Sometimes It Really Is Black & White
No Me Digas. Op-Ed: Keith Price
Since our Homeland Security has finally called White supremacists groups domestic terrorist threats, some armed and disgruntled white men in Michigan planned to kidnap, try, and execute their governor. The insane part is watching the media still be afraid to call this foolishness an act of terror, while many folks still refuse to speak out against it. They become defensive when chastised about their guns and bad ideas. They have a president who blows dog whistles, and even a local sheriff cosigning the behavior. Meanwhile, the throats of civility and decency in our country are being held at knifepoint by this energy.
It’s easy to dismiss this as toxic masculinity, racism, and white supremacy all rolled up in the above cast of Duck Dynasty: The Early Years. Just a few months ago, I remembered writing about the armed men and their groups in Michigan and Wisconsin storming the state houses without repercussions. One could infer that the young white man involved in the Kenosha shooting might be part of the youth wing of these cray-cray organizations. It certainly would explain how he got his hands on that kind of weaponry. I wondered what can happen when this behavior goes unchecked, and now we all see.
As these groups become more and more emboldened by Trump, what does the rest of America do in the meantime? I agree that someone like Joe Biden will make the conversations happen and not stand in the way of legislation that will try to protect us all, but what happens if he loses this election? According to the Southern Poverty Law Center, there are over nine hundred hate groups now, and I have a feeling that number will just continue to rise. This amount of disdain for the rules of law and of government that these hate groups possess is truly mind-boggling. The mere fact that these groups can even exist is a testament to the rights that they actually have in this country. Their overall message is hard to discern. It sounds more like whining with a side of weapons and crazy. I am sure that there are studies galore on the environmental upbringings, moods, and finances of today’s disenfranchised white male that will help explain all of this, but sincerely, who cares? The answer better be all of us. These unhinged folks are not just sequestered in the wilds of Northern Michigan. They are in every major city hiding behind their unassuming veneer of careers like politics, the law and law enforcement, education, medicine, etc. One of my childhood friends confessed to me that his accomplished, graduate-level, educated parents were both flaming racists. I was shocked, but thank God, we were living in a time when that behavior and attitude stayed behind some sort of restraints when it came to us kids. Who knows? I guess they saved it for the “meetings”.
As I try to understand the anger of those terrorists, I cannot help but look at some of our own homegrown ones within the black community, too. At one of Jim Jones’, er, I mean Trump’s, recent super spreader events at the White House, there was a portion of the audience paid by the black conservative group, BLEXIT. It was coordinated by its founder and Massa’s minion, Candace Owens. The act of bringing folks of color to an event co-hosted by the president and COVID-19 should be compared to a modern-day Tuskegee Experiment or smallpox infested blanket to the Native Americans.
What makes this gathering despicable is that so many people are hard up to make a buck as it is, and to offer them money to play Russian Roulette with their lives is shady. They are blamed for being poor and/or unemployed during this pandemic. These conditions have been exacerbated by the lack of action by this president and his cronies. It is then further compounded by a self-loathing black lady giving them money and sending them to potential death.
This is no better than the African tribal leaders that captured their fellow black enemies and sold them to the white man. No one really likes to talk about it, because it does take away a teensy bit of the sting of slavery when you realize that an enemy tribesman, who is as black as you are, sold your ancestor into slavery. I guess this is where “all skin folk, ain’t kinfolk” really originated. In either case, it appears that we must stay vigilant because the terror is coming from all sides now. If they cannot get you with guns, then they will get you a disease. It is going to be up to all of us to navigate against this craziness. We might never get as fierce as Megan Thee Stallion versus Missouri Attorney General, Daniel Cameron, in her recent Saturday Night Live appearance , but I admit that I cannot wait to see what she might say to Candace Owens, or better yet, Diamond and Silk.
Wear a mask. Wash your hands. Vote.
