Black Racism and Ferguson

Last year, with not a little hesitance, I ventured to suggest that Black racism may be the biggest race problem in American today.  Events surrounding Ferguson are proving me all too correct.

Yes, that is a rather bold assertion for a White Texan to make.  But allow me to turn this around.  Let us revisit a horrific aspect of White racism decades ago. (And I apologize if this makes unpleasant reading.) A racist stereotype had it that Black men were prone to have a predatory interest in White women.  Numerous Black men were jailed, executed, and, yes, lynched because many racist Whites assumed that a Black man accused of raping a White woman was guilty.  To get a conviction, one rarely needed more evidence than a mere accusation against a Black man of preying on a White woman. All-white juries took care of the rest.

And at times racist White mobs made sure “justice” was done even before a trial with lynchings.  Evidence, the rule of law, and due process were unnecessary obstacles to mob “justice”.

Fast forward to today.  There is a racist stereotype about that White cops are prone to be eager to shoot and kill Black male youth.  If a White policeman finds it necessary to shoot a Black man to defend himself or others, many Blacks assume that the policeman is at fault and guilty of a hate crime.  And that even if the evidence contradicts said assumption.

That is exactly what we have in the Ferguson controversy.  The grand jury examined the evidence with praiseworthy diligence.  Their findings made clear the evidence confirms Officer Wilson acted in self-defense.  The findings contradict the “Hands Up, Don’t Shoot” myth – yes, that’s what it is. The grand jury and the District Attorney went beyond the call of duty and beyond usual secretive practice to demonstrate that an indictment was not called for at all.

Yet one poll has a breathtaking 85% of Blacks disagreeing with the grand jury decision not to indict. They don’t want to be confused with the facts; they know the White cop is guilty (or at least should be dragged into a trial for murder).  And, yes, at least a few have made calls to take the law into their own hands and kill Officer Darren Wilson – Black lynch mobs if you will.

Is this attitude prevalent among many Blacks that much different than the racism prevalent among many Whites of decades past? 

(And I have to pause here to give kudos to those Blacks who are standing up and decrying such attitudes.  I also want to make clear that what I am decrying is not a skin color problem; it is a cultural problem.)

And back in the days when White racism was dominant in wide areas of the U. S., White public officials exploited and encouraged racism and racist stereotypes.  Today, some Black public officials are doing the same.  Black Congressmen perpetuating the false and disproven “Hands Up, Don’t Shoot” racist anti-police narrative on the House floor no less is a particularly despicable episode of this.

Worse, Barack Obama and his Attorney General Eric Holder have shown their racism in their conduct of justice.  Yes, that is a harsh charge.  But, again, let us turn around what they are doing.

Let’s say a Black man was accused of murder, but a state grand jury refused to indict, and, not only that, the district attorney publicly stated that the evidence contradicted the accusation.  If a White President and a White Attorney General then attempted to commit the moral equivalent of double jeopardy and looked into trumping up Federal charges against the Black man, would that not be a grave injustice?  And would there not be at least a suspicion of racism and of an attempt to politically exploit racism?

Switch the skin colors, and that is exactly what Obama and Holder are doing.

I could go on, but I contend that is it now Black racism that is the worst race problem in this country.  Ferguson is demonstrating that all too well.  And, with assistance from the current president, Black racism is major contributor to dividing the U. S. as it has not been since the 1960’s.