I’m sure you knew this already, but culture deeply informs the way two very different people truly see and perceive the very same event. I knew that, but knowing it and witnessing it are very different. Yesterday, I was doing an interview on a Sirius satellite radio show when the host began taking callers. The first caller, a sincere man who claimed to have over 20 years of experience in law enforcement, very seriously called what happened in McKinney, Texas, “a riot.” He wasn’t joking. He was an earnest dude. He watched the video and what he concluded that he saw was a riot in which the primary perpetrators were dangerous black teenagers. He wasn’t a troll. He meant it.
If the events of the past year or so- Ferguson, Cleveland, New York, etc.- can be said to have a recurring theme, a common thread that runs through them, it’s that they’ve exposed the still intense White fear of people with black skin. For years, White folks have collectively patted themselves on the backs for having created a “post-racial” society, a social order in which people are valued for their character instead of their skin color. That belief, sadly, is total, unadulterated bullshit- collective self-delusion of the first order. The truth is that, while discrimination may no longer carry the force of law, it’s still part of our collective ethos. Skin color still determines much of what happens in this life, what opportunities are available, and how one is treated by law enforcement. It’s why Whites have “anger control issues” but African-Americans are “thugs.” It’s why Whites burning cars and damaging property is a “celebration” but African-Americans doing the same thing are “rioting.”
If you’re White, you’ve benefited from White privilege…and you’ve indulged in at least a little bit of racism, whether overtly or unintentionally. If you don’t believe this to be true, you’re lying to yourself. It’s how we’re socialized; it’s how the world works. No matter how admirable one’s intentions may be, life with white skin is far easier, less burdensome, and less dangerous than life with black skin. If you don’t believe me, ask virtually any African-American about their life. I suspect it won’t take long to realize that being White means always having the playing field tilted in your direction.
Sean Hannity stated that Officer Eric Casebolt was fully justified in his behavior and in pulling out his pistol because the black teenagers could’ve come up behind the officers and “hit them with a shank in the back.”….
I saw beautiful black teenagers who looked like my own kids, but Sean Hannity saw prisoners who were potentially carrying shanks coming up from behind the officer, like on prison television, and stab them in the neck in front of everyone.
I suppose if you view life as something akin to the set of The Wire, this attitude might make sense, but pulling a pistol and slamming a 14-year-old girl to the ground? There’s simply no sensible explanation for this sort of overreaction. Regardless of the circumstances, it’s racism. Period.
For those of you who might find cause to argue that point, let’s try a little thought experiment. Imagine the children in question had been White, and ask yourself this simple question: “Would those children have been treated as violently as the African-American children were?” If your answer to that question is, “Of course they would,” I’d humbly submit that you’re living in a fantasy world. First of all, if the children had been White, the police never would have been called- they “belong.” The fact that Black kids were using a pool in a majority White neighborhood was all it took for people to feel threatened. White kids wouldn’t have so much as raised an eyebrow.
This isn’t 1965 Jim Crow Texas; it’s 2015 America…and it’s all around us.
Appearing later on the Sean Hannity Show on Fox News, former NYPD Detective Bo Dietl stated that one of the teens could’ve told the officer, “I’m gonna pop a cap.”
Really? First of all, who says that at all in 2015 besides a middle-aged man on Fox News? Secondly, the video actually has audio, and the kids are clearly upset, distraught even, at the sight of their young friend being brutalized. Nobody says a damn thing about “popping caps.” It’s preposterous and racist.
Who pops caps? TV gangsters from the early 1990s pop caps or threaten to do so. These kids were born in the year 2000, nearly a decade after Boyz N The Hood and Menace II Society were released.
That sad reality is that we live in a world that’s anything but post-racial. Skin color absolutely matters in America. Racism may no longer be overtly embedded in the law, but it’s absolutely present in our attitudes, our actions, our opinions, and our reactions. It’s what we pass to our children and our grandchildren. No matter how much we may believe otherwise, racism is deeply woven into the fabric of our collective psyche. Agree with that statement or not. It’s your choice, but it doesn’t change the truth. Until we can see our way clear to shedding our collective addiction to White privilege and addressing the still-rampant racism in our world, we have little hope that anything will change.
As long as there are people like Sean Hannity and other White talking heads on the Far Right willing to demagogue this issue to pump up their ratings, a significant portion of White America will continue to live in a fantasy world. Why can’t we all get along? Because we refuse to recognize the truth and deal with it honestly. It’s SO much easier when you can demonize The Other and convince yourself that THEY are the problem, and that THEY must be the ones to change. Welcome to the reality of America in 2015.
