Zeus Need Not Apply

We need to call someone up from retirement.

No doubt. The world is sorely in need.

There can be no literal son of God proclamations this time.

Why not?

The first savior was captivated by classical Greek myths, and might have heard from his mother that she had been visited by Zeus one balmy evening in Bethlehem, but modern-day pagans are rare, and most of those that do exist believe we’re all children of a creator. Theistic exceptionalism, especially by those who claim divine descent, is frowned upon these days.

Yes, I guess you’re right.

In 2022, only people who end up in psychiatric wards believe themselves to literally be the son of the God of the Hebrews.

Crazies and Kanye West.

Same thing. Poor guy.

He will be poor if he keeps on glorifying Russell Hitler.

Russell?

Yeah. In Yeezy’s mind Hitler is black. Jesus is black. All important people are black.

Why did he trademark the White Lives Matter slogan, then?

Marketing ploy. More white fans. Do you really think someone who said ‘George Washington Bush doesn’t care about black people’ cares about white people?

Um. Only if they make him money?

Bullseye!

But his former wife is white.

Yes, but she’s a white woman who wants to look black. And she gave him black children.

Which brings us back to why we’re here.

Not yet. A little more needs to be said about…

Black Kanye, white Kim, black baby?

Yes, and black woman, white man, black baby.

But that’s not as popular a combination.

Well, there’s Bob DeNiro, and his baby mommas.

But you don’t see them much in the media.

No, because it’s not cool for white men to have hook ups with black women.

Just doesn’t look right?

If you’re the man, you’re the butt of too many jokes.

But once again, we digress.

Back to the genetic preponderance of blackness in interracial couplings.

Yes. According to an online search I just did, in 2012, Cuba’s white population was 64%. More recently, the now-defunct Institute for Cuban and Cuban-American Studies at the University of Miami put the percentage of Cuba's black population at 62%.

Is a drastic demographic shift like that likely?

Unlikely, but somebody’s lying, and I don’t think it’s the now-defunct Institute.

Are you sure?

Have you ever been to Cuba?

No.

I have, in 1994, 2003 and in 2019, and that makes me certain.

It seems that black people have a dream.

You can’t generalize like that.

But I don’t think white people, aside from extremist, and extremely stigmatized, white supremacist groups have a similar dream.

What do you mean?

Do you see many people of White European or White American extraction being invited or welcomed with open arms as immigrants to Africa?

No, I don’t.

I don’t see whites of diminished economic means being welcomed as residents into minority neighborhoods in Europe or the United States, either.

No, often if your white and you go into one, it’s a good way of getting your ass kicked.

Not always, but a possibility after dark.

So, a black envelope is being pushed.

Yes, and while still disenfranchised in several ways, blacks have freedom, they have permission to enter white neighborhoods, to not sit in desegregated public or private establishments.

Let’s get to the point.

There’s been a lot of progress.

But it’s all buried under bitter resentments about the past, and lingering suspicions of countless “isms:” racism and colonialism, imperialism and is this the real, honest thing for me’ism?

And animosity.

A level of racial divisiveness that probably has not been seen or felt since at least the early 1960s.

And if history repeats itself, given the current global political atmosphere, a new decentralized Confederacy would probably fare as well as the geographically-defined last one.

It would be disastrous for resentful whites.

What we need is love.

What we need is compassion.

We must give ourselves permission to believe.

Believe?

Believe in poetry.

We’re not fighting the Cold War anymore

We’re not fighting the war on terror either

What we’re fighting today is the frigidly hot war for culture

Which is to say we’re engaged in the war of race rather than the arms race.

In the war of race, black lives matter

White lives don’t.

In the war of race, white lives count.

Black lives won’t.

Won’t count for much if one race is

All that matters.

Won’t amount to much if one race is

All we need.

The war of race is ugly, like most wars are.

The war of race is authoritative, doctrinal, formulaic

and intends to define what is held “to be true & essential

& exclude what is held to be false belief.”

But don’t believe the bullshit

The media serves up on a dish.

There’s no way of winning the war of race

If one race is all you wish for.

Don’t believe the bullshit academia

Serves up on a plate.

All the bullshit does is multiply the hate

& compound the fear.

To end the war of race,

To end it for good and forever

What we’ve got to agree on is

Living together separately

Not separately together.

The redeemer will not be one. The saviors will be many.

They will be men, women, and non-binary people.

They will come from many walks of life.

The upper crust, the suburbs, the inner cities, even the gutters.

They will have differing opinions.

There will be proponents of sexual segregation according to race.

There will also be those who

Advocate staying good

Because the good don’t want to contribute

To the Oedipal shit pot

Of sons killing their fathers

& fucking their mothers,

Or the anti-Oedipal shit pot

Of fathers killing their sons

And fucking their son’s lovers.

By choosing to stay good

you commit to loving

Unconditionally

Regardless of who’s fucking who or who’s getting fucked

& that means loving everyone.

Because despite what the innocent might think,

Sooner or later most everyone fucks or gets fucked

In one way or another.

So, come out of retirement all you redeemers

All you saviors

Without the pretenses of being holy offspring.

Practice a wary compassion.

The world needs saving.

Now more than ever.