'Gentleman's agreement' out, overt racism back in vogue

Blackonomics

By James Clingman

Skip the niceties. Let me tell it like it "tee eye is" for those of you who get it, those of you who don't get it and especially for those of you who get it but don't want others to get it. Truth is conscious black folks know a euphemism when they hear one. Like:

• states rights = segregation
• conservatism = legalized discrimination
• neocon = racist in a business suit
• talk radio = publicly acceptable racist chatter

Some of you aren't going to like hearing that-especially those of you who know some of us see you for what you are. And, there's no sense in wasting your time e-mailing me those ignorant letters laced with the n-word and all that. You've already made your point and your social impact is being felt.

The movement, the so-called conservative movement that is, has been successful. That success can be measured by the increased boldness in which folks with severe racial hang-ups are speaking out. The gentleman's agreement is dead. Emboldened by severe turns to the right in the Supreme Court and the White House and the course of shrill voices on the Internet and the radio, folks who once longed for the good old days when "darkies knew their place," are feeling their oats. Folks no longer need to bemoan the fact that lynching has going by the wayside, because it's apparently on it's way back. In other words, these same folks no longer are afraid to call a spade a spade so to speak and their euphoria is sweeping the nation- even around these parts.

Reports surfaced last week that black students at Heritage High School were being harassed, much like black students were being harassed in Jena, La. Reportedly, area black students at the rural high school are being referred to in notes and graffiti as "niggers;" being warned that there is a "niggerdieday," and that "hunting niggers" is a legitimate sport in the southern part of the county.

Have any of you noticed that this is not an isolated incident? Jena made the big headlines, but soon afterward, the mob mentality kicked in and nooses began showing up in other parts of the country at an accelerated rate to warn black folks that things were changing. Check the Internet and look at some of the comments posted on news stories- like comments I found beneath a story on the recent death of Kanye West's mother. One writer wrote in that the tragedy wouldn't have happened if the doctor's last name had been "Shapiro" or "Weinstein" and other similar names, implying that Mr. West's mother wouldn't have died if she had employed a qualified "Jewish" plastic surgeon instead of a black one. (Ironically, I got the impression that the writer really had no more use for Jews than he or she had for black folks.) The writer finished with something to the effect that it was okay to let black folks die in medical procedures because "they're animals anyway." The comment wasn't an isolated one. Others claimed that if the doctor involved hadn't been black, Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton would have been involved. (By the way, what is this unhealthy apparently sexual hang up that so many right leaning white males seem to have with the Rev. Jackson and the Rev. Sharpton these days? Isn't it a little strange to be worried so much about another man's whereabouts and doings 24-7?)

Point is, it's no longer politically incorrect to be racist these days. It's all supposedly covered under the First Amendment. So young folks are holding racist rock festivals and selling race hate music; they designate certain areas as "whites only" spots; they hang nooses around schools and places of business. It's just boyish pranks. Just ask Emmitt Till-if he could, he'd tell you it's just how those folks "play."

Bottom line is, overt racism coming back in style and has a growing number of defenders. Just turn on talk radio. Come on folks. Who do you think you're fooling? We know the affirmative action debate is not about reverse discrimination. Tell the truth-you don't want black folks working next to you, qualified or not. Check the numbers. Affirmative action helped white woman far more than it helped so-called racial minorities. Plus, you keep saying black folks are shiftless and lazy and on the public dole. As Dick Gregory used to say, "We can't have all the jobs and be on welfare too. Which is it?"

The so-called immigration didn't become an issue until large amounts of brown folks started coming here. Or, have I missed the complaints about Russians, Bosnians and other Europeans who brought crime syndicates and other problems to this country? No one seems concerned about that-just Mexicans, Haitians and Africans, oh yes, and Middle Easterners, it seems.

Why don't y'all just call a spade a spade? After all, it's coming back in vogue to be able to do so. The real issue here is the loss of white privilege. I don't blame those of you who are angry, upset and scared. If I had lived all my life with a consideration by virtue of birth and suddenly had it seized away. Imagine being a prince or princess, used to being ushered to the front of the line for years and then suddenly being told one day that you have to go to the back of the line with everyone else.

You know, there was a time when even if you were poor, uneducated, severely handicapped, in jail or whatever, you could always take solace in that at least you were white. There was a time when this meant something. Some of the elders told me of watching German prisoners from World War II ride in the front of American trains when black American so-called citizens had to ride in the back of the bus. Oh yeah, they could also eat in sandwich shops and at lunch counters from which we were barred.

Yes, those were the good old days-for everyone except black folks. Again, poor, neglected disenfranchised white could take comfort in the fact they were white and therefore superior to event the richest most educated black; rich white folks had no fears of revolt from their poor brothers and sisters because they gave them at least the privilege of racial status. And us, well, we got the noose. We're still getting it.

Just a short note and reminder

"You shall not wrong or oppress a resident alien, for you were aliens in the land of Egypt." - Exodus 22:21

"You shall not oppress a resident alien; you know the heart of an alien, for you were aliens in the land of Egypt." - Exodus 23:9

"You shall also love the stranger, for you were strangers in the land of Egypt." - Deuteronomy 10:19

CaCase closed. There's your immigration policy, or so you would think if you are a so-called conservative, neocon, or whatever. If you are one of those folks who say that this nation should return to biblical values, solving these modern day problems should be easy. For example, the above verse gives some hint as to how to deal with the immigration problem-open borders, let the stranger come in and reside in peace as long as he or she obeys the same laws as "citizens" do. (You can check those passages on your own.

This is part of the November 21, 2007 online edition of Frost Illustrated.

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