September 7, 2014
Reality Check
Part 2: The Numerous Ways That Black Folks Sustain White Supremacy
By A. Peter Bailey
(TriceEdneyWire.com) - The first column about the harsh reality of the numerous ways that a sizable number of Black folks help to sustain the psychological toxin of White supremacy focused on the general nature of the infection. This column focuses on specific comments made by notable Black people who contribute to and advance the interest of proponents of White supremacy. A third column will present ways to successfully combat the deadly toxin.
The first comment was attributed to now Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas by the Richmond Times-Dispatch:
“If I ever went to work for the EEOC [Equal Employment Opportunity Commission], or did anything directly connected to blacks, my career would be ruined. The monkey would be on my back because I’m black. People meeting me for the first time would immediately dismiss my thinking as second rate.”
Next are entertainers Whoopi Goldberg and Morgan Freeman. Declared Whoopi in her book, Book:
“Call me an asshole, call me a blowhard, but don’t call me an African American. Please. It divides us as a nation and as a people and it kinda pisses me off. It diminishes everything I’ve accomplished. …”
Freeman, when asked by Don Lemon of CNN whether race plays a role in wealth distribution in America, answered:
“Today? No. You and I, we’re proof. Why would race have anything to do with it? Put your mind to what you want to do and go for that. …”
Then there’s educator and columnist Thomas Sowell who, according to Professor Calvin Miller in the Journal & Guide of Norfolk, said:
“Black students with SAT scores of 1000 should not consider going to any black college because they will be educationally mismatched.”
Equally revealing is Dr. Ben Carson’s insistence that the Affordable Care Act “is the worst thing to happen in this nation since slavery.”
To me, the most pathetic of such commentary was made by the late prima ballerina Janet Collins as quoted in the book, I Dream A World. She lamented:
“When you get to be an exceptional black, you don’t belong to the whites and you don’t belong to the blacks. You are too good for the blacks and you will always be black to the whites.”
The basic attitudes and beliefs expressed by the above, and which are probably shared by a significant number of Black folks, is most bluntly put forth in an observation by George Schuyler in his 1966 book, Black and Conservative. Insisted Schuyler:
“A black person learns very early that his color is a disadvantage in a world of white folks. This being an unalterable circumstance, one also learns very early to make the best of it. So the lifetime endeavor of the intelligent Negro is how to be reasonably happy though colored.”
That says it all about the deadly effects of the toxin known as White supremacy.
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