Blacks Have It Lenient

“…slavery was abolished more than a hundred years ago, but the topic is still brought up as leverage against the white community. [no one] living has been a slave, and [no one] living has been a slave owner. to bring this topic up further separates the two races…and on this note, why is it that more emphasis is put on to anything a white person says about a black person, when it is automatically wrong if a white person even utters one word about a black person. this in [general] is wrong. the [leniency] towards black people segregates the two races even more…African American people of lighter pigment however can only be called white as there is no other term for them…[i am] open to change of opinion, but i have to see both sides of the spectrum first.” – comment from therevlonspamqueen

Slavery is not brought up as leverage on white people. If it was being used as some kind of leverage one would have to admit that it really isn’t working very well. The suggestion that slavery is brought up as some form of punishment on white people is idiocy in its rawest form. I’m not sure of the motivation for other people but my point in bringing up slavery is to demonstrate the history or foundation of the relationship between black people and white people in this country. The history of slavery is not to be forgotten. It is indicative of the natural thought process and attitudes that the majority of white people feel towards black people. And a people who forget their past are doomed to repeat it, revel in it, and perpetuate it. I understand why white people would want to forget slavery. It is a stark reminder of their depravity and inhumanity towards black people. But black people should not forget.

Unfortunately, so many black people have been programmed by the dominant culture to sweep America’s institutionalized slavery under the proverbial rug so that we can just move along and so called “heal” while we live in conditions of perpetual subjugation. Just like it was from the very beginnings of our races mixing, so as it is today, so will it be in the future. Regardless of what measurement you wish to apply, whether it is personal wages, wages as a group, medical services, legal representation, housing, funds for education, employment, etcetera, black people live in conditions that are substandard to the conditions of white people. As a whole people in the white community live better. This is general speak and not to be taken as a rule without exception. No one alive may have been a slave owner. But that does not mean that black people are not being subjected to the very same subjugation that our enslaved ancestors suffered under. Our ancestors were robbed of wealth and the opportunity to accumulate material goods and property while white people could. Our ancestors and elders were robbed of educational opportunities that kept them ill equipped to compete in the job market and earn income. That wealth was passed from one generation to another allowing the children of white people to start their life with more choices and more opportunities and with less drawbacks. Black families could not pass the same wealth down to their children. Therefore young black people will start their careers with limited options and opportunities.

And when black people have the nerve to speak of these inequalities somebody comes out the woodwork to tell black people they need to be happy and quit playing the victim. And if the dominant culture can find a black person to spew the assimilation rhetoric for them, then this is just so much for the better. Grab one black person and hold them up high as the shining example of what all black people can be. But then the dominant community will keep a foot on the collective neck of the rest of the black community in order to keep white communities and institutions from being overrun with black people.

I am a black man. I appreciate being called a black man. I would be offended if someone were to walk up to me and say something stupid like, when I see you I don’t see a black man. My question would be, then what do you see? Obviously you don’t care to see who I really am. Obviously you want to deny me my identity. Black people who are offended at being called black are not trying to be black. They are doing their best to assimilate and do not want to be reminded from whence they came. These people know that in order to get ahead they must shed the baggage of being black. I welcome that baggage. I am black. Although it is apparent that I may have some European blood in my genealogy I do not want to be mistaken for anything other than a black man.

And people want to make the claim that black people are being treated leniently? This is a matter of opinion of course. I don’t think John White who was found guilty for protecting his family from a drunken white mob would agree. I don’t think the family of Martin Lee Anderson who went for a joyride in his grandmother’s car and ended up being murdered by seven boot camp guards would agree. I don’t think the black boys who were prosecuted in Jena, Louisiana for attempted murder for a school fight with white boys would agree. I don’t think the families of Amadou Diallo who was murdered by police in a hail of bullets for pulling out his wallet, Sean Bell who was murdered by police in a hail of bullets as he went home to prepare for his wedding day, or Abner Louima who was sodomized with a broom handle in a police station by the police would agree either. Shelwanda Riley the fourteen year old who was punched in the face by a police officer for breaking curfew, Genarlow Wilson who received ten years of prison for being seventeen and having consensual sex with his fifteen year old girlfriend, or Shaquanda Cotton who received a seven year prison sentence for shoving a hall monitor at her school would disagree as well.

When black people get a job on average their rate of pay is twenty five percent less than white people. Black unemployment is higher. Black people in a place of employment are automatically assumed to be there only by the benefit of affirmative action. And you assume this to be preferential treatment.

If it is true that white people cannot say one word about black people without getting in trouble then how come they constantly do it and still get ahead? Don Imus is back on the radio and he now has his own television show. Bill O’Reilly constantly degrades the black community. Rush Limbaugh is more popular than ever. Ron Paul ran for the White House while making his contention that ninety percent of black men are criminals. Mark Fuhrman has his own radio show in syndication after he was recorded saying the derogatory comments about black people. And Duane “Dog” Chapman is getting his television show back after he was recorded berating his son for dating a black woman. Michael Richards gets on stage at a comedy club and says to the black people in the audience, “Fifty years ago we’d have you upside down with a fucking fork up your ass. You can talk, you can talk, you’re brave now motherfucker. Throw his ass out! He’s a nigger! He’s a nigger! He’s a nigger! A nigger! Look there’s a nigger! What? They are going to arrest me for calling a black man a nigger?” Sounds like a lot more than one word and yet Jerry Seinfeld still comes to his defense. Mr. Richards said he was sorry so what more do people want? Right after that Seinfeld DVD sales spike through the roof. You may think white people are being unfairly treated. But in the reality it really doesn’t sound like white people are getting into all that much trouble. They may get some attention. But if experience is any indication the dominant white culture will support their members that overtly subjugate and degenerate black people

You said “[I’m] open to change of opinion, but [I] have to see both sides of the spectrum first.” But you didn’t need to see both sides of the spectrum to form your opinion that “it is automatically wrong if a white person even utters one word about a black person” and “the [leniency] towards black people segregates the two races even more, but now, it is in favor of black people.” Where is it in black people’s favor? What Fortune 500 company is run predominantly by black people? How many companies are there where the vast majority of office workers and executives are black? How many black Presidents have their ever been? How many black Senators are there? How many black people are Governor of a state in this union? How many white people enjoy these positions? And yet, you believe black people have it lenient.

I appreciate your sentiment that you want to be fair. But these are only words. Even though you say yourself that you are aware of the unfair treatment of blacks today you have already made up your mind that black people are being privileged and are being treated leniently without getting all the facts. You have an opinion that black people have it easy despite all the evidence to the contrary. You have a prejudice against black people and it will not change with any words written here. If you want to be fair take your blinders off and look at the world with a truly open mind. Black people have leniency is a joke and you really need to quit trying to make me laugh.

Peace

The Epitome of Racism is Dog

Dog the Bounty Hunter is the latest racist to be outed for their racist rant. Said deputy Dog, “I don’t care if she’s a Mexican, a whore or whatever. It’s not because she’s black, it’s because we use the word nigger sometimes here. I’m not gonna take a chance ever in life of losing everything I’ve worked for for 30 years because some fucking nigger heard us say nigger and turned us in to the Enquirer magazine. Our career is over! I’m not taking that chance at all! Never in life! Never! Never! If Lyssa was dating a nigger, we would all say ‘fuck you!’ And you know that. If Lyssa brought a black guy home ya da da… it’s not that they’re black, it’s none of that. It’s that we use the word nigger. We don’t mean you fucking scum nigger without a soul. We don’t mean that shit. But America would think we mean that. And we’re not taking a chance on losing everything we got over a racial slur because our son goes with a girl like that. I can’t do that Tucker. You can’t expect Gary, Bonnie, Cecily, all them young kids to…because ‘I’m in love for 7 months’ – fuck that! So, I’ll help you get another job but you can not work here unless you break up with her and she’s out of your life. I can’t handle that shit. I got ’em in the parking lot trying to record us. I got that girl saying she’s gonna wear a recorder…” This racist rant from Dog the Bounty Hunter is being brought to you through the courtesy of The Assault on Black Folk’s Sanity.

According to some people Dog wasn’t being a racist. He was just afraid of being perceived to be a racist by people who are just waiting for him to slip up and use the word nigger that he and his family just so happen to use all the time. And Mr. Dog made it clear that he doesn’t mean the soulless nigger variety, but the run of the mill niggers that are waiting to take everything he’s worked so hard to get for the past thirty years.  I guess a soulless nigger would be one of those vampire niggers that suck your blood and then take everything you’ve worked for.

Let’s put the word nigger to the side for the moment. White mindset people feel that, without being a racist, Mr. Dog tells his son he has a choice to make. He can either dump his black girlfriend and continue to work with the family or he can have his black girlfriend and work somewhere else. The man is telling his son to break up with his black girlfriend. Would he do the same thing if it was a white woman his son was dating? This is in itself a form of prejudice behavior influenced by racist thought patterns.

Another point that seems to escape a lot of white mindset people’s attention is the fact that Mr. Dog is so afraid that some black person is just waiting to expose his racist tirade that he works him self into a rabid like lather just thinking about it. But in the end, it was the man’s own son who dropped dime and exposed his racism to the world. The black woman wasn’t the one that busted Mr. Dog. It wasn’t the media hounds that Dog was so afraid of for the past thirty years that outed Mr. Dog’s secret. Dog didn’t respect his son or his son’s relationship and it is my guess that this is what prompted junior’s betrayal. How many people ask themselves why would such a good man like Mr. Dog be betrayed by his own blood like that? Like most people I believe that when good people raise children, those children would be the last people on earth to betray their parents to the paparazzi.

Now in the past the prolific use of the word nigger has been indicative of people’s racism. But now in the twenty first century white mindset people are saying that this type of racism is okay as long as it’s done in private. Some how, people believe that racist people are able to keep their racism at home and it has no bearing on their behavior at the job. Funny thing though, Mr. Dog’s rant is telling his son that he don’t want that nigger around. This should be an indication that his racism isn’t being kept under wraps in private but is actually having repercussions outside of their home. This man is actually telling his son he doesn’t want black people any where around him. This man is saying that he wouldn’t have a relationship with blacks and black people will not be part of his inner circle because of the pet names he and his family has for us. And if I was soulless, he would find me even more repugnant. Is this not proof that his racism isn’t just a private matter?

Racism and prejudice doesn’t simply stop at the property line. A racist in private is a racist in public, just undercover. And it’s only racism that is so narrowly defined and so poorly contained. No one says that a rapist is okay to be a rapist behind closed doors or that a terrorist is okay to talk about matters of terrorism in private. People are so proactive on nipping that type of thinking in the bud that even the suspicion of being an abortionist can get you killed by a pro lifer. And if you wear a certain type of t-shirt to the airport you just might not make it to your destination, back to your home, or anyone else that doesn’t have an address that ends with Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. Only crimes of racism are defended and protected with an attitude of let the racist be a racist because racism is dead or is a matter of privacy. This kind of attitude emulates the attitude of people back in the day when racist people were denying black people services in their private place of business. People would defend the racist’s right to deny black people service. As long as it stayed private it should be of no one’s concern.

Who Let the Dog Out?

Another white man busted for making racially insensitive remarks about black people, another opportunity for white people to defend another one of their own. Too many good people think like the Dog to think that there’s anything wrong with his racial tirade. Too many good, non racist white people feel that all black people want to do is wait until some white person slips up and accidentally use the word nigger in a sentence six times, takes them to court, and seize all their worldly assets. Why? Probably because more white people are being exposed as the racist they happen to be these days. Too many people are saying something retarded like,

He’s not exactly racist. He’s just worried about looking like a racist. If you listen carefully he only uses nigger six times. A white person would have to use the nigger word at least a dozen times in a single sentence before it starts to look suspicious. Well I’m confused because now I don’t know what to call them. This is a gray area that we need to use to start a dialog that will help heel our wounds and help quell the racial overtones of America. It’s not like he was hanging a noose or anything.

But this article isn’t about Dog. Yeah he’s a racist. But what the hell, some white celebrity is being busted for their blatant racism on a daily basis these days. What else is in the news? The bigger problem I’m having with this story is the fact that all these black television news anchors who act like they’re just reporting on the weather when these stories of racism are constantly popping out the woodwork.

The people on CNN are good for this. Tony Harris reports stories of nooses and interviews the people who are most closely associated to the event as if he, as a black man, just doesn’t understand what the fuss is all about. Maybe he doesn’t understand because he’s trying so hard to detach himself from the black community. I watched Mr. Harris do his story on one of the recent noose hangings and he’s interviewing the target of this heinous act and he’s asking a question like, So tell me, you find a noose hanging from the ceiling fan in your personal office, why make a big deal of it?

Don Lemon is another black anchor who acts like he doesn’t have a clue as to why people in the black community would get upset over something so overtly racist. He is interviewing a panel of guess and they’re talking about the racially offensive comments from Dog “Did I Say That?” the Bounty Hunter and he starts the discussion with a question to one of the black panelist, Why is this so offensive? The black panelist, I can’t remember who it was, should have turned the question back on him and say, Excuse me Mr. Lemon but you look black, why do you think it’s offensive?

These black anchors will tell a story about offensive acts of racism with such a professional detachment. But the next story will be about a cat that suffered from cancer and how some Boy Scout troop in Beverly Hills adopted the cat and came up with the money to pay the vet bill by washing the cars of all the millionaires in their neighborhood. The Boy Scout story would be told with such feeling and obvious body language of compassion that our heart strings cannot help but be touched. The black anchor will start rubbing his temples as if he’s under so much anguish when he reports that the I-5 interchange in Oakland, California has suffered yet another accident that threatens the smooth flow of traffic in the area for an entire afternoon. If these stories can be told with such compassion and feeling, what’s the problem with showing a little compassion to the black community when we suffer the indignity of having another noose thrown in our faces?

Just like every news anchor show visible signs of compassion for the cute little puppy that fell down the well, it should be natural for black anchors to show some kind of physical reaction at having to report another racist act. When the black anchor doesn’t react it reinforces the notion that this might not be as offensive as the black community would like for it to appear. If the black anchor is able to disengage and keep this in perspective why can’t more black people do it?

The black anchor’s disassociation actually helps to minimize the outrage from the black community. It will give other black people pause when they should be voicing their own outrage. Some people will see the lack of a reaction from the black role model on the television set and will fail to react to the story at all. Even the white anchor’s voice will drop a bit with the seriousness of racism. But the black anchor? He or she might as well be reporting the weather.