What does Gordon mean by an ossified duality of Absence and Presence (of human substance), as represented by the black body versus the white body?

Gordon attempts to examine antiblack racism from the standpoint of Sartrean bad faith. Bad faith is an outlook where the individual engages in self-deception– whether conscious or not– in an attempt to evade agency and responsibility over one’s own freedom. Gordon asserts that antiblack racism is a paragon illustration of bad faith, which is a constant possibility of human existence. Antiblack racism is the view that black people are somehow innately inferior or subhuman to other races, particularly whites. For instance, Gordon laments that “the notion of being colored, being dark, [is] a mark of inferiority” in the white man’s world– where “for the most part, whiteness is pure, and all others are colored down the line to the blackest”. As a result, miscegenation offered people a way to be ‘less colored’ rather than branded as someone fully and completely inferior. Although dominant groups may wish to maximize their liberty, they may also wish to deny their responsibility in the face of such liberty”–  rendering bad faith practiced by both black and white groups. Gordon argues that the concept of bad faith militates against any human science that is built upon a theory of human nature; therefore, antiblack racism challenges the definition of what is considered to be human. 

Gordon’s primary theses proposes that such antiblack racist attitudes are used as a manifestation of bad faith, an instrument of control deriving from the white man’s self-interest, and a means to push aside the responsibility of constructing a just, moral, and humane world. Specifically, Gordon posits that there are three premises to antiblack racism, the first being that in an antiblack world, white people are superior to black people. The first premise suggests that the “white’s existence is justified, whereas the black’s existence needs justification” (131, Gordon). In other words, black people need to prove their worthiness of existence to be seen by white people– which renders feelings of invisibility. This is further reinforced by institutional affirmations toward whiteness coupled with denial of black beingness. In Sartrean terms, “the white’s facticity becomes his transcendence, and the black’s transcendence becomes his facticity” (134, Gordon). Blackness is a projection of racist attitudes contrived by white people. However, the societal meanings that are assigned to specific racial groups eventually become so ingrained that they assume certain affectively charged associations.  Gordon argues that exposure to racist attitudes does not necessarily constitute bad faith, but taking part in the preservation of such an attitude is participating in a form of bad faith.

In examining the language that black people use when engaging in anti blackness, I agree with Gordon that even black usage of the terms such as ‘n*gger” are defamatory (by black people) because it buys into and actively practices a term used to oppress blacks, devised by white people. Gordon argues that “blackness emerges as a consequence of white identity,” where the usage of specific derogatory terms targeted at black people not only keeps such sentiment alive, but also reinforces antiblack racism in bad faith (115, Gordon). The author asserts that the “untruth of a race is a lived reality precisely because many of us have learned to live it, passionately, as true,” illustrating the self delusion of believing in a false ‘perceived’ truth of unequal races (136, Gordon). Furthermore, it suggests that black people subconsciously have adopted the view that white people are inherently superior while black people are inferior. Usage of such terms imply that certain blacks have adopted the white mask and engage in the practice of bad faith, where self-deception of buying into conditioned norms plays a key role. The very attribution of values such as superiority versus inferiority to people suggests that each group engages in a deep ontological denial of human reality– illuminating the practice of bad faith in both groups.

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How does Fanon’s lived experiences of racism relate to Sartre’s theory on identity and bad faith for black people?

In chapter five of Fanon’s work “Black Skins, White Masks,” Fanon recounts memoirs of racist treatment towards him on various different levels and encounters with others– as suggested by the name of the chapter. Fanon discussed the conception of black people as being at a constant indentured servitude of white people. The reading opens with a fury of expletives that are specifically targeted at black people– used to disclose the deeply hurtful derision that blacks have to endure, and temporarily pull the reader in to feeling what the black experience is like. He uses such terms because they are used by white people to degrade and oppress blacks. Black people would never create such names for themselves; they are debasing expressions that white people assign to them. By opening the chapter with such a vehement scene, Fannon explores the power of the white gaze in permeating the cultural fabric and norms that determine black identity. Additionally, this scene provides Fannon’s personal example of how white people try to enforce their idea of ‘blackness’ onto black people– stripping them of their agency to determine their own identity.

Fanon’s autobiographical piece illustrates the extent to which endemic racist thinking is ingrained into systemic practices, and the insurmountable challenges for people subject to racism to escape it. Fanon expounds upon how the black man is only seen for what he has to offer– his labor, looks, servitude, or intellect– but he is never recognized as a person, in full. Fannon proclaims that isolating the blackness of black people, whether with good or ill intent, makes the black experience all the more infuriating. This is because such actions are done through the lens of objectification, which further dehumanizes the black man. For instance, Fannon describes a woman who casually exclaims “look how handsome that Negro is" (94, Fannon). Fannon posits that although the woman may be trying to express desire, which implies that she views him in a positive light, her sentiment is undergirded by the same racist ideologies as people who openly denigrate him. That is, her remarks are fetishing and exoticizing Fannon as a sexual play thing to fit into her white fantasy– rendering him to be different, strange, and inhuman object. Although there may be positive intentions of her praise, it indirectly reinforces existing power structures by subjugating the black man as an object of sexual lust. This demonstrates how praising a black man for his blackness is just as detrimental as abasing him for it; such two contraries are actually two sides of the same coin.

This reading is closely connected to a previous reading of ‘seeing but not being seen,’ how the concept of the black man is one that is not created by himself– but rather, predetermined by the white gaze. Black people only ‘exist’ in relation to the white man, which is one of racial dominance and subordination. People’s identities are often shaped by the view of others around themselves; therefore, many black people falsely, but genuinely, believe that they are innately evil due to their skin color. For instance, Fanon implores that “Sin is black as virtue is white. All those white men, fingering their guns, can't be wrong. I am guilty. I don't know what of: but I know I'm a wretch” (118, Fanon). Thus, Fanon laments that black people are fettered to an identity that they didn’t craft, and shackled to an unjust system that refuses to acknowledge their collective humanity. This is because “the white gaze, the only valid one, is already dissecting me” (95, Fannon). Given that racism is an abstract concept that is a part of a larger culture, black people feel as if it is impossible to escape an entire culture which envelops them. Furthermore, one might ask the question: how can you escape something that is impalpable? If white superiority were a mirror, the black man only views himself in reflection to it. His identity is a construction of white opinion, rather than through his own agency. However, ultimately Fannon reclaims his identity as a ‘black’ ‘man’ in the end of the narrative by acknowledging his own personhood and giving himself the permission to reach the full potential of humanity, rather than having such rights denied by others.

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