Death to Whiteness
Not New to the Game
The Voices
I’ve heard it a thousand times from people speaking near me or directly to me. I’ve heard it in movies and music as both a joke and a serious charge. White devils. White people are evil. On the subway kissing a girl and hearing "I hate seeing white people kiss, it's disgusting!" Or in the most recent iteration as the closing line to a successful Netflix series... “I fucking hate white people.” I’ll tell you what, so do I.
Am I evil?
They called themselves the Black Israelites and they definitely believed the white man was the devil. How do I know, they said so as I walked by. So, I took a seat on the ground right in front of them.
I am a pretty liberal guy. To me, that means I believe in an infrastructure of equal access and that I’m open minded. I believe that circumstances we have little or no control over, such as our genes, our parents, our siblings, our environment when we’re growing up, our early schools - we control none of it - and yet, these factors often mold a person in significant and long lasting ways. As a liberal, I kind of believe we should build a society that helps all of us avoid negative life trajectories and find positive, self actualizing paths. That is a big part of being liberal to me, a compassionate social support system and infrastructure designed to help the average person make a good life for themselves. I mean, why else build a society at all?
I also feel women, immigrants, Native Americans, black people, poor people, LGBTQ people, and any other “others” have a legitimate claim to being frustrated if not outright angry at this society for failing to carry out these responsibilities. Or for even actively working to block access. It’s despicable.
So, I sat down to listen to the Black Israelites.
They had great bible quotes, they spoke with authority, and they used an intellectual tone to bring a sense of gravitas. I was amused, intrigued, and a little bit frightened. Not frightened by the big guy with a club in his hands eyeing me. Not frightened by the leader of the crew speaking terrible words directly at me. But by the prospect that I was born bad... innately evil. Yeah, welcome to the world of being open minded. It’s not like I’ve ever had a very upbeat self image anyway and my father had recently died, so, I was kind of vulnerable too. After all, I knew all the bad things I had done in my life and I’m aware of all the bad things white people have done over time. I think a lot of minorities growing up in the US also question the value of their identity.
I was still born and raised a smart ass, though. So, I asked them, “If you think I’m the devil, do you think it’s a good idea to piss me off?”
~uncomfortable pause~
Yeah. I said that. And yeah, they stopped on a dime like a record player in the Deep South at an all white club in 1948 when a black guy walks in. They were not amused. But they grew up in America just like I did, so they assumed the good guy would win in the end. And they knew for certain that they were the good guys. Truth be told, next to the devil, everyone’s a good guy, so...
They had some passages I should read to educate myself on my evil nature. One of them included the story of Jacob and Esau. Esau was pale and hairy and they interpreted this to mean he was white. He traded his spiritual gift of birthright - oldest son rights and privileges - for some food. He traded a lifetime spiritual gift given by God for some food. That’s a serious no-no. Apparently a much more heinous crime than offering food in trade for that birthright as Jacob did when he saw his brother starving. I have to admit, open mindedness got me again. I started to feel the burden of my evil. I flushed, meaning, my skin became red - you know, like the devil - and my fears were affirmed. I felt anger, another sign that I am bad. I started down a well trodden path of self loathing until I realized that white supremacists used the same text to justify their cause, to keep slaves, and to colonize the world. But I still wanted to play...
I pointed out to them that many Jewish people were white and not black like them. Their leader had a witty retort: “that’s because they’re Jew-ISH. They’re not Jews. They are not Israelites. We are the true Jews!” his voice rising powerfully just to let me know.
I thought that was pretty clever.
Caucuses
”So, what am I supposed to do? I’m evil, I’m a devil but I was born here just like you. I didn’t choose it. What should I do about it?” The answer was decidedly lame compared to the obvious “kill yourself” I think he should’ve used. “So, what am I supposed to do?”
He said “Go back to the Caucus Mountains!” and his friends laughed and looked at me as the butt of a good joke and I was like, “where the hell is that?!” and they laughed some more. Dammit Brooklyn College, no Geography courses?!
After that, I couldn’t help but wonder if there’s something evil about me and other white people. Later, I would link this episode in my life to the fact that almost all Europeans have some Neanderthal DNA. I imagined that maybe that DNA has stunted the white person’s ability to feel in the same way. Maybe it is easier to be cold and calculating... and murderous. To come up with the heartless pursuit of science. To build technologies that destroy the planet. To conquer land after land and still thirst for more. To be insatiably brutal.
Maybe white people are evil?
Or maybe the mind is really good at connecting the dots when you ask it to. Maybe when you ingest an idea and open yourself to it, you can see signs of its truth everywhere. Maybe if you’re an insecure white supremacist reading this, you’re scared shitless. Maybe if you’re black, you’re happy to know that you were right and that you are the hero and the white man is the devil.
Or maybe it’s the same trick used by the Nazis to justify genocide. Or the strategy of the Japanese as they brutally conquered and raped Nanking. Or the Mongols in their bloodthirsty conquering of Central Asia. Or the Maya and Aztec as they sacrificed innocents to the Gods and left such frightened neighbors that they quickly allied with the invading Europeans to take down the Aztec Empire. Or jihadists. Or any other piece of history in which a mythology infected a culture and drove the hands of what otherwise may have been good people to do disgusting things.
Maybe that’s what is evil in white people, the mythology of our supremacy. Maybe that mythology can be aroused in any of us and maybe the word white itself is a part of upholding the mythology. White is purity, and light. If we take one of the most basic dichotomies of day and night - we know that day is better. We all know that because we can see. While at night, we know it is scary. Children are afraid of the dark. Many adults are afraid of the dark. Death lurks in the dark and surely death is black, like mold. Like decay. Like the scary, unknown darkness.
So, as this guy points out, is it any wonder that the cream colored, pink hued, olive toned, tan and bronze people of the world decided to call themselves white? Is it any wonder that the brown and caramel colored people they would subjugate would be labeled “black”? No, it’s not surprising because it is strategic.
So which is the really bad part? The fact that white people have played this trick on the world? Or the fact that we, including middle class and poor European Americans, along with Native Americans, African Americans, Mexican Americans, Chinese Americans and all of us... keep falling for it, participating in this language of domination, and perpetuating white supremacy? Which is worse today?
I love the line from Dave Chapelle when he was talking with Maya Angelou and they showed a comedy clip, he said: “...when I say jokes about white people, don’t think for a second that I’m talking about you. Don’t forget, I almost had 50 million dollars! Boy, now if you make enough money in America, they’ll pull back the curtain and introduce you to the real White people.” Now, that’s a crime... but Nick Cannon and Professor Griff still haven’t pulled back the veil.
Or is the real crime that we, as a culture, have not yet devised a durable and widespread mythology that tasks us with caring for the planet and each other? Maybe it is a crime to fail to provide such a "mission" for the human race even as religion and mythology fade. This unmoored existence provides fertile ground for people with nefarious missions looking for soldiers. So, what's your mission?
So true. Good thoughts and great story
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