A Theory of Black Racism

A gay person can be homophobic. A Jew can be Anti-Semitic. But a Black person can’t be racist, either against others and certainly not against Blacks? Why does this belief exist? What is going on here? I have heard this time and again from all levels of educated Blacks, as well as some Whites. Does Black history make Blacks immune to racist behavior/accusation? Or is such behavior fair turn-around for the past?

Black racism is rarely discussed in the open, except to say it does not exist or that it is the dominion of Uncle Tom imitators. I submit that this is central to what holds back Black progress. Some people call it self-hate, but Black racism is the invisible ball and chain around the ankle. Granted, acquiescence to Whites, or anyone, because of their perceived race-based superiority is racism, not to be lessened. But, detrimental attitudes and behavior to one’s own ethnicity, because of race/ethnicity, is racism of equal depth. Whether Blacks discourage advancing behavior due to a belief that they are incapable, or that the group is best served, culturally, by preferring something less/different, the results are the same – loss of freedom and advancement.

Earlier, when Whites prohibited Blacks from advancing activities considered as ‘acting white’ (i.e. education), via Jim Crow laws, blacks had no trouble calling this behavior as racist. But when today’s Black students prohibit their fellow students from pursuing academics, via ‘acting white’ bullying, the racism tag is nowhere in sight. In the S. Carolina case (here), the school staff and district administration were culpable in denying a safe learning environment to the Black students in want of academic excellence. Similar events are brewing in Philly, with Asian students catching hell from Black students (here).

Interestingly, Black racism was not always so elusive, as displayed in Graham's "Our Kind Of People" (pictured). When Black social organizations like The Links and sororities excluded members, in the past and in part, because they were too dark, Blacks were able to ultimately see the intra-group racism at work. But when the former exclusion becomes cultural expulsion, via ostracizing, threats, and assault, it somehow ceases to be racism. Couple this thinking with the overall Black education results, including drop-out rates, and reduce levels of achievement, and we have a cause-effect scenario describing a permanent underclass.

Just as there are homophobic gays and anti-Semitic Jews, there are racist Blacks. They are not Uncle Tom’s, but rather a significant, un-policed group who give racist providence to certain behaviors of non-blacks, to the point of ostracizing their own who have the audacity to pursue those behaviors. This insidious racism is hiding. It is protected by school administrators, like those in S. Carolina, and by those who blindly attack even the thought that Blacks should question themselves.

It is tragically ironic that those same Black girls, in places like S.Carolina, who press their hair to look more attractive, would reject and assault their black schoolmate, as acting White, because of the books in her hands and a desire to learn.

James C. Collier

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