I shouldn't have to say this, but just because we have a Black President in 2010 doesn't mean it was okay to invade and rape Africa 500 years ago.
I don't know where racists get the idea that LeBron James being able to sign a big money deal in the NBA means that 500 years of slavery, abuse, exploitation, segregation, dogs, firehoses, Bull Durham, George Wallace, the Klan, exploding churches, and Rush Limbaugh were okay. That's like saying it should be okay for people to rape you in prison, because once your therapy is complete, you're gonna have a really good story to tell.
Where does this idea come from? The slavers weren't looking to do hook Black folks up when when they showed up in West Africa. They didn't say, "If you come with us, your kids will dominate sports and pop culture one day," and even if they did, I don't think that's a very good selling point. They didn't rape our Black women to help their descendants with their hair care issues. Slavery was fucked up. Post Civil War America was fucked up. The 1960s was a less fucked up, but still fucked up. And every time someone suggests this myth that we are somehow better off today because Kunta and Belle watched Kizzy get sold off for learning how to read, it reminds me that things are still fucked up.
I don't think people who think this way really understand what slavery means. We didn't choose to go and there's wasn't an opt-out clause in our contract that said we could go back home if we didn't like it. We were stolen away from our homes. We had a religion forced upon us. We weren't even considered to be people. We were beaten, we were starved, we were forced to work, we were raped, we had no rights, no education, nothing of our own, isolated in a land that wasn't our own. And once we finally got free, we were resented by the oppressor for having the nerve to want freedom and equality. It took 100 years from the point slavery ended just to get the Civil Rights Act passed. And even now, we're still dealing with the problem of race in America, and if we weren't, I wouldn't be bothering to write this.
We were fine in Africa. The Africa of today isn't the Africa that was there when white folks showed up. We weren't bothering anyone when the slavers showed up with their hypocrisy and their Christianity (one and the same, really), and decided that our way of life wasn't good enough. Oh, and we had diamond mines. Can't forget that.
So, they enslaved some of us and colonized the rest. Yeah, you were really doing us a favor. If they really wanted to do something nice for Black people, they would have stayed the hell out of Africa. There wouldn't have been any exploitation of people OR resources. There wouldn't have been any colonization, any turning tribes against each other, and maybe, just maybe, none of the things that set Africa on the path to all this behavior that makes the world think that we are nothing but mindless savages. Yeah, you really helped us out, slavers. Our biggest problems before were just getting eaten by lions and the occasional tribal war. That shit is no problem at all when you're faced with smallpox, slavery, genocide, J. Edgar Hoover, and the crack epidemic. Clearly, we had no perspective at all.
Thank God you guys came and gave it to us, though. Now, we know what true wickedness is. Our form of slavery wasn't even the same as yours. In Africa, slavery was more of a debt to be paid for a loss of battle or crime committed, and eventually, the enslaved could leave. Your form was the corporate version of slavery, where slaves were a resource to be exploited; a commodity to be traded. Boy, were we naive!
So stop with the bullshit. Just because Michael Jackson sold a bunch of records and Roland Martin gets to be on CNN doesn't mean that everything that happened in 1849 was totally worth it. It was still a goddamn atrocity. The ends never justify the means. If they do, that means that the Holocaust and Hitler should be celebrated, because it got the Jews a free country, money, and gave us Steven Spielberg. Much like slavery, the Holocaust was fucked up. That's why they call it "The Holocaust," and not "Weekend at Bernie's 3: The Relaxing Gas-Chamber Sauna."
If someone truly believes that we should be grateful to white people for our peoples' journey through Hell, just because eventually, it worked out pretty decently, then that person should be thrown into piranha-infested waters for being that ignorant. Sure, we've made the best of a shitty situation, but claiming that the progress of the last 50 years means that the slave trade was okay makes them an asshole. America would be a much greater place today without all of that Black blood on its hands.
Saturday, February 05, 2011
Why I don't get Black Republicans
Michael Steele seems like a great guy, from what I can tell. He's engaging, he's likable, he's intelligent, and he has a sense of humor about himself. Overall, the guy seems to be a pretty fair and level-headed person. I could be wrong, because I don't have an encyclopedic knowledge of the man, but my take on him is that he seems to be fairly decent.
But he's a Republican, and that's where we split ways.
It doesn't have anything to do with politics, either. Believe it or not, sometimes, the Republicans are right. I know, I know, they really shit the bed with that "War in Iraq" thing, and being a friend of the rich at the expense of everyone else is a really stupid idea, but here and there, they have an idea worth listening to, like securing the Mexican border and while I don't think eliminating the estate tax will ever work, lowering it wouldn't be a bad idea. The problem is, every so often, one of them or someone who represents them says something that is just crazy racist.
It can't be defended or explained, but the Republicans will try like it's going to bring Ronald Reagan back. And that's when they trot out all of the black Republicans to tell us why massa didn't mean what you thought he said. And that's when I lose respect for them, because the Republicans are not interested in doing anything to help us out at all. I'm not talking about getting handouts from white people, because that's what they believe all black folks want. I'm talking about things like fixing the school system in lower-income areas or trying to lower the recidivism rate. You know, things that they've shown no interest in doing. Their solutions have always been school vouchers and "three strike" rules.
They can talk about being "the Party of Lincoln" all they want to, but everyone knows that they stopped being "the party of Lincoln" in the 60s, during the Civil Rights era. See, there's a reason why black folks stopped joining the Republican Party; they're bigots and racists. It's led by people like Rush Limbaugh and Glenn Beck, Sean Hannity and Bill O'Reilly, and if those people aren't racist, then Ann Coulter actually possesses a soul, and we all know that's not the case.
I can respect a difference of opinion. We probably aren't going to see eye-to-eye on things like tax cuts, abortion, Homeland Security, or many other things, but when you're accepting of people who say things like "I couldn't get over the fact that there was no difference between Sylvia's restaurant and any other restaurant in New York City. I mean, it was exactly the same, even though it's run by blacks, primarily black patronship,"(Bill O'Reilly) or [To an African American female caller]: “Take that bone out of your nose and call me back.," (Rush Limbaugh) well, it's pretty hard to say, "Now, that's a guy who's on my side." I know they're not going to work with me, because they don't even believe I'm an actual human being.
They are the voice of Republicans. They watch Fox News. They listen to Sarah Palin and Michelle Bachmann; Rand Paul and Louie Gohmert, instead of reasonable people. They don't condemn the crazy or racist shit they might say. They make excuses for them and blame the media for taking statements out of context. Now, maybe it's me, but I don't see how you can take something like, “Look, let me put it to you this way: the NFL all too often looks like a game between the Bloods and the Crips without any weapons,” out of context. Rush Limbaugh again, in cause you were wondering.
I don't believe that all Republicans are racist, but they sure do have a lot of racist buddies. Sean Hannity's ties to and apologies for white supremacy groups are well-documented; many supporters of Palin and Bachmann are unrepentant racists. And then, of course, there's Fox Nation, which is like accidentally wandering into stormfront.org. So, why would a black person want to hang around with people like this? Because you believe you have something in common with them? Because Abe Lincoln and Martin Luther King were once Republicans?
They don't like you, black people. And even the ones who do like you tirelessly defend the ones who don't. No one ever calls out these people. No one. And to think your presence will change this party from the inside is hopelessly naive. You're better off trying to prove that Taco Bell's meat has meat in it.
I'm not suggesting that you should become a Democrat, either. Hell, I'm not even a Democrat, because I don't want anyone thinking that I'm a pussy. But instead of trying to get in good with Republicans, why not form your own party? You can keep your conservative views and your dignity. You don't have to explain to anyone why you're okay with being second-class in your own party. You can earn the respect of your family and maybe, just maybe, get someone to take you seriously.
I'm just tired of seeing my black folks play the fool. The Republicans include you when they need you or when you further a goal for them. They think by having you parrot their talking points, that other black people will listen. And since people like Lil Wayne or the folks at BET aren't gonna change, I might as well try to appeal to people who appear to give things some thought. So let me conclude by saying this: By standing with them, you are the house negro who defends the slaveowner, even at the expense of himself. The above paragraphs have explained why.
But he's a Republican, and that's where we split ways.
It doesn't have anything to do with politics, either. Believe it or not, sometimes, the Republicans are right. I know, I know, they really shit the bed with that "War in Iraq" thing, and being a friend of the rich at the expense of everyone else is a really stupid idea, but here and there, they have an idea worth listening to, like securing the Mexican border and while I don't think eliminating the estate tax will ever work, lowering it wouldn't be a bad idea. The problem is, every so often, one of them or someone who represents them says something that is just crazy racist.
It can't be defended or explained, but the Republicans will try like it's going to bring Ronald Reagan back. And that's when they trot out all of the black Republicans to tell us why massa didn't mean what you thought he said. And that's when I lose respect for them, because the Republicans are not interested in doing anything to help us out at all. I'm not talking about getting handouts from white people, because that's what they believe all black folks want. I'm talking about things like fixing the school system in lower-income areas or trying to lower the recidivism rate. You know, things that they've shown no interest in doing. Their solutions have always been school vouchers and "three strike" rules.
They can talk about being "the Party of Lincoln" all they want to, but everyone knows that they stopped being "the party of Lincoln" in the 60s, during the Civil Rights era. See, there's a reason why black folks stopped joining the Republican Party; they're bigots and racists. It's led by people like Rush Limbaugh and Glenn Beck, Sean Hannity and Bill O'Reilly, and if those people aren't racist, then Ann Coulter actually possesses a soul, and we all know that's not the case.
I can respect a difference of opinion. We probably aren't going to see eye-to-eye on things like tax cuts, abortion, Homeland Security, or many other things, but when you're accepting of people who say things like "I couldn't get over the fact that there was no difference between Sylvia's restaurant and any other restaurant in New York City. I mean, it was exactly the same, even though it's run by blacks, primarily black patronship,"(Bill O'Reilly) or [To an African American female caller]: “Take that bone out of your nose and call me back.," (Rush Limbaugh) well, it's pretty hard to say, "Now, that's a guy who's on my side." I know they're not going to work with me, because they don't even believe I'm an actual human being.
They are the voice of Republicans. They watch Fox News. They listen to Sarah Palin and Michelle Bachmann; Rand Paul and Louie Gohmert, instead of reasonable people. They don't condemn the crazy or racist shit they might say. They make excuses for them and blame the media for taking statements out of context. Now, maybe it's me, but I don't see how you can take something like, “Look, let me put it to you this way: the NFL all too often looks like a game between the Bloods and the Crips without any weapons,” out of context. Rush Limbaugh again, in cause you were wondering.
I don't believe that all Republicans are racist, but they sure do have a lot of racist buddies. Sean Hannity's ties to and apologies for white supremacy groups are well-documented; many supporters of Palin and Bachmann are unrepentant racists. And then, of course, there's Fox Nation, which is like accidentally wandering into stormfront.org. So, why would a black person want to hang around with people like this? Because you believe you have something in common with them? Because Abe Lincoln and Martin Luther King were once Republicans?
They don't like you, black people. And even the ones who do like you tirelessly defend the ones who don't. No one ever calls out these people. No one. And to think your presence will change this party from the inside is hopelessly naive. You're better off trying to prove that Taco Bell's meat has meat in it.
I'm not suggesting that you should become a Democrat, either. Hell, I'm not even a Democrat, because I don't want anyone thinking that I'm a pussy. But instead of trying to get in good with Republicans, why not form your own party? You can keep your conservative views and your dignity. You don't have to explain to anyone why you're okay with being second-class in your own party. You can earn the respect of your family and maybe, just maybe, get someone to take you seriously.
I'm just tired of seeing my black folks play the fool. The Republicans include you when they need you or when you further a goal for them. They think by having you parrot their talking points, that other black people will listen. And since people like Lil Wayne or the folks at BET aren't gonna change, I might as well try to appeal to people who appear to give things some thought. So let me conclude by saying this: By standing with them, you are the house negro who defends the slaveowner, even at the expense of himself. The above paragraphs have explained why.
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