Have Straight Black Men become the new face of White Guilt?
White Guilt Then
Appeals to white morality have been the modus operandi for Black integrationists from Frederick Douglas to Martin Luther King Jr. A core tenant of this strategy is that white guilt will serve as the main ingredient to Black Liberation; so Blacks are encouraged to lay it all on the line in the fight for good whites. Such a belief was the ideological thrust behind the abolitionist ‘Slave Narratives’, and the eventual adoption of a Non-Violent philosophy in the century long conflict for Black American citizenship.
Outside organizers have convinced the sanctioned Black “leadership” that a mass base coalition of Whites and Blacks is the ONLY path to Black Liberation. Therefore, without white allies, Blacks will be forced to go it alone, and never break free from their yolk of enslavement. This age old assumption is one that is never challenged, so all admonitions to self-reliance are disregarded, or completely ignored as fools talk. As such, white guilt becomes the most effective tool for enlisting white people to help their formerly enslaved servants freely integrate into white society.
White Guilt Now
In Michael Eric Dyson’s most recent ode to White America, “Tears We Cannot Stop: A Sermon to White America”, he opens the book with a passage from one of the greatest writers in the Black liberation tradition, James Baldwin:
What it comes to is that if we, who can scarcely be considered a white nation, persist in thinking of ourselves as one, we condemn ourselves, with the truly white nations, to sterility and decay, whereas if we could accept ourselves as we are, we might bring new life to the Western achievements, and transform them… The price of this transformation is the unconditional freedom of the Negro… He is the key figure in his country, and the American future is precisely as bright or as dark as his.
With this opening, Professor Dyson is reminding his white brothers and sisters that the price they must pay for their salvation, is to continue fighting for the redemption and salvation of Black America. This tactic falls in line with the traditional conservative (respectable) approach to integration that is espoused by many folks from his generation; but younger initiates aren’t here for the respectability politics.
The current generation of “civil rights” activists have adopted a more radical approach to integration referred to as intersectional (Black) feminism. With this model, the traditional dichotomy of white oppressors and oppressed blacks is no longer relevant. The new social currency becomes privilege, as assessed by a subjects proximity to Able-bodied, Cis-gendered, White-heterosexual-maleness. The higher you are on the scale of oppression, the more penance you must pay for your salvation. Black men were the first to be offered on the altar of intersectionality, but cishet Black women are not far behind.
In this environment, Black men are perched high atop the list of oppressors of the marginalized community. In fact, one of the first lessons taught to unlettered initiates seeking entry into the group, is that “Black men are the white people of the Black community”. This is a core tenant of the intersectional philosophy, so in order for Black men to enter into alliance, and gain acceptance into the newly formed marginalized community, they must check their privilege, only speak when spoken to, and follow the direction of Black women. It’s sort of like that story told by the revolutionary Palestinian, who was crucified by the white power establishment a little over 2000 years ago:
As Jesus was starting out on his way to Jerusalem, a man came running up to him, knelt down, and asked, “Good Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?”.“Teacher,” the man replied, “I’ve obeyed all these commandments since I was young.”Looking at the man, Jesus felt genuine love for him. “There is still one thing you haven’t done,” he told him. “Go and sell all your possessions and give the money to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.”
For some men, this is too high a price to pay for their salvation; But anyway tho, I digress (LOL)… The point being, as black men are now considered an integral part of the larger group of oppressors, they are susceptible to the same public shaming tactics (i.e. white guilt) deployed against white liberals.
I remember in the early 2000’s, when I first came into consciousness, I used to watch a ton of Dr. Clarke and Amos Wilson lectures on YouTube. There was this one video that I came across on Sa Neter TV, that showed white people on 125th Street, in Harlem, kneeling down and kissing the feet of brother Sa Neter. I remember thinking, “them white people must be out of their damn mind to kneel down and kiss that man feet, I don’t care what my ancestors did!”. However, watching those videos taught me a lesson about white guilt, if white people are aggressively exposed to the true history of white genocidal practices on indigenous people, they’ll do damn near anything for forgiveness, and there are plenty of people willing to exploit them for it.
This brings me to the newly launched “Black men are Trash” campaign, that has been spearheaded by a number of notable intersectional twitter feminists. In viewing it at face value, it seemed at first to be more of the childish antics displayed in the over-hyped BM vs BW twitter beef (that no race conscious Black people should be engaging in). But as more Black Men are being indoctrinated into the Black Men are oppressors school of thought, they are beginning to engage in outwardly submissive behavior to gain the affection, attention, and forgiveness of the most dominant voices on the app (ally cookies). They’ve even gone as far as attacking women on twitter who have identified themselves as outsiders to the intersectionalist camp:
This group has a powerful online presence, and they’ve proven that by using their collective bully pulpit, they can beat even the largest of corporations into submission.
What’s most sinister about the campaign is that if any Black man stands up and says, “Not all men are trash” (LOL, as if any human life could be relegated to Trash), they are immediately gas lit, and condemned for pointing out the “obvious”. What this does is it conditions the mind of Black men to accept degradation, and teaches them that the only acceptable responses to verbal abuse is “please and thank you”. If someone can condition your mind to accept abuse, this is the first prerequisite for deeper enslavement (sexual, physical, or mental).
I initially wrote a simple thread concerning the dangers of this campaign, but after seeing how pervasive it’s spread after the Cleveland shooter, I realized that it was important to strike at the root of this evil. During times of crisis the human mind readily encodes any unconscious messaging being fed to it: BM are Trash… BM are Trash… BM are Trash… BM are Trash… BM are Trash… BM are Trash… BM are Trash… BM are Trash…
With the highly undiagnosed state of mental illness rampant in the Black Community, I can only imagine the impact of being bombarded with constant messaging from your wife, mother, sister, aunt, niece, and daughter that your life is valueless. Black men have already been beat into complete political submission by the white power structure (leaving their women and children completely vulnerable to systemic attacks), so many feel (YES, black men are capable of feeling) like they have nothing to lose, and are literally ticking time bombs.
I’m not sure how many people this post will reach, but I was inspired to write it, so I wrote it… If you have something to add to the convo, hit me up on twitter, or post your thoughts with the ht #WhiteGuilt
Either way, I hope we take the time to stop hurting one another, and work towards achieving true Black Love, Unity, and Respect.
Deuces.
-Omowale
