the Eiffel, trekked the Swiss Alps, (over) indulged in meat and beer at a traditional German dining hall, enjoyed gondola rides along the alluring Venetian canals, went wine tasting in an antiquated village, and experienced the ‘coffee shops’ and eccentricism of Amsterdam. Returning to the States, 21 years old with a college degree, and six new countries ‘under my belt,’ I was euphorically grateful. After all, I had seen more countries in one summer than both my parents had so far in their lifetimes. World traveler, I thought. I even created a twitter account; in the bio section I wrote something glib like ‘global citizen.’ No, I hadn’t seen most of the world yet, but fresh outta college I’d seen over 10 countries, several islands, and numerous American States. I was on my way towards living a lifestyle of travel...at least that’s what I thought.

Incongnegro, a black and white graphic novel written by Mat Johnson, tells the story of Zane Pinchback, a reporter for a black newspaper in the early 1930s New York City. A light skin brother able to ‘pass’ as a white man, Zane built his career investigating lynchings, while working totally undercover (or ‘Incognegro’).

Touring and traveling are not equivalent. The former connotes  consumerism while the later creates opportunities for cross-cultural immersion. One, a product of capitalism, and the other, a motor of multiculturalism, should not be confused. Tourism induces us to buy clothing that represents culture; traveling invites us to experience the culture that the clothes represent. Tourism enables us to walk the land; traveling encourages us to walk in the shoes of those whose land it is. Tourism concerns us with taking countless pictures; traveling challenges us to touch many people. While tourism exudes exorbitant prices and exclusive retreats, traveling involves everyday people. Simply put, tourism is a capitalist expenditure while traveling is a cultural exchange.

How do we break free from the chains of consumerism and transform from tourists to travelers?

Aware that traveling takes myriad forms (business, vacation, educational, etc.), it’s not my intention to promote a narrow model of global mobility. Instead, I wish to explore the ways in which some people (myself included) travel physically but rarely psychologically. Considering the power of the human brain, we must avoid the tendency to emphasize physical distance over psychological depth. We must ask ourselves, if our bodies move but our brains don’t, did we really travel? For example, you can be in the library physically but if your mind is at the party you skipped in order to study, then you might as well be doing the dougie. Our mind, not our matter, primarily determines where we are and thus, what we experience. This, in part, explains how two people in the same environment can, and tend to, experience it differently.

your body

your mind

As I returned to the States, family and friends, excited of my arrival, flooded me with questions. “How was it?” “Did you see the Taj?” “Did you ride an elephant?” Happy to be home but hesitant to routinely respond—“It was cool; I had fun”—I thought deeply about the nature of these questions. No, I didn’t see the Taj. Not because I didn’t care too, it wasn’t in my budget and, perhaps more importantly, I didn’t see it as a necessity. No, I didn’t ride an elephant. I guess I just never got around too it (but I learned to ride a Motorcycle). As I reflected on my loved ones’ questions, I asked myself: Is this the essence of traveling? A half-day tour to the Taj (a mega mausoleum) or a half hour ride on an exotic animal?

A fledgling yogi, thrilled to live in the birthplace of yogic philosophy, I planned to practice regularly. However, between my hectic schedule and pledge to ‘go with the flow,’ I didn’t do yoga, at all. No Taj. No elephants. No yoga. To those conditioned by the tourist industrial complex, my experience was incomplete. But we must ask, is it reasonable to reduce a three-month internship to three ‘adventurous’ activities? No, I didn’t see the Taj, but I visited Nalanda, arguably the oldest university in the world. No, I didn’t ride an elephant, but I rode several overnight trains (nasty toilet n’ all!). And no, I didn’t do yoga, at least not physically. Still, I was stretched spiritually, inspired intellectually, and challenged culturally—pushing me off my mattress of comfort onto the mat of adventure and exploration. I perspired; I left drained yet energized. I breathed. Perhaps I never stopped practicing: the land my 'mat' and Mama India my instructor. Namaste.

A pic isn't worth a thousand people

Not an attempt to abase tourism and its subscribers, this post is an all too brief investigation of the stark differences between tourism (primarily sight-seeing) and traveling (ideally cultural immersion). Tourists may leave their homes physically but rarely mentally. Travelers must do both, not only packing bags but simultaneously leaving 'baggage' behind—the baggage of American exceptionalism and western arrogance, the baggage of imperialist ideologies and colonial imaginations, the baggage of patriarchy and white supremacy, the baggage of misguided missiology and 'post-colonial' Christianization, and the baggage of religious intolerance and Islamophobia. If this ‘lethal luggage’ is not left behind, then I’m afraid you are neither touring nor traveling, you, my friend, are terrorizing! (See my last blog post).

Living in microcosmic ‘Americas’ abroad is not traveling. More than its physical element, traveling entails a mental movement, not a simple relocation of one's home and comfort zone. Tourism, in this context, is an illusion. Sadly, the tourist industrial complex masquerades its souvenirs, trinkets, and so-called cultural artifacts as evidence for traveling. And perhaps, even more unfortunately, tourists are satisfied with this unreasonable exchange.

“You give us your currency and we’ll give you our culture!"

Considering how much I stood out physically, the title of this post is ostensibly ironic. Zane, a light skin brother, was able to ‘pass,’ in a hostile culture, due to his complexion. I didn’t have this ‘luxury’ (don’t get me wrong, I’m glad to be a chocolate brother). From my ethnic hairstyle to my ‘Jeeerzzeey’ accent, I was an identifiable foreigner. However, the more time I spent on the land and with the people, the more I sensed a radical shift, not necessarily in the ways others viewed me, but in the way I saw myself. I sensed myself transforming, from an outsider to an outside-insider, from a tourist to a traveler. In hindsight, my trip to Europe and my journey throughout India were categorically different. As I continue to travel, it's my hope not to be a cultural Zebra, camouflaged within a cross-cultural context, yet tattooed with nationalist stripes of superiority and ignorance. Amidst the cold sea of consumerism and rising tide of globalization, I aspire to maneuver more like Zane: (culturally) incognegro, not just in appearance, but in actuality.

Afterword

Although this will be my last post for this blog, i.e. 'Summer (In)dia,' it will not be my last blog post. I want to thank everyone who read, reflected, responded, and/or reposted. Your activity, not mine, enlivens the literary experience. I appreciate both the compliments and critique, which, dovetailing into a dynamic duo, pushes me beyond my own intellectual insecurities and ignorance.

I am currently in the process of creating a new blog, which will exist here, www.nylefort.blogspot.com, as well as on my website www.nylefort.com. Unsure of the title but certain of several themes, I hope you will continue this journey with me. For me, literature is liberation. I invite you to join me on this long walk towards freedom.

Symbiosis

If I remember correctly, I was copying a friend’s homework when the Principal made the announcement over the loud speaker. Homeroom was always homework time for school slackers, at least at South Orange Middle School. My teacher’s face froze, her pale cheeks reddened like crushed strawberries over a white canvas; her lips stiffened in fear. One girl, Emily (or maybe her name was Ashley), ran out of class, nearly collapsing with tears flowing like twin waterfalls. That was the only day in my 7^th grade career that Mrs. Appenzoler didn’t take attendance; she was a stickler for those kinds of things. “Airplanes, hit…Twin Towers…Muslim t-t-t-terrorists,” I heard students murmuring. Amidst the chaos, I turned to the freckled-face boy seated next to me and quietly asked, “What is the World Trade Center?”

New York City September 11th, 2001

Officially finished with my internship, I spent my last week here traveling throughout Northern India. Located in the foothills of the Himalayan belt and 120 km from the Pakistani border, Srinagar is a hotspot for both culture and conflict. A tourist’s dream and anti-terrorist’s nightmare, Srinagar is a puzzling mix of political tension and environmental beauty. Its unbelievable ‘floating city’ (some call it the ‘Venice of the East’) and majestic Islamic culture parallels its ubiquitous militarism and heavily policed marketplace. From its food (if you never had Halal go taste and thank me later) to its fabrics, Srinagar is a real life fairy tale. Nevertheless, in light of fairly recent terror attacks, Srinagar can be a real living hell! As I walked the land, spoke with locals, and bargained with peddlers, I noticed two worlds, coexisting. But it was more than that, I think.

Boat ride from the floating hotel to the market

Are the potential terrorist and passing tourist unconscious players on the same team of tragedy? Do terrorism and tourism share a symbiotic relationship? 

Contrary to popularized media images and ideologies, terrorism is not merely a product of physical violence. More than its physical element, terrorism is a perpetuation of fear, hysteria, and conflict—a psychic assault. (And many, if not all the time, the psychic element precedes its physical manifestation). Within this framework, the traditional terroristic identity sinks and new possibilities surface.

Mass media may be the largest, most powerful, and well-financed terrorist organization in the world. After all, it is through its patriarchal, racialized, and religiously intolerant misrepresentations that the masses are conditioned to fear blacks, immigrants, gays, Muslims, Arabs, and social pariahs, but not governmental authorities, police personnel, or corporate plutocrats. The evidence to this point is astronomical. In no other nation is crime more colorized than in America. For centuries, and in many ways still today, the idea of being black was a crime in itself.  And this American ethos affects all political and social vulnerables, especially foreigners and particularly, Arabs and Muslims.

The idea of 'white crime' is nonsensical in this era of mass media and mass incarceration (white collar crime is not synonymous). Television (minstrel) shows like Cops, portray poor urban blacks as the sole proprietors of America’s criminal culture when in fact, statistics suggest that whites and blacks commit crimes at similar rates (see Michelle Alexander's The New Jim Crow). But perhaps more important is the reality that the government and corporate oligarchs steal and rob, albeit legally, from the public sector more than any street ‘thug’ could in a lifetime. But notice how different groups are labeled and how that labeling is distributed along color lines, i.e. blacks as criminals and politicians, overwhelmingly rich white men, as corrupt. This distinction, seemingly subtle, is profoundly implicating. Who’s the true criminal? And who are the real thugs? In the world of mass media: 1. welfare recipients are disproportionately 'lazy' black single mothers, although whites receive more government aid than any other racial group, 2. the only gangs are street gangs, although state militarism and police ‘squads’ are arguably the biggest and baddest gangs in the world, and 3. terrorists are invariably Arab, Muslim, and you got it, colored…although, between the militarism abroad and police brutality ‘at home,’ more people have been murdered and terrorized by the red, white, and boys in blue than all street gangs and terrorist organizations combined!

justiceforjordanmiles.com

New York City, like Srinagar, is an international hub, filled with tourists and fearful of terror. Ever since 9/11, fear of the Islamic faith and its followers has marginalized a significant population of the world (approximately 25%). This ‘hijabic’ hysteria has hijacked the rights and terrorized the freedom of many Muslims. Despite over 1.5 billion Muslims throughout the world, post 9/11 media focused on the 19 hijackers, Osama Bin Laden, and the Taliban. Misrepresentations like these are media missiles directed at the collective conscious of the masses. And its images act as W.M.D.’s (weapons of mass distortion), destroying our sense of reality. The injuries are ravaging: a diseased imagination, paralyzed immigration system, and broken movement for peace and justice. What a genius way to divert the people’s attention away from America’s state-sanctioned domestic terrorists by focusing on the so-called religious, cultural, and foreign 'enemy.'

If terrorism and tourism share a symbiotic relationship, then mass media is their sex toy, playing with its subscribers until we all climax in catastrophe.