Most white Americans bristle at the blanket accusation of systemic racism, but the anger, the rioting, the looting and finally the execution style shooting of two policemen sitting in a squad care that have followed the high profile cases in the news are demanding attention. Unfortunately, the debate gets carried on without agreed upon definitions, making communication and resolution impossible. This seems to be by design.
In postmodern academia language is viewed as a "mask to power". So those who desire to obtain power need to control the language and make it serve a particular purpose because, in theory, that is what the ruling class has done. The redefinition of the word “racist” is a chilling and Orwellian signpost toward a troubling future.
Webster's defines a "racist" as "a person with a prejudiced belief that one race is superior to others". Most people understand racism in terms of an individual having a degree of animosity toward another purely on the basis of race.
But in today's academic and political circles racism has been redefined in a way that forces a particular outcome in all debate. A University of Delaware “diversity training” document is explicit:
“A racist is one who is both privileged and socialized on the basis of race by a white supremacist (racist) system. ‘The term applies to all white people (i.e., people of European descent) living in the United States, regardless of class, gender, religion, culture or sexuality. By this definition, people of color cannot be racists, because as peoples within the system, they do not have the power to back up their prejudices, hostilities, or acts of discrimination….’”
So all whites are racist and no blacks can be racist. Got that? Note that the reason blacks cannot be racist is not that they have no prejudices or hostilities, it is because they lack the “power” to back up their prejudices. The definition of racism is therefore not located in the beliefs of the individual but in the power wielded by a group or class.
By this definition all whites are racist and always will be until the white European system is overthrown. If any person of "European descent" has benefited from "white privilege", then no amount of individual humility, apology, or concern for the “oppressed” or compassion can ever alter the new reality that such a one is a racist. No matter how many generations pass from the days of slavery, all European descended individuals will remain "racist" presumably until they themselves are victims of similar systems of injustice and are no longer empowered. The end of racism requires the overthrow of the racist “system”.
The divide between those who accept the old dictionary definition of “racist” and those who accept the postmodern definition from Critical Race Theory has been exposed in bright lines in recent days. The common folk are confused and disoriented by the charge of racism, while the elites fan the flames that burn in the psyche of angry blacks in impoverished inner cities.
On August 9, 2014 In Ferguson Mo., a white police officer shot and killed a black male. The media immediately publicized the narrative put forth by a few “witnesses” who claimed that 6’4” 290 lb. 18-year old Michael Brown was an unarmed teen who was on his knees with his hands up when Officer Darren Wilson allegedly shot him in the back in cold blood. The media narrative preceded any confirmed facts, but it did serve to help inflame anger within the black community. After months of secrecy, a grand jury found that there was insufficient evidence to indict the Police officer for unjustified force and the town of Ferguson erupted in violence. Dozens of buildings were burned to the ground, cars were torched and days of unrest followed.
As for the evidence of what happened to Michael Brown, two separate autopsy reports and details of forensic evidence – some of it leaked well before the rioting – made it abundantly clear that Michael Brown, after robbing a convenience store, had reached into a police vehicle, punched officer Wilson in the face and had his hands on Officer Wilson’s firearm. Michael Brown’s blood was in the vehicle and powder burns were on his hand. Brown was apparently wounded when Wilson managed to fire shots from inside the vehicle. Evidence corroborated Wilson’s description of the events as well as that of other witnesses, that Brown fled away from the vehicle after the altercation leaving a blood trail from a bleeding wrist, then turned back and charged Wilson. African American witnesses testified that Brown charged Wilson not once but twice leading to Officer Wilson firing two sets of shots toward Brown, the second volley resulting in a gunshot wound to the head. At no time, it seems, did Brown have his hands up, nor did he surrender with the words “don’t shoot”.
The facts of the autopsy, the testimony of numerous witnesses and forensic evidence did not alter the narrative of white racism and the rioting proceeded as if no evidence could ever exonerate the white police officer or cast in doubt the description of the black convenience store robber as a mere “unarmed teen”. Individuals ranging from protesters to NFL players to members of congress continued to repeat the “hands up – don’t shoot” narrative as if the facts were the opposite of the actual forensic evidence.
Shortly after the riots in Ferguson, another grand jury decision incited more protests. A black man named Eric Garner was arrested in New York City. He had over a period of years been arrested multiple times for violating the law by selling cigarettes on the black market to evade a rather hefty cigarette tax. Whatever the wisdom of that law, he was in violation of it. Several officers proceeded to make the arrest.
A video (recorded by an individual later arrested on weapons charges) showed that Garner resisted arrest. Garner, like Michael Brown, was a large man, 6’3” and 350 lbs. but had numerous health issues. He is shown on tape slapping away the hands of the officers on scene and resisting arrest. In the ensuing struggle a smaller white cop aided in wrestling Garner to the ground by locking an arm around his neck. While on the ground, Garner is heard to say “I can’t breathe”, but the officers did not immediately release him. Paramedics were called as Garner continued to show signs of distress. After the arrest Garner passed away apparently due to respiratory and other health issues.
The narrative once again was immediately disseminated that Garner was “choked to death”, and that there was a racial motive, even though the lead officer on site was a black female. A grand jury essentially found that it was not possible to legally prove that the officer who applied the alleged “choke hold” intentionally murdered Garner, nor that any racial motive could be shown. Still, “I Can’t Breathe” t-shirts started to sell and to be worn by influential individuals as charges of racial motivation and intentional murder based on race started to fly.
The narrative that fueled the protests of the Garner case, with momentum from the Michael Brown case, focused on “unjust systems” and questions of systemic race. Pundits spent weeks arguing back and forth about the details of the two cases and asking questions about whether the “racial divide” could ever be bridged.
In both cases, many political leaders on the left chimed in with thinly veiled rhetoric about race and injustice directed at the police. Attorney General Eric Holder initiated a Justice Department investigation into the Michael Brown case. As protests escalated President Obama urged protesters to “stay the course”. Reverend Al Sharpton led marchers through the streets of New York.
Would there be any hope for calming the tensions? Not without more bloodshed.
On December 20, Ismaaiyl Abdullah Brinsley approached a police car in Brooklyn and opened fire on two police officers, shooting both in the head without provocation. Social media posts indicated the motive was revenge for the killings of Michael Brown and Eric Garner, accompanied by some radical Islamic influences. Brinsley was pursued into a subway tunnel and killed himself. Not incidental to the apparent motive of revenge against the racist white system is the detail that the two policemen gunned down were Hispanic and Asian, not white. Random violence follows as revenge for the mere allegation of racism.
Let us not miss the essential point.
If by definition “all whites are racist”, then it must follow that the death of any black man at the hands of any white cop is by definition a case of racism. If the premise is true then the conclusion is inevitable. If all whites are racist, then no white cop can ever shoot a black man, no matter what the circumstances, without “racism” being part of the equation. If a white police officer goes into a high crime neighborhood rife with gang activity and drug trafficking and faces a life threatening situation to which he must respond with force, by definition, his actions must be race related and as the privileged “European”, he can only be guilty. By the same token, the black individual can never be deemed to be motivated by racism.
This new postmodern definition of racism unfortunately makes the divide between white and black an impenetrable wall and virtually guarantees that the types of chaos that occurred in Ferguson, MO. will happen again and again. The intent of Officer Wilson becomes irrelevant as do the facts of the physical evidence that showed conclusively that Michael Brown had his hands on Officer Wilson's gun. The circumstances and motive for the arrest of Eric Garner become completely irrelevant to the true disciple of Critical Race Theory. It is "the system" that is to blame and as a beneficiary to white privilege a white cop must be guilty by definition and must be prosecuted regardless of the facts or intent.
This leaves many Americans with the uncomfortable sense that if one is white no amount of effort will ever bridge the gap to the black community and leaves blacks resigned to a belief that no white person can ever be trusted. That is, unfortunately a correct assessment if one understands the shift in the definition of racism. In such a worldview, there can be no reconciliation, only continued struggle for empowerment at the expense of the other side. Practically, many whites will simply try their best to avoid any “negative” contact with blacks, others will decide that if they are already deemed “racist” they have no reason to behave in any fashion that might dispel the charge. Police have to assume the worst. Already police are revising their procedures in ways that will protect officers but will potentially provide less protection to innocent blacks in high crime areas.
But what is ultimately behind this redefining of racism?
The Academic left. The Alinsky left.
At the root of critical race theory is a Marxist view of reality, that class struggle is inevitable, that the “haves” and the “have-nots” must be at war until the great utopia of equality is achieved and the evil of the profit motive is eradicated.
Protestors at the Ferguson Municipal building were video phoned chanting the slogan “the only solution is a communist revolution.” This came after the looting, rioting and burning had destroyed much of the city and the National Guard had taken on the task of controlling the chaos. Protestors in NYC following the Garner case were recorded shouting “what do we want? Dead cops! When do we want it” Now!” Days later, two cops were executed with bullets to the head.
Unfortunately many are still under the illusion that there is a goal in the mind of the radical left of actual justice and reconciliation between races, the “color-blind” society spoken of by Martin Luther King. That is not the goal of the radical left. The radical left desires the overthrow of the unjust system.
Conservatives need to understand the radical left if this country is to survive. The United States is and has been a "melting pot" and there are many, many people of all skin colors who believe and are committed to the idea that there is only one race - the human race - and who believe that the ideals of our constitutional democracy still provide the best hope for a civilized society. Most Americans have no ill will toward those of a different culture or skin color and would not agree with the academic and political redefinition cited above and desire true understanding and reconciliation.
Critical Race Theory serves to widen the divide with fabricated definitions that remove individual responsibility and heart intent from the equation. Racism does exist and always will because humans are human. Systems are never perfect and never will be for the same reason. People of sane mind must repudiate the insanity of the Marxist academics who see reality only through the lens of “systemic injustice” and refuse to acknowledge that individual responsibility under law is the both possible and necessary to civilization. Tribal warfare, where cultural groups are deemed to be stuck in their own impenetrable contexts and unable to understand each other except through power games, is the path to darkness and injustice beyond anything leftists currently find worthy of protest.
If a growing and increasingly vocal cadre of academics and activists believe that the system is inherently corrupt and must be overthrown, then unless that ideology is exposed and refuted, we can only expect escalating confrontation. If those who believe in class warfare and race warfare win the debate because people fail to understand and fail to speak up with a wiser point of view, then race war is coming. Class war is coming. Be sure if it. There are some who genuinely believe and vocally proclaim “the only solution is a communist revolution”. We would be fools to think they don’t mean what they say.
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