The myth of "post-racialism".

"What the hell do you have to lose?"

That's what Donald trump told African Americans when he was trolling us for our votes in the last presidential elections.

Well, here we are nine months into his presidency, and already his question has been answered: It seems that we have quite a lot to lose with a Donald trump presidency.

Jamelle Bouie certainly things so.

"Most Americans believe active discrimination is a declining concern. They believe that despite the challenges our society currently faces, we are at least past the era of outright and explicit exclusion. The case for this belief rests on the fact that black Americans and other nonwhites have seen increased opportunities for professional advancement since the civil rights movement, as well as a growing prominence in American life. Our culture has also by now generally accepted inclusive principles. It helps, too, that this belief fits our national narrative of progress: our broad sense that, despite lingering conflicts and resentments, the present is a more just and humane place than the past and that the future shows the same promise.

 

But it isn’t true. Things may actually be getting worse, and not just in the casual interactions that comprise daily existence. There is hard evidence that explicit racial discrimination remains a major part of American life in the early 21^st century.
 

Just look at the startling results of a recent meta-analysis of available research into job market discrimination that found “no change in the level of hiring discrimination against African Americans over the past 25 years.” After identifying all existing field experiments (published or unpublished) on labor market discrimination in the U.S, the researchers narrowed their field of inquiry to 24 studies containing 30 different estimates of discrimination against blacks and Latinos since 1989—a data set representing tens of thousands of applications submitted for tens of thousands of jobs. In analyzing that data, what they found was stasis. Throughout the period, whites received an average 36 percent more job callbacks than blacks, and 24 percent more than Latinos. “Contrary to widespread assumptions about the declining significance of race, the magnitude and consistency of discrimination we observe over time is a sobering counterpoint,” they conclude, while offering the caveat and possibility that discrimination diminished in the two decades prior to 1989. If true, that still leaves the United States with pervasive discrimination in hiring, a phenomenon that may explain part of the racial employment gap, which leaves black Americans with double the unemployment of white Americans, in good times and bad.

How do we square this reality of discrimination with the acceptance of racially egalitarian views among white Americans? The short answer is that there’s a disconnect. Many white Americans express opposition to the most hateful forms of racism while holding prejudiced views and facilitating racist behavior. A new Reuters-Ipsos poll, taken in the aftermath of August’s violent neo-Nazi protest in Charlottesville, Virginia, illustrates this paradox, showing both wide condemnation of white supremacists and substantial support for white nationalist slogans. Although 89 percent of respondents agreed that “all races should be treated equally”—and 70 percent agreed that “all races are equal”—35 percent of whites said that America must “protect and preserve its White European Heritage” and 47 percent agreed that “white people are currently under attack in this country.”

It’s possible this disconnect stems from the profound segregation that still shapes and defines life in the United States. Even if they live in diverse metropolitan areas, most white Americans still live in largely white neighborhoods and suburbs (some white by circumstance, others by policy, intimidation, and worse), send their children to white schools, and attend white churches. Their actual contact with nonwhites is minimal and circumscribed, an environment that can inculcate discriminatory beliefs, habits of mind, and behaviors, even as they endorse America’s egalitarian civic creed.

More pressing than the sociology of white racism, however, is its practical effects: a widening wealth gap between blacks and whites. Between 1983 and 2013, according to a new report from the Institute for Policy Studies, the wealth of the median black household declined 75 percent (from $6,800 to $1,700), and the median Latino household declined 50 percent (from $4,000 to $2,000). At the same time, wealth for the median white household increased 14 percent from $102,000 to $116,800. It’s an almost unbelievable contrast, and by 2020, black and Latino households are projected to lose even more wealth: 18 percent for the former, 12 percent for the latter. After those declines, the median white household will own 86 times more wealth than its black counterpart, and 68 times more wealth than its Latino one. This isn’t a wealth gap—it’s a wealth chasm.

If nothing is done, that chasm will grow larger. By 2024, “the continued rise in racial wealth inequality between median black, Latino and white households is projected to lead White households to own 99 and 75 times more wealth than their black and Latino counterparts, respectively.” Even black incomes are stagnant and declining: The median black household makes substantially less today than it did in 2000. And if the wealth gap is left unaddressed, then by 2053, median household wealth for whites will grow to $137,000, while that for blacks will hit zero.

The myth of “post-racialism” has by now largely been dispelled, in part because of movements like Black Lives Matter—as well as the rise of Donald Trump to the presidency of the United States. And there seems to be a growing awareness that “colorblindness” does more to entrench racial disadvantage than rectify it. Thankfully, there are policies that can begin to address this profound racial wealth gap. But we have yet to have any kind of discussion about it, even as we barrel toward a world where most blacks and Latinos live on the edge of immiseration. The racial wealth gap isn’t yet a national priority. It needs to be." [Source]

Unfortunately, Jamelle, we will have to wait at least four more years for that to happen.

 

Black exhaustion.

The Field Negro education series continues:

The following is an essay that was written for the Los Angeles Times by Dexter Thomas:

"For many black Americans, watching black people die on camera feels like a job. 
It’s not something they’re paid for, unless they are a journalist. But it can still feel like an obligation, because every time a new video is released of a black person being shot by police, black people know that America’s response to that video will affect their lives.

This is why when a judge forced Chicago officials to release video of the 2014 shooting of 17-year-old Laquan McDonald by Officer Jason Van Dyke, a group of young activists used the hashtag #BeforeYouWatch to encourage people to take a collective breath to brace themselves.
Support your friends, some wrote along with the hashtag. Remember that we all process pain differently, and this will be painful.

The video is disturbing, but in a more abstract way than, for example, the first-person view of the shooting of Sam Dubose in Cincinnati. It's taken from the dashboard camera of a police cruiser, which is too far away to show McDonald’s facial expressions, and the officer is out of frame.

Instead, we can see only the body of McDonald jerk, and puffs of smoke rising as the 16 shots are fired. The shooting is too far away to be able to see any wounds, and the only evidence that there is blood is the faint reflection of a shiny wet pool, glinting briefly in the lights of a police vehicle that arrives after the last shot has been fired.

A lot of people didn’t feel the need to watch the video. Some avoided it. Another common trend in the #BeforeYouWatch tweets was a reassurance: It's OK if you don't want to watch the video.
But for tens of thousands of people, black and otherwise, that decision was made for them when the Daily Beast posted an animated GIF image of the shooting on their Twitter account. Any one of their nearly 1 million followers who was scrolling through their own timeline saw a looped animation of a boy’s body tremoring in the dark.

A widely shared tweet from writer and novelist Brit Bennett needed only 135 characters to summarize the feelings of many: 

A GIF of a black boy's murder feels like a disgustingly accurate metaphor for black death: casually consumed, forever looping, endless.

The Daily Beast later deleted the image after a vigorous outcry and tweeted an apology.
But that didn’t put an end to the part of the “forever looping, endless” cycle that begins every time these videos are released: the backlash of an America that is still afraid to confront its own racism.
This where the exhaustion begins anew.

Each time a video of police brutality is released, a group of optimistic people holds out hope that perhaps, this time, a video will convince all of America that something is wrong.

But when those hopes are dashed, black people are subjected again and again to deflections of the reality of racism, sometimes framed as concern-trolling questions from columnists, co-workers and even family members: Why don’t black people stop focusing on police, and do something about black-on-black crime?

People with the patience to address this question may answer that they do. Too many people just aren't paying attention. They may be able to cite any one of a number of examples, such as the dozens of activists who marched 35 miles in sweltering heat in August to show a commitment to stop gun violence in their own communities.

But they’ll still have to deal with the bizarre racial gymnastics in which people dissect the videos and find something, anything, that could make a black person’s death his or her own fault – if he hadn’t resisted, if she had been more polite, if he hadn’t sold cigarettes. 

And then there’s the tactic of reducing the issue from racism to “a few bad cops” – or, as Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel said, the officer who shot McDonald "doesn’t represent our department."
But as the Chicago Reporter notes, it appears that the entire department, along with city officials, conspired to cover up the shooting. The autopsy does not match the official police report, and according to an attorney that helped bring this case to national attention, the city government “spent a year stonewalling any calls for transparency.”

Perhaps the latest incident will convince some people that something is deeply wrong in this country. But that won’t be enough. For too many Americans, admitting that the U.S. has a race problem, and that black people bear the brunt of that race problem, is an insurmountable task.
In the protests that will occur during coming days, we enter another stage of the looping cycle: the waiting game.

Many black people will cross their fingers that nobody will "act out" at a protest. Even if everyone is calm, there’s still the fear of being shot by white supremacists, which is reportedly what happened in Minnesota on Monday. But if one person – black or not – throws a stone, the protests could be labeled “riots,” giving Americans an excuse to ignore the root causes.

That would only intensify the cycle of deflection.

Again, black people will have to answer insincere questions from co-workers and friends, and again combat memes of fake statistics on black crime, spread by the most popular GOP presidential candidate.

It’s exhausting.

The activists marching in Chicago don’t necessarily expect all of America, or even all black people, to join them in the streets. But they know that they will be a topic of conversation at millions of dinner tables this Thanksgiving. And they may wonder if the well-meaning folks all across America who “like” their Facebook posts will speak up this time when their uncle starts calling Black Lives Matter a “terrorist group.”

Being black in the digital age is exhausting for the same reason that being brown after 9/11 is exhausting, or being an immigrant, or a woman, or gay, can be exhausting: because whenever the weight of hundreds of years of injustice comes to light, you are told that it is your fault.
And you are left to shoulder the burden, again, alone." [Source]

It is all "exhausting", but we as black folks have to keep pushing and keep persevering like we have been doing for "hundreds of years" in this country. We have to understand the struggle, but we can't use it as an excuse to not maximize our potential. In fact, it should make us work harder. That's what field Negroes do.  

*Pic from chicagotribune.com   

Going along to get along.

I read somewhere that black Americans are suffering from "racial battle fatigue".  Sadly, given what has been happening in our country over the past few months, it 's not hard to see why.

And still, through it all, black folks remain the most forgiving and God- fearing people I know. Just check out the images and commentaries from the people on the ground in Charleston. All that hugging. All that loving. All that praying together. It takes a special kind of person to endure all that and still have love in your heart. (I keep hearing Hillary pandering to a church full of black folks with that James Cleveland quote in my head.) 

A lot of my brothers and sisters here in America are built like that. I guess it's a kind of coping mechanism. How else are they going to survive? Better go along to get along. Don't rock the boat, look down when you talk, and step to the side when crossing paths on the sidewalk.
Lord knows we don't want to set off another racist and have him act out his hatred in a very real way.
Although, given what happened just today in Richmond, Virginia, it might already be too late.   

I think I posted this anecdote once on this blog, but this is a good time to tell it again.

So I am playing golf at this very exclusive course in Gonzales, Louisiana. A friend of mine is a hot shot lawyer down there and he happens to be a member. On one of my visits down there we got a foursome together and he invited us to play a round at his club.

 One of the people in the foursome was the head of the local NAACP in a very large town in Louisiana at the time. One or two of the guys in the group were hackers, so our round was not moving along at a very good pace.

Behind us a group of gentlemen started yelling for us to speed it up, and someone in the group threatened to call the golf course Marshall to have us thrown out. My friend, the member, told them to play threw, but they were having none of it.

Eventually someone from their group approached us and asked us if there was a problem. Why is it, he wanted to know, couldn't our group play faster? This is when it got interesting, because, well, I just couldn't take it anymore. I told him in no uncertain terms to go f*^* himself and that we will take our time and enjoy our round of golf because we were still within the time limits set by the course Marshall. And that if he and his group didn't want to play through, as they have every right to do, they could wait.

My friend, Mr. NAACP, was beside himself. He wasn't mad at the arrogant prick and his friends; he was mad at me for having the nerve to talk back to them. "Wayne, that's not how we do things down here. Would it have hurt to apologize and explain that we have a couple of guys in our group who aren't very good?" My reply went something like this: Actually Alvin, it would have. And if you are the president of the NAACP down here I feel sorry for your members.      

Needless to say that our relationship has been strained ever since. The point is, even as the leader of the NAACP,  he saw nothing wrong with taking this guy's crap. Maybe it was out of fear. (I later learned that the guy was some powerful and wealthy businessman in South Louisiana.) Maybe it was out of  some form of survivalist conditioning or Stockholm Syndrome. Who knows? In his world that's just the way it was.

I don't know. On one level I admire the courage and the resilience of the people of Charleston. And yet, on another level, I just keep going back to that golf course. "Wayne, that's not how we do things  down here." 

Well maybe it's time y'all started doing things a little differently.







 





   

Clayton Bigsby Revisited.

Every now and then we get one of these Negroes in A-merry-ca who is such a traitor to his race that you almost want to call the "Drop Squad" in on his ass. Take Jesse Lee Peterson, for instance. This slave catching Negro is such a despicable and reprehensible excuse for a human being that it pains me to even talk about him. But I must, because he is a pawn in a game far more nefarious in nature than his dumb ass even realizes. Ask yourself this: How can a man like Peterson, who speaks like a wino who hasn't slept in days, and whose ability to reason is clearly lacking, manage to be elevated to the status of a national figure and come into the living rooms of millions of A-mery-cans every night? I will tell you how: because the people bringing him into A-merry-ca's living rooms want the Jesse Peterson image and persona to represent how A-merry-ca perceives black folks, that's how. I keep telling you folks that Rupert Murdoch is a dangerous man, but no one listens.

Anyway, read the following excerpt from the fabulous web site' "Newshounds", and tell me what you think of one Jesse Lee Peterson:

"Sean Hannity finally made a show of distancing himself from one of his favorite African American guests, Rev. Jesse Lee Peterson. During last night's (2/3/09) Hannity, Peterson announced, “I think we all agree that Barack Obama was elected by, mostly by black racists and white guilty people.” Although Hannity professed to be shocked by Peterson's remarks, he has a long history of making such statements in Hannity's presence. Also, Hannity is associated with Peterson's organization, BOND, and gave no indication he would discontinue that association. Furthermore, Peterson is booked tomorrow on FOX & Friends. Will FOX News continue to welcome him? All indications are that they will. With video.

As soon as Peterson had a chance to speak, he launched his racial attack against Obama: 'I think we all agree that Barack Obama was elected by, mostly by black racists and white guilty people. Most black Americans, 96 percent of them, are racists who (unintelligible) white Americans. And white folks feel guilty and they are afraid of being called racists,' Peterson said.

This was too much even for Hannity, who usually tacitly approves Peterson's bigoted rants. This time, Hannity said, 'Do you really believe 96% of black America is racist? You don't believe that. 'Yes, sir,' Peterson answered.

'No, you don't believe that,' Hannity repeated.

OK, so maybe Hannity thinks Peterson believes only 90% of blacks are racist. Because that is exactly the kind of thing that Peterson has been saying for years on Hannity & Colmes, without a peep of objection from Hannity.

For example, last summer, Peterson said about a racially charged primary in Memphis, 'Most blacks, not all but most in Tennessee, especially in the Memphis, Tennessee area, are still living in the 50’s and 60’s. They are so racist that they don’t even realize that white Americans have moved on. And so whenever there’s a campaign like this, such as this, they always use racism in order to intimidate white America.'

Not only did Hannity not interrupt then, he refused to allow the other guest, who was duly outraged, to make a point in opposition.

Similarly, in December, 2006, Peterson told Hannity that it was “commonplace” for blacks to have antagonism against whites, that whites should speak up about it but can't because they'll likely be labeled as racists. Hannity responded by saying, “Always love having you,” to Peterson.

So Hannity's surprise at Peterson's latest attack on black Americans was somewhat suspect. It's especially so given that Peterson's

latest effort, which he hyped later in the show, is the Stop Obama's Socialist Change Tour which lists, as one of its 10 reasons to “fear an Obama Nation:”

Making Dr. King’s Dream A Nightmare—for Black and White. Barack Obama has encouraged black Americans to worship him as a “Messiah”, and is planning to hand out government funds under the guise of a “stimulous package” to those who won’t work (this is the payoff expected by many of his constituents).

Peterson continued with a line that was reminiscent of his 2006 remarks above. 'As we move on, with Barack Obama being in there, you're not going to be able to speak out against him at all unless you, you will be called a racist.'

Hannity, with hammy humor, indicated he did in fact have some concern about being called a racist because he's a white critic of Obama. “So you think – as a chief critic of Obama – Well, I've been called a Nazi and everything else,” he said. Then he added that he thought “97% of Americans are not (racist).” (Comment: I've alleged for years that Hannity is a bigot but not because he criticizes Obama.)

Peterson went on to accuse those who voted for Obama of having done so 'because they have a socialist mentality. If you want to know what socialism looks like, look at the black community.'"

More here

This Negro reminds me of Clayton Bigsby, the black white supremacist character from Dave Chappell's show who doesn't realize he is black because he is blind. Seriously, someone needs to ask Chappelle if he got the inspiration for that character from Ole Jesse. It wouldn't surprise me if he did. The tragedy is that Dave Chappelle's show is supposed to be funny; FOX NEWS, on the other hand, is not.