THE POLITICAL BODY’S OMBLIGO

Body Politique was a journal published in Canada during the 70-80s that covered themes related to the lives of homosexuals. The title was not decorative. It was political in itself. We could write about the human condition from the perspective of the experience lived by others; to be detached, supposedly, objective. One can separate one’s self and give accounts of how others are treated. Some of us are too involved in what we write about that -at the cost of sounding narcissistic- it is the “yo acuso” that drives the discussion. My body is a political act. My existence is a political act. Your friendship with me is also a political act. How we care for children is a political act. Boys might grow up thinking they are superior to women, simply because they are boys -a feminist once told me to “man-up”, to be a macho-; white people might grow-up thinking they are above black and brown people, even when they do not hear it from their parents and never have to do what Dani Macclain says (“As a Black Mother, My Parenting Is Always Political”. The Nation, April 2019) with regards to raising a black child. “We need a kind of anthem, a melodic reminder to ourselves and each other that we are not who the wider world too often tells us we are: criminal, disposable, lazy, undeserving of health or peace or laughter.” We need to remind the other that the person sitting in front of them lives in a political world (do not confuse politics with electoral or ideologically organized institutions ruling a state or a political unit), and as such, he or she will be treated; and as such he or she might perceive how is going to be treated. A Newyorican woman once told me that how she related with white USAmericans was quite different from how some well educated light skin Puerto Ricans born and raised in the island dealt with the same group of people. Give them a few years in the States and the light skin Puerto Ricans will, most probably, change their perception. If you think you are that neutral, you are an idiot o so arrogant that cannot see, as we say in Puerto Rico, “no ve más allá de su obligo”.