Because I actually have some academic background in this topic, I answer the question the lovely Tony Hart-Wilden aka @chasingmidnight posted to Twitter:
A serious question, why is it that the vast majority of the paranormal community are white people ? Is it cultural?
This is a very interesting question that has no real answer, but for the sake of making myself sound important in the paranormal blogosphere, I’ll put in my two cents. Because after all, my words are too important for a mere tweet. Man…if some of you thought I was serious then you need to just GO AWAY.
Let’s look at this from a sociological perspective, because after all, race is a sociological contruction. Hell, I’ll even argue that ghosts are a sociological construction too. That article comes later thought. Anyway, what we know as ‘race’ is so totally like, made up man. Here’s an example: in the book The Measure of Man by Stephen Jay Gould, he outlines the faulty science of American polygeny and craniometry. Big words Rachel, big words! I THOUGHT THIS WAS THE PARANORMAL AND I DIDN’T HAVE TO ACTUALLY KNOW ANYTHING! I’m basically talking about biological determinism, the notion that people at the bottom are constructed of intrinsically inferior material (poor brains, bad genes, or whatever) (Gould, 31). They used to determine this determinism through craniometry. Below is a picture of some of Benjamin Franklin’s work in the field. Yeah, good ole B-Note Benny was a fucking racist bastard. Side note: Lincoln ‘The Great Emancipator’ was also a proponent of craniometry:
What a lot of craniometrist would do is fill the skulls of people of all races with rice or dried beans and measure which one held more. Bigger heads were equated to that of apes and savage creatures and seen as inferior. Because this was apparently ‘biological’, it was termed that ‘non-whites’ (I used quotations because who is considered ‘white’ has changed throughout history) are biologically inferior. It’s science. Of course, sample skulls were picked from specific individuals and the research and sample size was in no way random, but picked to fulfill the faulty notion that correlation equals causation. It’s science.
Faulty science.
But what does this have to do with the paranormal dammit?
Society is a collection of individuals and systems that work together and can never, ever sustain themselves singularly. This is why Liberatrians will never rule the earth. Or pandas. Our roles and our worth are defined by the roles and worth of those around us. This is basically what racism is. Racism is a sociological construct that steams all the way back to faulty science like craniometry and the need to push oneself to the top of whatever pedestal you feel the need to be on. It’s systemic, and even with a black man as President, it’s still major building block of modernity.
Still haven’t gotten to why this is paranormal yet Rachel.
Okay. So, you have a group of people who through social programs, de facto segregation and Jim Crow-style social laws (that are all still in existence), white people have solidified the gap between themselves and black people. George Lipsitz states in his book The Possessive Investment in Whiteness that ‘The power of whiteness depended not only on white hegemony over separate racialized groups, but also on manipulating racial outsiders to fight against one another, to compete with each other for white approval, and to seek the rewards and privileges of whiteness for themselves at the expense of other racialized populations’ (Lipsitz, 3). A modern example of this would be comparing Wayne Brady to Snoop Dogg. I had to sing ‘D-oh-double-g’ to spell his name right.
*headpalm*
Wayne Brady has a very different audience than Snoop Dogg for a lot of reasons, but the main one is that Wayne Brady is seen as a ‘non-threating minority.’ He laughs, he makes clean jokes, he’s cool. Remember that skit on The Chappelle Show where Wayne Brady acts totally out of character? Chappelle was onto something. There is a clear division within the black community. Why? Well, there are several reasons for this, but a big one would be that whole competition thing Lipsitz was talking about. Domestic abuse is extremely high in ‘minorites’ (I read this in college, no source citation, and it’s a ratio anyway. Sorry). Sexism in the black community is a real problem. So is classism and especially homophobia. This is all because of competition that many people may or may not be conscious of.
AREN’T YOU GOING TO ANSWER TONY’S QUESTION RACHEL?
Yes, in fact my next source is paranormal. In an episode of the popular-but-stupid radio show Beyond Reality, hosts Jason Hawes and Grant Wilson interviewed paranormal researcher and journalist Jeff Belanger. I could go back and find the exact air date of the interview, but I’m sure it was in the last few months the show was on the air, so early spring 2008. Belanger talked about how psychology is still a field struggling for legitimacy, and the reason that the psychology field doesn’t look into the paranormal is because, well, people would think psychology was even crazier than it already is.
Psychology is potentially avoiding/ignoring/glossing over a rather interesting area of study–the belief in the paranormal–in order to save it’s own ass. Okay, point taken. So why would it be so hard to believe that black people wouldn’t do the same? Think about it, on a systemic level if you already have to work harder than everyone else around you for half the same privledges, would you risk it all to run around the dark with an EMF meter? Now, when Tony posed this question, a follower on Twitter replied ‘because white people are crazy.’ This is a sentiment often heard in films, comedic routines, and in every day life. It’s gotta have roots in reality somewhere, right? Perhaps, throughout history, an intercultural ideology has emerged in which black americans don’t see paranormal investigation as interesting, legitimate, or possible enough to warrant investigation.
It could be as simple as: white paranormal researchers are racist assholes who won’t share EMF meters and we are only days away from putting up ‘Whites Only’ and ‘Coloreds Only’ signs in haunted locations. Could be. I’m currently stewing on an article on sexism in the paranormal that would both support and be supported by what I’ve said above. There’s also the issue of classism, because of the current equipment craze, and the ability to purchase gear, take time off work, buy books they never really read, and travel to places to investigate.
Also, there’s the notion that people in the paranormal are somehow using ‘the field’ as a way to compensate for a lack of popularity, friendship, social or network status, and authority in their every-day lives. If you are a just an every day Joe at work, and you become a God in the paranormal, you’re going to fight to protect your status. If that includes racism and sexism, so be it.
Like I said this is only one potential (and really long) explanation for Tony’s question. It’s something I’ve been wanting to write about for a long time, but never really had a chance to articulate my thoughts before.
Thoughs? Am I crazy? Are you? Does anyone have change for a quarter?
I don’t know the answer to this question, though I do have a few ideas that I cannot back up with evidence, so I’ll leave them for now.
But what I will say, mostly as a joke, is that perhaps black people have been scared off by the fact that so much negative imagery in the paranormal community is associated with their skin tone: Men in Black, black masses, Black Eyed Kids…hell, even Shadow People has a similar connotation.
But, in all seriousness, I would be interested in the opinions of black people on this topic. I’d like to ask some black folks active in the paranormal community why more black people aren’t involved. And I’d like to ask black people who aren’t involved at all why they aren’t interested. Perhaps their opinions could go a long way in trying to figure out the answer.
I think you may be on to something with the whole “having to work harder just to gain the same rights” and wanting to protect those rights thing. It’s sad but true, minorities today still have to work harder than their white equivalents just to have the same things. So why would you risk that hard earned level of respect people have for you on a hobby? It’s the same reason why Pride parades are filled more with whites than any other demographic: people can live with one strike against them, but not two. Two strikes is teetering on the edge and it doesn’t take much to fall off. At least with one strike, you have some breathing room to make the same mistakes as everyone else. But God forbid you be yourself and enjoy your passions in life!
It all comes down to social constructs. And since humans have taken natural selection out of the process, one rarely has to defend one’s life so one is left to defend one’s social status. Our natural survival instincts take over and we view our social status in the same manner that primitive man viewed his life: as the most important thing, defend it no matter what!
White people is crazy
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