The Reality of Racism in Modern America

There is a disease of epidemic purportion that has permeated our social fabric for the past thirty years, a disease that has in many ways served to almost completely incapacitate an entire element of American society….racism. This is not the textbook definition of racism that has been taught to us since the moment we stepped into the classroom: that of the white majority oppressing a black minority over hundreds of years in the form of Southern slavery, Jim Crowe laws, discrimination, and so on…The disease is of the opposite type, it is a near institutionalized belief that White America works to oppress Black America in a form of quasi-slavery. Slavery in the form of poor education, dismal housing, lack of opportunity, high crime rates, drug infestation and so on…they are all viewed as tools employed by the white elite to discriminate against Black America. The thinking goes that as long as the ‘black man’ is held down, he will not be allowed to prosper to the fullest extent of his potential and therefore be equivalent to the white man. While many blacks hold differing views that revolve around personal accountability and elevation of man through positive means, one only needs to turn on MTV, CNN, BET, or take a ride on the subway to realize that the mainstream black culture blames the white establishment for their plight. While history proved this rationale to be true up until the 1960s, there was a point where Black America made the transition from being externally oppressed to being internally oppressed. This internal oppression has embedded itself so deeply in black culture, politics, thought, and society that unless a concerted effort is made to effect change, an entire community will be left by the wayside.

Martin Luther King jr. will forever be memorialized as the black leader who solidified the equality of blacks in American society. The mainstream Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s had a universal and explicit agenda: to achieve an equal footing with White America. This equality was explicit in its inclusion of suffrage, desegregation, social programs, education, politics, and so on. The dream was simply to be considered equal, and the fight was against institutionalized racism and its manifestation in the United States Government. With the Civil Rights Act and subsequent measures, the dream was achieved. While no one can argue that the dejure equality immediately healed the wounds of an oppressed sector or society, it certainly provided a tremendous starting point for affecting change. After Dr. King’s assassination, the Civil Rights Movement seemingly lost its way and began to move away from a freedom movement to a siege movement. Leaders no longer spoke of achieving equality; rather they focused on using white guilt over racism to demand compensation for black suffering. Affirmative Action, reparations, Black Power, and so on, all became hallmarks of the black leadership from the 1970s to modern time. No longer is the message: “We want to be considered equal”, it is “Not only want to be equal but we want to be paid for what you (read whites) did to us.” If the guilt isn’t enough, this supposedly infestation of residual white racism began to be blamed for everything from poverty to homicide rates in the black community as discriminatory means to keep the blacks oppressed. In turn, the white establishment has taken this hook, line, and sinker.

Despite the monumental concessions provided to the black community solicited by demagoguery guilt by self-serving leaders, the black community continues to be in decline. By most if not all measures, Black America is far worse off in all respects than any other subset of our society. Why does unemployment of young males account for over 50%? Why do crime rates continue to remain obscenely high in black neighborhoods? Why is the high school graduation rate at or near 50%? Why are state and federal welfare recipients overwhelmingly black? Is it for lack of opportunity? No. Is it for lack of funding? Certainly not. Is it for residual white racism that does not allow blacks to advance in our society? No. The post-MLK black community has fostered a culture of victim hood and reverse racism that has become so entrenched that Black America as a whole has gone from being the oppressed to becoming the oppressor.

Consider the following three examples: the Duke Rape Case, Hurricane Katrina, and Hip Hop Culture. For those of you not familiar with the case, this past spring three Duke Lacrosse Players were accused of raping a black stripper who had been hired to dance at a team party. The District Attorney, in the heat of a close election in a majority black district, smelled blood and immediately launched a campaign of destruction at these three boys. He made a calculated effort to drive a wedge between the Duke University community and the surrounding area of Raleigh Durham using the underlying racial sentiment of the black community as his proverbial hammer. Botched case aside (which is a whole different article), before even hearing the convoluted and blatantly false details of the case, the black community immediately erupted in protest against the white Duke lacrosse players: marching in front of their home, making death threats at the Grand Jury hearing, and holding massive vigils on behalf of Crystal Gail Mangum. In the words of one student the Duke players deserved prosecution even if they were innocent as retribution for all the crimes committed against blacks by whites in the past. A profound example of the seething sentiments held so close under the surface by an entire community for those of another race. Another equally high profile manifestation of this ingrained culture of victim hood is quintessentially captured in rapper Kanye West’s statement during the Hurricane Katrina disaster: “George Bush hates black people.” I can write volumes over the Hurricane Katrina fiasco and hurl blame in a number of directions; however, not one once of blame can be assigned to entrenched white racism. The bottom line is that the victims who milled about the Superdome and Civic Center were all people who simply could not or would not take care of themselves. As harsh as it may seem, decades of overwhelming welfare spend in New Orleans and almost infant-like dependence on the Government for aid led to a city where quite literally an entire community couldn’t fend for themselves for 24 hours. The disaster was a direct result of Nanny State welfare policies that provided food, water, and shelter to generations of citizens who in the face of disaster did not have the tools or wherewithal to flee the coming storm. Do we ever read about the massive destruction and loss of life in Mississippi or Alabama? Do we ever read about the fact that the majority of Katrina victims were white? No…because the Superdome was a sea of black faces, the media and the black community (including the grossly incapable Mayor Nagin) choose to point the finger to white racists. Finally, Hip Hop Culture is quite literally the most prolific form of institutionalized racism that exists today. What other form of mainstream art advocates, no, mandates and enforces violence, drug use, rape, prostitution, and racism to name a few. Rappers had become the symbol to black youth of what success should be: bling, guns, women, and drugs. Turn on a rap video any time of day and you will see young men surrounded by scantily clad women, smoking marijuana, and talking about killing someone. When asked why they portray such a message, the common response is that they are reflecting the way it is on the street…in other words the way they were forced to live by the white man. The near universal acceptance of hip hop as a valid art form has had the direct effect of being the only default way to rise out of the ghetto and into success. Guns and drugs. Acceptance of the status quo…If Martin Luther King jr. accepted the status quo he would have held rallies with leg irons on.

Victim hood and its culture of festering reverse racism will continue to be the number one oppressor of Black America. It is up to the black community to take a stand for themselves and adopt a culture of work ethic, disavowal of the status quo, and social elevation by seeking leaders such as Shelby Steele or Bill Cosby who advocate such a shift. If not, the community will continue to marginalize themselves into further oppression and alienation from broader society. As we as an American people continue to move away from the terrible years of true discrimination and our lineages drastically diverge from the original white oppressors, guilt over perceived racism will cease to become a meaningful tool and Black America will have a difficult choice to make….