Black Racism

Following up on this post, documenting Rev. LaSimba Gray's racism and anti-Semitism, we now have the Left Wing Cracker sharing an email from District 9 US Congressional candidate Ron Redwing.

Here's the relevant excerpt:

For the first time in thirty (30) years Memphis could be without African-American representation in the U. S. Congress.

That's a racist statement, plain and simple. Doesn't matter that it's from an African-American. In a majority-minority (ie. mostly black) district, where power is held by the "minority" group, in a city that's also dominated and controlled by the "minority," it's a racist comment.

As the Redwing email notes, with so many candidates running for the Democratic slot there's a lot of splitting of votes. There is also the implicit assumption that all the white Democrats will only vote for the sole white candidate, Steve Cohen. So you have this scramble to find The One, the lone black to go forward and keep the bloc intact.

To keep out the white folks.

Flip the colors and this would be generating howls of outrage. But the reality is that this kind of racism is "understandable." That may be true, but it doesn't make it any less reprehensible. Black electoral dominance is the fact, no longer the dream. Any pretense of having to defend it is offensive.

What's also offensive is the anti-Semitism that's rearing its ugly head. It's been an open secret in black Democratic circles for decades now. The strong ties between blacks and Jews that made the Civil Rights movement both possible and successful are gone, replaced by the wary and suspicious alienation of anti-Semitism.

Other than the Jackson Baker bit linked in the post mentioned above, which only indirectly addressed the issue, I don't think I've seen this linked specifically to the situation in Memphis. For all that the press loves to go after Republicans for their "racism" will the same press now go after black Democrats for their clear anti-Semitism?

Personally, I doubt it. Whites just can't point fingers at the black community and say "You have a problem." It will be facily flipped back as "You created it." Or "You can't talk to us about that." And that will be the end of it.

Blacks were successful in overturning Jim Crow only with the help of sympathetic whites and Jews. They became the bar which leveraged the moral imperative of black Americans into reform. It was only in working together that change happened.

So it is here. Racism isn't a white thing; it's a human thing. One lesson that observing, thinking and writing for this blog has brought to me is that so many of the sins we are quick to ascribe to one party or another -- be it social, political, gender, whatever -- are common to everyone. The weaknesses and flaws of human nature are the source, not partisan motives.

It is only be recognising and accepting this that we can move forward. By agreeing to listen to the wise strong moral voices in our midst, heeding their lessons and counsel, and acting on them can we diminish our common problems.

Attitudes like I've discussed here show that the problem isn't race but power. Or rather the lust for it. How many of the folks who are throwing up the black racist ugliness do you believe truly have the best interests of the Memphis community at heart? How many do you believe have the community ahead of self-interest and self-enrichment?

Put your mind into that frame -- one which disregards color, gender, background -- and look again at the situation. I think you'll be surprised at the way things look.