I now understood what Nasser meant by a “tourist center dedicated to biblical times.” And I recognized the fragile triumphalism here, the desperate need to assert royal lineage and great ancestral deeds. And I could not help but wonder if this triumphalism was born out of refutation—out of a need to prove that one’s people are not “animals” who have “ruined every country they ever entered.” I’d seen it all my life in the invocations of great kingdoms and ancient empires—a search for provenance and noble roots. It was the oddest thing—the conqueror still conquered by Niggerology. And now
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