“If you don’t understand white supremacy – [racism] – what it is, and how it works — everything else that you understand will only confuse you.” – Dr. Neely Fuller, Jr.

In light of that quote, let’s start with some definitions so we are all on the same page.  There are 3 basic kinds of Racism/White Supremacy described below.

1. Inferior/Superior Racism (or the Internal Racist): this person may not proactively believe in being racist, but they do believe that certain races are…well, just better (superior) than others and conversely there are races that are not as good (inferior) as others.  Call it natural selection or survival of the fittest or whatever. This person may be one of those “freedom for all” proclaiming types who might even protest a racially unjust law or have a “best friend” who is Black.  But internally they still cling to the belief of inferiority and superiority as determined by race.
2. Institutional Racism (or Systematic Racism): is the type of racism that, covertly or overtly, resides within the culture, policies, procedures and operations of public and/or private institutions. It creates and maintains systems that direct the distribution of resources, power and opportunity to the benefit of White people and to the exclusion of Blacks and minorities.
3. Proactive Racism (i.e. racial hatred): this is what we typically think of when we think about racism.  The person animated by racial hatred may be depicted by the stereotypical card carrying member of the Klan or some similar hate group. This is someone who despises people of another race and who works on an individual and/or collective basis to perpetuate that hate amongst other individuals.

We have to put the definitions out there so that we are operating from a basic understanding of what racism is.  This is necessary because despite the fact that racism (of all types) is so completely ingrained in the fabric of this country, we are not supposed to talk about it. We are supposed to be politically correct and pretend that “we have overcome”.

Imagine a world where the Jewish Holocaust were never discussed, where Anne Frank’s diary and the details of the Holocaust were never studied in elementary school, where the Nazi’s were able to essentially blend back into society with what amounts to a slap on the wrist for their diabolical deeds. Our comprehension of what Jewish brothers and sisters endured would be fictional at best. Our ability to openly discuss it and learn from it – and consequently how to spot anti-Semitism before it rears its ugly head – would all be essentially nonexistent.

That is basically where we are as it pertains to racism and slavery and how each of these phenomenon shape our collective reality today.

This politically correct game of pretend has also had the perverse effect of forcing cross-racial discussion of racism under ground. Once being pro-actively, affirmatively & openly racist was effectively outlawed, holding racist views was no longer “socially” acceptable – at least not openly. No one says what they really think out of fear of being labeled a racist.  Tim Wise has an excellent piece detailing how the social consciousness of America shifted to reject open displays of racism only after it was against the law to do so.

Since we never discuss, study or analyze racism, it is rare that one can have a truly intelligent conversation about it.  As co-founder of Breaking the Cycle Consulting Services LLC and Sankofa Community Empowerment Inc., my colleagues and I have literally thousands of conversations about race in various formats each year.  I can tell you with the utmost confidence that most of the conversations we have about race with college students and adults are not the least bit more sophisticated or nuanced than the conversations we have about race with 6 year-olds.  Literally.

Now, in all fairness, prior to the advent of racial political correctness, the emotional, physical and economic manifestations of racism in this society were so brutal, so heinous and so diabolical that there was almost a need for an extreme period of political correct speech and behavior.  White society had been spoon-fed a sense of entitlement (which was supported by spiritual, educational and governmental institutions for centuries) for so long that a “don’t-go-there-when-talking-about-race” attitude may have been necessary.

I mean, it was not that long ago that 1) lynching Black men was a favorite Sunday afternoon pastime (usually performed after Sunday services and either before or simultaneously with the local baptism and picnic), 2) where raping a Black woman was not considered a crime or 3) where using machine guns and aerial bombs to obliterate thriving Black communities who dared to commit the crime of … well, thriving while Black (like the one depicted in the film Rosewood) was an acceptable way of dealing with the problem of the color line.

However, while we may not be able to openly deal with racism, you’d better believe that racism is dealing with us. So, why is a discussion about racism today important? Well for one example (to put it oh so very simply):

Barack Obama is a Black man.

I know…sounds odd right? I mean, the country has been tip-toeing around the subject of Obama’s race for so long that it seems weird to actually put it out there.  It is actually entertaining to see how many ways a news anchor can say people are angry at Obama for XYZ, ABC and 123 without mentioning his race as part of the issue.

It is not necessarily their fault – you see Obama ran a campaign as non-racial as they come.  No matter what happened during his campaign it was never because of the glaringly obvious fact that he is Black and never had anything to do with the manifestations of racism in this country.

Many people who supported his campaign did so with a seeming blind faith that his running alone was a sign of racial improvement. “Why mention race? – they asked. “He has to ignore race”, they said, “because otherwise he would not win.”

But when you think about it, how good can race relations be if the only time a Black person can win the presidency is when he completely avoids the fact that he is Black.  But I digress.

We will only be able to understand what is truly taking place in the country today if we can be honest about the fact that a lot of people have an issue with Obama because he is Black.  And by extension – they have a problem with his Blackness because they still have a problem with Blackness (or non-Whiteness) in general. There may certainly be other legitimate reasons – but for many, the principle issue is Obama’s race.

For many Americans, regardless of the definition of racism to which they subscribe, Obama may be the president. But having a Black man in that position, by the very nature of his Blackness, cheapens the office itself. So things that one would typically never think/say/do about the president – out of respect for the position if nothing else – are totally allowed in this day and age of a Black man in the White House.

Here’s an example – remember the Dixie Chicks? When Bush was scheming about Iraq, this singing group criticized his plans and (gasp!) had the nerve to sing an intelligent song about it.  One might think that in the land of the free this would be an accepted part of the democratic process, right? But no.

Their songs were pulled from radio stations across the country, they were virtually lambasted for speaking out against the president and basically paid a huge price for sharing anti-presidential views. That was during the age of where respect for the office and institution of the president trumped anger at the actions of the office holder.

During previous presidencies, there were certain things that one did not say about the President – for no other reason that the fact that he was the president. Well that was all fine and good when the Office of the President was filled by a man who looked like all the other presidents who came before him.

But once that office was filled by a man who looked much like the men who were brought here in chains to be slaves for the rest of their natural born days – problems started.  And now the problems with a de facto policy of racial political correctness are coming to a head.

Now, political correctness is not an issue for the Proactive Racist. The Proactive Racist is quite clear that Obama’s Blackness is a racial problem. The Proactive Racist is someone who might have disagreed completely with every decision that George W. Bush ever made as president.  But so long as George W. Bush was in the office of president, there was a modicum of respect for the position of president. People who thought George W. Bush might not be able to walk and chew gum at the same time at least respected the process of American government enough that they reconciled themselves to the fact that he would be around until the end of his term.

No talk of secession. No dramatic increase in the number of death threats to Bush’s life, no one showed up to rally’s with guns en masse, no marches to the border of the Nation’s Capital to demonstrate anger with loaded weapons. Sure – there were some protests against the war and various Bush policies. But people tended to express their discontent with Bush in ways that tend to be considered acceptable to modern society.

Contrast that with today’s reality. According to CNN’s Rick Sanchez, threats against the president were up over 400% since his inauguration.  And considering that the security team assigned to Senator Obama during his campaign was already straining under the weight of the threats against him – that is no small claim.  In fact, Obama’s life has been threatened more than that of most presidents combined.

There is a saying in some Black communities that the southern racist was better than the northern racist.  At least with the southern racist you saw the racism coming at you.  The racist in the north was often so politically correct that you could not see northern racism as easily. But it was still there – and often even more powerful because it used a smile and a handshake to mask the figurative knife aimed at your back and gun aimed at your head.

But it is not just a matter of having a “lets-get-real-so-we-can-sing-Kum-By-Yah” conversation about race.  It is bigger than your individual feelings about race. You see, when we cannot have honest conversations about and evaluations of racism in its current form – we empower all three forms of racism.  Since we can’t have more than a 1^st grade conversation about race – everything that we think we understand about it is usually wrong.

The impact of this ignorance is that it allows the sentiments of the Proactive Racist to mobilize and organize around the policies they want implemented.  And a Black man in the White House is just the sort of spark the Proactive Racist needs to get him/her mobilized and organized.

When those policies are implemented they become another layer of the fabric of Institutional Racism. And when Institutional Racism is fueled by the anger of Proactive Racists, there is no one to stop them because the Internal Racist just does not know how.

Here are just a few examples of how the desires of Proactive Racists are shaping how law and policy are implemented across the country:

1. Arizona – Papers Please! ‘Nuff said.
2. Virginia – where the governor and attorney general recently issue proclamations hailing the beauty of the confederacy while not mentioning that whole ugly slavery thing.  Can you imagine Germany longing for the “beauty” of the 1940’s without addressing Hitler and the Nazis? Virginia is also the state where repealing anti-discrimination laws against gays is now en vogue and where ex-felons (many of whom are disproportionately Black) have to pass literacy tests in order to get their voting rights back.  You know…literacy tests…like the ones Black people had to take in the days of Jim Crow before they could…vote.
3. New York – where rising levels of police brutality against minorities are causing record numbers of lawsuits against an already cash strapped city. The city’s “stop and frisk” policy has a demonstrated near 90% failure rate. But because nearly 90% of the people stopped and frisked under the policy are stopped for committing the crime of “breathing while of color”, the law is seemingly ok.
4. Kentucky – where political candidates like Rand Paul – who advocate for the right of private store-owners to discriminate based on race and who would like to undo civil rights protections – are gaining votes and striking a resounding chord with voters.

So in this era of on-going economic crisis, rising racial tension and disenfranchisement it would be really, really great if we could have a conversation about the fact that people are not just angry about taxes (which Obama lowered). They are not just angry about the war (which many supported under Bush). They are not just angry about the economy (the stimulus is credited w/ keeping the country from the brink of an even greater disaster). Or I should say, they are not nearly as angry about those things as they would be if there were not a Black family living in the White house. Their anger is augmented by the presence of melanin in the highest office of the land.

They are angry to an extreme not because Obama is a bad president, but because he is Black.  They refuse to see that they are benefiting far greater under Obama’s tax policies than they were before because he is Black. Obama is getting record numbers of death threats because he is Black.[1]

Now that racialized anger would be one thing if it were contained in the Proactive Racist’s living room.  But it is mobilizing and organizing (and tea-partying?) its way to a policy maker near you. Proactive Racial anger is maturing into a set of laws that permit things like open racial profiling and that support the elimination of government protections for people of color who have traditionally needed to be protected from the impact of racist policies.

Proactive Racial anger is getting a real boost right now due to the fact that we are all still plodding along with our heads in the sand afraid to call it what it is.  This is what happens when political correctness goes wrong. It prohibits us from being able to address an issue head on – because we are too busy being polite about it.

When it comes to discussing what is happening across the country right now – I’d chuck political correctness in a heartbeat.  At least with open racism – you know what you are dealing with. So, let’s be honest shall we? And then lets start to educate ourselves about what racism truly is and how it truly operates (you can start by checking out the book list provided here: www.wereadtolead.org.).  Maybe then, we can start to have some clear conversations and analysis about the ways race and racism shape every aspect of our lives – even when those conversations are painful.

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[1] While I prefer to keep my political views private, I feel the need to disclaim here that I am not a rabid Obama supporter. I was one of those few Black people who actually (gasp!) questioned whether his candidacy would be a good thing for the Black community. I say this only to debunk the inevitable claim that I “must be a rabid Obama supporter since I think anger directed towards him is grounded in anger about his race.” This claim usually comes up as soon as one tries to have a conversation about race and the president.

News flash! Arizona has gone New York.

The southwestern state of Arizona recently enacted a law that makes it illegal for someone to be caught without papers that legitimize their presence in the United States.  Arizonan officers are now required to stop anyone who looks like they might be illegal and inquire about their status.

Hmm…a legal mandate to stop someone who an officer suspects might be a criminal, on the basis of how they look. Now where have we heard that before?

Ah, yes.  The Big Apple!

But first, let’s back up a bit and lay some foundation.