The Blatant Caucasity of It All
Do me a favor. The next time someone tries to tell you that racism is a problem that is relegated to only certain areas of the country and that they’re mostly below the Mason-Dixon Line, point them in the direction of this post. You would think a largely Democrat state like New Jersey would be chock-full of progressive people with progressive ideas and would patently reject anything that looks like even covert racism. But if you think that, you would be wrong. I spent most of my life in Jersey, and any black person who has spent any degree of time living in the state can tell you that racism is alive and well there. I think there’s an incorrect notion, particularly among the white population, that any instances of bigotry and oppression are few and far between. And those people are living in a bubble of denial, and they need to branch out. Ask any black person in Jersey, and they can quickly tell you which cities and towns black people would be crazy to move to because it is so clear that we are not wanted there. They can tell you which towns not to drive through, because the police will be quick to pull you over when you have literally done nothing anybody else on the road isn’t doing as they zoom past you while you’re stopped. And they can tell you that a middle-class black neighborhood in any city or town will always have houses which are valued lower than a comparable white neighborhood in the same city or town. To put it quite simply, it’s really bad, and what’s worse is that white people don’t want to talk about it. What’s more, they get angry if you try to bring it up. And if you need proof of that, check out almost any article on NJ.com, and you will see the vitriol that spews so freely from people who are so unashamed that they post comments under their REAL NAMES. Any article is an opportunity to bash black people, and those comments are often rewarded with a string of likes and agreeing sentiments. It’s disgusting and the reason why I stopped going to the site even before I moved out of the state. But for the sake of the edification for those who might have been unaware, take a look at just a few of the racist comments that were posted in response to an article detailing the impact of covid-19 in NJ’s largest city.  And tell me if you notice a theme. (Hint: You should notice a theme.)
And upon seeing this, I began to get an eerie sense of déjà vu, like “Where have I heard these sentiments before?? They sound so familiar!” And then it totally hit me. Click on the link below to check out a short clip taken from the documentary series Eyes On The Prize which chronicles the Civil Rights Movement. Keep in mind that the news footage shown is from 1955.
Clip from Awakenings 1954-1956
Everyone who keeps hurling insults at “the media” for dividing us when it comes to issues of race, this is what you sound like. Ver-friggin-batim. Y’all act like oppression against black folks is only something one can witness “in the media”. And you know what that tells me? It tells me that many of you don’t live near black people, don’t befriend black people, and your kids don’t have any black friends, either which, incidentally, are all symptoms of these issues of race that we are trying to address. But by all means, keep yelling nonsensically at “the media” for racial division. Cuz that’s totally gonna help. And then you can retreat back to your white bubble of a neighborhood, of which you’ve probably not once stopped to think about why no black people live there. I’ll give you a hint: It’s not because none of us can afford it.
My overarching point is that, if America is ever going to successfully tackle its egregious history of racism and how the systems by which it currently runs are still reinforcing that racism, we ALL need to acknowledge there’s a problem. And white folks, if black folks are telling you that it’s a problem, then it’s a problem, and it is NEVER your place to tell us we are delusional just because you claim to have never seen it yourself. Because you have seen it; you just didn’t know what it was or how to parcel out what about the situation reeks of racism. And that’s not terribly surprising because, since it doesn’t directly bother you, why would you feel compelled to notice? And I don’t say that to insult you but rather to point out that you don’t get to argue, insist, and invalidate the black experience by denying racism is a real thing, because you don’t know how to identify it. So, maybe be a little more willing to listen to those who DO KNOW and not dismiss what is being said because it’s not what you want to hear. Because at the end of the day, the very fact that you are insisting racism isn’t a pervasive issue that needs to be addressed and are doing so by presenting the same exact arguments that were used to say the same exact thing over 60 years ago (arguments that didn’t stand to reason even then) means that it’s a problem, and petulantly complaining that you don’t want to hear about it will not solve it. Ever.
