Good evening, my readers. I hope all is well with you this evening. Being a person who is highly involved in social media, a lot comes across my path. While it is impossible for me to comment on everything that I see online at length, there are times that I feel it becomes necessary to say something. In roughly the past two weeks, Black social media has been embroiled in an uproar about the notion of straight Black men being like white people towards Black women. Aside from saying that this is bad sociology and a terrible premise, I pass on further commenting on that article in this post. Antonio Moore of ToneTalks, Yvette Carnell of Breaking Brown with the guest feature of Tommy Curry have already dismantled most of that data free click bait post on their YouTube shows.
What I am referring to here is an article from Madame Noire that cites that piece, and further attacks without any of the attempt (I said, attempt) of nuance of the earlier post. Titled: “Because Harasser is Just Not Enough: Why I Consider Calling Black Men Terrorists”, by Veronica Wells, it is a wholesale denunciation of Black men, based off of one unfortunate personal interaction. Generalize much?
Terrorist is not a word to play with. Saying that, gives a political context, and justifies doing whatever necessary to root out such a person. Terrorists are regarded as worthy of death. Its not a rhetorical device that you can use that is free of context, especially in a post 9/11 world. What is the difference between considering calling Black men terrorists, and those right wingers who consider Black Lives Matter supporters terrorists? The point is to demonize, not to come to any sort of resolution. While the intention of the piece was to bring to light issues Black women face, unfortunately, it gets lost in dangerous hyperbole.
There is a problem in our online discourse. Some folks think that they can just say any sort of thing about Black men, and it should not be challenged. This is not the first time that this writer has come across this sort of group condemnation. A few years back, when the notion of Black Male Privilege started to become a thing, I expressed my concerns about this idea in two separate posts.
Black Male Privilege: Contradiction and Diversion
Black Male Privilege: Contradiction and Diversion Part 2
When the discourse is more about insulting half a race, then it needs to be questioned. The point in having a theory that explains the world as it is, is to have a guide to action. Even theories that are set forth to improve the world are examined. Don’t propagate a theory, and expect people not to question it. This second hit piece toes the line in this emerging narrative, and gives online journalism and bloggers a bad name. Black men are already regarded as a group as super-predators, drug dealers, thieves, absentee fathers, and untrustworthy miscreants. But, I suppose a group that is already under attack from multiple directions can stand yet another deadly stereotype as a millstone around our necks.
For those who have not seen Antonio Moore’s video, it is below.
An opinion about the essay entitled, “Because Harasser is Just Not Enough: Why I Consider Calling Black Men Terrorists”, by Veronica Wells.
If, as written in the essay, “one of our biggest threats in the world is the very Black men we’ve birthed” then, it is also true that those who “birthed” the “biggest threats in the world” also raised them and taught them.
@Pierre, No. It’s time for the black male to grow up and let go of mommy’s coattails. When are black men ever going to just grow up and take responsibility responsibility for their own vile behaviors in these streets? When a person becomes an adult they are responsible for their own behavior. I tell you, I don’t want to have a black son. Because I already know that he will never grow up and will continue to do anything he wants and then blame me for the rest of our natural lives. No thanks!
Being an adult, either healthy or otherwise, is a culmination of one’s foundation, or lack thereof, as a child and how they were raised! An individual doesn’t come from a dysfunctional and abusive childhood home and automatically snap (at will) into a healthy functional grown up. A realization that a problem (mental health) exists and intense therapy is needed.
Sadly, there is a lot of anger and a lack of accountability in our community. Which are the antagonists of healing. There are also many suspect ppl fanning the flames of the gender war taking place btw BW/BM. Guess who benefits!!! If there is to be any reconciliation, then the goal has to be reunification and that means putting our egos aside and our hyper-sensitivies away.
We have to understand that this is the historic outcome of a 100+ year propaganda campaign, begun by 1870s liberal white feminists like Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony, to paint the black man as “privileged” misogynistic terrorists, who would exact the same patriarchal “oppressive” domination over black women as white men on white women. It was a political wedge used to divide black men and women, now being regurgitated by a class of highly educated – yet deeply sexually frustrated, 3rd wave black women feminists, who resent and loath the poor and average working class hetero black man that they are ONLY able to attract. This has NOTHING to do with gender “oppression,” but the seemingly disproportionate level of media coverage and social activism devoted to Mike Brown and Trayvon Martin, compared to say, Sandra Bland. This comes on the heels of a recent FBI report, claiming “black identity extremists” as terrorists, and works in cahoots with racist white supremacist drivel as part of a concerted social media effort to sabotage, undermine and destroy the image of an assertive, heterosexual black male masculinity and identity.
No it’s time for black females to let the black man lead like they used to and females to stop trying to be the man in the relationship and BW to leave this feminist ideology of I do everything a men can do but don’t prepare the child for life and stop dating pookie and ray ray aka thugs aka bad boys. Plus black men never oppressed the BW, here’s a question why is it that BW never talk about black single mothers being narcissist to their own children? and then blaming BM for everything. Last time I checked narcissists parents create narcissists children some will become narcissists and some will not, ive seen this with my own eyes you wanna know why because I’m a BM my self I watch my twin brother become a narcissist like my mother but he was even worse than my mother because he grew up to be a masculine version of my mother and he used to start arguments with me like my mother did, but they argued the most towards each other, theirs a lot more I have to say but ima end it hear.
And by the way white women who I’m replying to, Pierre is correct and your not black so you don’t know or have the experience of being born in a black house hold
I’m going use reverse psychology on your question when are whites going to take responsibility for their actions on being racist towards black people in the streets and whites who do mass shootings and white supremist terrorist/ race soldier cops and white citizens killing or harassing blacks, like you said when a person is grown they are responsible for their behavior and I know whites will never change and will continue racism until they are ready to end it because we blacks didn’t start it and I can’t change a person who hates us because of our skin color.
If you want to pinn menatal illness on these things I always thought what makes you think other races don’t have mental illness when they commit a crime let that sink in, and that’s why whites get a far lesser sentence for the same crime as other races