Source: N.Y. Sun
I’m Bi-racial. I grew up in the 70s in an all Black family who lived in an all Black neighborhood that was infested with Black Muslims, who more then once told my single mother I was a “devil baby” and she should kill me. My mother sent me to private schools in white neighborhoods to escape the racism I was subjected to in East Orange, NJ, and in those predominantly white areas I found another racism, the self conscious, smug superiority of white “liberals” who saw Blacks, and anyone with Black blood, as needy, inferior pets that were at best useful accessories for use in proving how “progressive” one was. I therefore grew up to be a little sensitive on issues of race.
One issue I’m particularly sensitive about is the white idea that minority experience is the same, that Blacks have the same experience in America as say Muslims, or Gays. They don’t. Just as my experience as a Bi-racial person is vastly different from the experiences of my family, the “plight” of the Muslim or the Native American is vastly different then that of African Americans. Because I’m often assumed to be white by other whites (or Hispanic in the summer when I get my tan), I’ve been able to see this phenomenon from a perspective other Blacks never do. That is, I see the reason white “activists” like to lump their various struggles together, why a Ward Churchill believes the African slave trade is similar in some way to “Islamaphobia” even though Muslims continue the barbaric act of trading slaves in Africa (and thus Black folk should be Islamaphobic when you think about it!) or why the newly enriched Native American tribes are caught up in the same struggle inner city Blacks and Latinos are.
They don’t care.
I will tell you now my Black brothers and sisters, though many of you have been convinced otherwise, that white radicals don’t really care about you. They don’t “like” Black people; what they like is the perceived moral authority those who are “oppressed” have, and they seek to co-opt it for themselves. When white radicals talk of solidarity, what they want is you to carry their banner, thus shielding them from debate and criticism. They want to impress other whites with their “progressiveness,” their largess. They want to scare other whites with their new Black friends (who everyone knows are more prone to violence, so watch out!), they want to shock their parents with the thought that they may have bedded someone their parents disapprove of. To radical whites, Black folk are no different then a Sex Pistols tee-shirt or a Tupac CD being blasted out their daddy’s car window.
Which brings me, inevitably, to the picture above, of Ward Churchill, the Communists’ very own Vanilla Ice who’s made a living pretending to be an Indian and carrying water for A.I.M.’s Colorado chapter, whom I have it on good authority hate Black folk, by the way. Righty bloggers are of course incensed by his 60s style throwback rants, but what got my blood boiling was that damn picture.
Fist in the air in a Black Power salute, the smug look of a man who knows this picture will make all his white friends jealous, Churchill blithely pisses on Black empowerment so he can have a “cool” photo on his office door at the University of Colorado.
“Weren’t you scared?” some fellow radical will ask after looking around to make sure none of them are around.
“No way, man,” Churchill will croak out, “they knew I was speaking for us all! They really got it, that I was a righteous white man … I mean non-white…you know.”
“You’re sooo cool!” his boot licking fellow “academic” will swoon like a lady with a corset on too tight. Feeling slightly faint, he’ll say something like, “Oh Ward, if only I had half your bravery, I could speak truth to power surrounded by the Negroes!”
Churchill will scoff at this. “They prefer Nigger, I heard them calling each other that on the street.”
Notice how psuedo-Indian Churchill snakes the salute behind that dude’s back, sneaking it in so it’ll show up on film, but the people he’s with wouldn’t really notice it. Or how Churchill’s little groupie in the front is clearly clutching her purse. That ain’t right.
I guess that the real problem for me is that so many Brothers and Sisters fall for it. They buy tickets to see people like Churchill speak, they buy people like Churchill’s books, then they pose for pictures with them. Pictures that’ll end up hanging on his wall like the head of a Lion taken on safari. Churchill doesn’t care what the plight of Black people is, if it can be solved or if every Black African in Darfur is exterminated. He just wants a couple to be around to take photos with to show his friends.
And unfortunately there will always be a couple around him to willing to pose.
