The Race Myth and Social Complicity

Who is complicit in the racist ideals these men cling to? Who allowed them to grow up assuming ownership of American privilege not based on merit? (That sounds awfully Trumpian). Perhaps they didn't expand their understanding of other cultural indoctrinations because you know, in America, white tends to be right... Perhaps in this picture here, they were indoctrinated by parents of the 40's and 50's who benefited from the unfair historical racist infrastructure that was reinforced by all manner of systemic oppression - in the forms of redlining, block busting, purposeful urban decay, purposeful suburban capitalization for fair skinned peoples, unfair application of laws and due process, and many, many other polity means of hiding structural white privilege over others in the society. Frankly, just like it's done today with corporate prisons that have contracts with state and local governments to meet a quota that will keep the jails full and guarantee their profits, or judges who get paid to incarcerate juveniles or police who are consistently held unaccountable for poor judgement and abuse of power.

We have never truly been a representative democracy. And now in far more competitive, purposely constricted national/global economies, and a technologically shrunken world; white men in America, have to compete with everyone else. So many are fragile, agitated, insecure, angry, presumptuously arrogant, and in denial. Welcome to the real world dudes. These young thugs as they are represented here, may be less educated than many of their college educated parents (or more) depending on socioeconomic standing. Personally, I believe the quality of education has declined over the last 50 years and I meet many college graduates and Ph.Ds who can't even form a cogent thought - some don't write proficiently and many are far from being critical thinkers. Further, our whole society expends GREAT resources to ensure people remain primed toward ignorance and anger. Would that these men and many others could see that; would that my failing communities in Trenton would acknowledge and receive just that point?

I understand this was not the planned march. It was moved. They marched anyway around the statue of Robert E. Lee. This is unacceptable behavior; but no police response? In Trenton, the police even scrutinize and determine the kind of art that will be displayed in neighborhoods. Imagine BLM doing the same thing, marching outside of the parameters dictated by paramilitary forces - with hundreds of people and torches? I'm sure the police would have feared for their lives; and we've all been conditioned to know what comes after that - where people of color are concerned.

The ignorance of these men manifests in anger, just like it does in their counterparts, the many young African American, Latino men and youth - dis-empowered, impoverished and often woefully ignorant in the ghetto. The difference is, these men in VA, marching with torches at the University of Virginia, have privilege; Quashan must find his courage, privilege and power within. The privilege of the marchers on the other hand, comes from outside of self, and is reinforced by how public safety and other systems respond. From the police, to the media and including your President, there is a different tone when it is white men who are misbehaving and wreaking mayhem within our democracy.

From the POTUS, to Wall Street, to the NFL, to the University of Virginia; from the Boston and Oklahoma bombers in contrast to MOVE in Philadelphia, white men are afforded the privilege of negotiation, preference and even invisibility. Historically and from sea to shining sea, there has always been in America, a different rubric - particularly for white men - that superimposes their privilege over everyone else. It is not my intention to offend anyone. This is my truth.

John Pavlovitz on his blog, "Stuff That Needs to be Said," framed it very well, "...naming it is necessary. It’s necessary for us to say it—especially when the media won’t, when our elected leaders won’t, when our President won’t. It’s necessary to condemn it so that we do not become complicit in it." He is right and I am enamored of his courage. I personally believe we must move our language forward based on a cogent, evidence driven, critically compelling re-framing of the American ethic. Race and class are tools to divide and conquer, but ignorance is the fuel. I believe there are more people of every persuasion, who believe we can do better; that we can think and authentically unite our way toward a more ideal democracy - but it will take some courage; some self introspection, a good deal of sacrifice (lives included) and then, collective action across race - which by the way doesn't exist - in the interest of our democracy. Human is ONE species.

“In 1950, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) issued a statement asserting that all humans belong to the same species and that “race” is not a biological reality but a myth…. Among those who study the subject, who use and accept modern scientific techniques and logic, this fact is as valid and true as the fact that the earth is round and revolves around the sun.” R.W. Sussman, The Myth of Race; The Troubling Persistence of an Unscientific Idea. Harvard University Press, 2014.