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In the first part of “The People Who Cried Wolf,” I examined the almost never-ending need for black people to cry out oppression without determining visions or plans for progress. That is something that comes naturally, but looking deeper into the situation throughout this country and in the media I am struck by another situation which has a strange strength in this country. Reverse racism (or the “People Who Cry Wolf” knowing that they are apart of the Wolfpack, s/o to all my True Blood watchers out there).

Over the past week, the media has taken to the story of Shirley Sherrod and how a conservative blogger was able to get her fired from her position at the USDA over statements that were considered racist by the untrained ear. To me, all her statements (even in the doctored video) were REAL. There is nothing like dealing with someone that has a distinct memory of the slavery that used to hold this country. Who in this country would have that memory better than an old farmer from the south? So naturally, it would difficult to help someone who has benefited directly from the work of your ancestors. But ultimately, being able to look past everything and help the old farmer was the conclusion of the story and the beginning of another conversation.

For years, Faux News has been doctoring articles and video to help them scare their viewers into a paralyzed state of paranoia that enables them to build movements of fear and hate. Anyone have a sudden urge for tea? Anyway. This is not new, so I’m not going to waste any energy on that. What’s new is it worked (for the 4th time). Because of their false news story, an employee was let go from her position at the USDA, but more importantly the government as a whole showed who/what is more important to them moving forward.

Where I grew up, it was general practice for white people to wear confederate flag belts, hats, and shirts to school everyday. It was also know that this was okay with the administration. When a new dress code was implemented my junior year of high school, the clothes that we highlighted were baggy jeans, shirts with civil rights figures like Malcolm X, and gold chains because all these things showed a hate for (or more importantly the understand that we were not apart) of white America. These articles were considered threatening and yes you get it, racist against the majority white population. But no consideration was ever given to the confederate flag clothing. You may ask yourself why this was, but my justification is that for every child that wore a “rebel” flag t-shirt there were more 4 that wore baggy jeans. This made parents in the area look at their children in clothing that made the black people look like “niggers.” Probably was a little too much or it could have made them second guess what they hated in the first place (the person or the clothing).

What’s more important to point out in this situation as we look to the events of last week? Is it the fact that racism still exists in America, or is it the power that white American has anytime they want to play the reverse-racism card? I’m going to go with the latter only because the NAACP and the federal government chose to point the finger at Sherrod before knowing the whole story (keeping in mind the story was being run on both organizations number one supporter Faux News… hmmm…). Similar to the principals at my high school that were more concerned with the clothing that made them uncomfortable to deal with the black students problems, this was the “principals” of this country’s way of stopping any conversation that could make everyone in the majority uncomfortable. Only thing is, my principal was a middle aged white woman, and this country’s in a highly educated, articulate, and simply cool black man. To me, this situation should have been right in the wheelhouse for an hour long speech on national television about the race problems that are still holding this country back from the future dream that we have sold ourselves.

But again, the government did its best quality control exhibition and tried to stay far away from the issue of reverse-racism and why the country ate it like the free Popeye’s chicken at a Tyler Perry movie premier. This just points at the box that overt racism can put you in. It keeps you from speaking in the first place because of the fear of retaliation. But if you have the strength to speak, it can also strike you down as a racist for being against the racism that holds you. So instead of have a press conference addressing the people at Faux News and their attempts to spread poison to people uneducated about race, we continue to let “white kids in school” wear their confederate flag shirt, hats, and belts. And where does that get us you ask? That depends on what kind of change you were hoping for 18 months ago, but at least no one wears any Malcolm X.

Check out this great Washington Post Article on “The Reverse Racism Ploy and Obama”

And Stay Gifted.

cody

Tags: NAACP, Obama, Politics, reverse racism, Shirley Sherrod