“True Islam taught me that it takes all of the religious, political, economic, psychological, and racial ingredients, or characteristics, to make the Human Family and the Human Society complete.”
― Malcolm X
Racism [rey-siz-uhm]
One word. One three-syllabled word; a word that has been a bur in the saddle and a thorn in the side of America almost since its inception. A word used with impunity by many to set ablaze all in its path where there is nary a spark nor an ember, and one that Malcolm X learned the truth about during his pilgrimage to Mecca.
It was during this time that he became the Malcolm that the race baiters don’t talk about or celebrate. He became the Malcolm that learned the hard way that all devils are not white, and true brothers sometimes come from other mothers.
With the recent deaths of Jordan Neely and that of George Floyd, one might think America to be a racist country based on the narratives- but nothing could be further from the truth. America does not have racist past; America has racists in its past. Yet, like a heavily carbonated drink shaken with intent, the baseless rhetoric concerning
oppression and civil rights has been aggravated beyond measure, spilling over into every societal avenue of our lives.
To society at large based on measurable studies, racism is not a part of everyday life for most Americans, black or white and most get along, spend time and work together well. But for those shaking said beverage, they will selfishly never allow Martin Luther King’s vision of “a dream that one day on the red hills of Georgia sons of former slaves and the sons of former slave-owners will be able to sit down together at the table of brotherhood” to come to pass.
A Grateful Son?
On June 26th, 2016, “Grey’s Anatomy” actor Jesse Williams went up to accept the BET Humanitarian award for his civil rights’ activism.
Williams, raised by white adoptive parents, could have given a speech of appreciation, and thanked the committee for their consideration. Instead, he chose to offer a country dividing, racially focused, self-gratifying, throwback to 1963 diatribe against the country that made him and other black actors and actresses rich.
“We’ve been floating this country on credit for centuries and we’re done watching and waiting while this invention called whiteness uses and abuses us, burying black people — out of sight and out of mind — while extracting our culture, our dollars, our entertainment like oil, black gold, ghettoizing and demeaning our creations then stealing them, gentrifying our genius and then trying us on like costumes before discarding our bodies like rinds of strained fruit. The thing is though… the thing is that just because we’re magic doesn’t
mean we’re not real.”
Besides statements about “this invention called whiteness (while having white parents),” these “race pimps” cling to any possible iota, seeking to keep this creature alive. It wasn’t long before the beast was revived …again.
Hang Man
When actor Jussie Smollett reported an alleged hate crime in 2019, America stopped in its collective tracks. News spread like wildfire across the internet and cable, after news that on January 29th, the Empire actor approached Chicago police with a horrific story.
Smollett claimed that in the early hours that morning, he had gone to visit a nearby Subway sandwich shop near his home. Seemingly out of nowhere two men wearing masks and MAGA (Make America Great Again) hats, attacked the actor, poured bleach on him, placed a noose around his neck and shouted to him, “This is MAGA country, nigger!”
For nearly a month this seemed to be all the world was talking about. Despite some of details being somewhat questionable, the story maintained its domination of the news cycle. Sports stars and award shows repeatedly took aim at the incident. While it was most certainly a dig at Trump, this alleged attack reinvigorated and reignited the already widening racial divide, and those on the left took the bait.
From every news outlet and orifice there were headlines and debates concerning how racist America was,
and how blacks were not safe in this country. Smollett made the rounds sharing his story, including an interview with ABC’s Robin Roberts.
This from CNN:
“Jussie Smollett gave his first detailed account of what he says was a hate crime against him, and the aftermath, in an interview with “Good Morning America” that aired Thursday. “I will never be the man that this did not happen to,” Smollett told ABC’s Robin Roberts. “I am forever changed. I don’t subscribe to the idea everything happens for a reason, but I do subscribe to the idea that we have the right and the responsibility to make something meaningful out of the things that happen to us, good and bad.”
However, that moment was short lived. The more the story was pushed, the more …things didn’t exactly add up. Soon, even his defenders were struggling to defend him- nonetheless they did. Though the story fell apart and Smollett was “arrested,” it changed nothing.
Damage Done
The damage Smollett and others like him only sought to inflict was no more than to keep the pot stirred. These types of stories are not only disturbing, but disheartening, because regardless of what anyone says, does or what
achievements are made, it all ends up like footprints in dirt; in moments, the proof that you were ever there is nonexistent. To ensure that erasure, one powerful speech, or a questionable event is always waiting on the horizon. Something that, as far as many are concerned, will instantaneously illuminate failure, while negating every success.
Racism: “A belief or doctrine that inherent differences among the various human racial groups determine cultural or individual achievement, usually involving the idea that one’s own race is superior and has the right to dominate others or that a particular racial group is inferior to the others”.
There will always be those looking to exploit, prostitute, and take advantage of race, racism, and the race card. It is invaluable to them because it never fails. Say the word racism or bring up “race” and those who are white generally avert their gaze to avoid appearing complicit. Say the same word to blacks, and it tends to spark an almost ‘PTSD’ type of response or anger, even when it is a imagined-slight.
When it comes to the rest of the world, their response is much different. By-and-large, the world has learned the
invaluable lesson that it took Malcolm traveling thousands of miles to understand: It is all a game to them.
When will you stop playing along?