For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places. ~ Ephesians 6:12 (KJV)
Can a Black man catch a break anymore? After all the hoopla surrounding the untimely death of Michael Jackson, every media outlet was bragging about how the "King of Pop" had transcended every racial barrier that mainstream society had pitted against him. Moreover, according to most of the media pundits and talking heads, the brilliant artistry and extraordinary humanitarianism allegedly made the world safe for Negroes. Ask Michael Jordan, Oprah Winfrey, Tiger Woods, Halle Berry, Denzel Washington, Venus & Serena Williams, Chris Rock, Beyoncé, Jay-Z, Condoleeza Rice, Colin Powell, Soledad O' Brien, and even President Barack Obama just to name a handful of "exceptional" Black folks who arose to global prominence in the wake of Michael Jackson's epic successes in the midst of Reagan-era America. It is deeply ironic that, even as this week marks the 40th anniversary of the NASA lunar landing, the overwhelming majority of people have greater recollections about Jackson's legendary moonwalk on the televised Motown 25th anniversary extravaganza than the outer space exploits of astronaut Neil Armstrong. With the Jackson mania reaching a fever pitch, there was an odd, somewhat forced "Kumbaya" moment upon which numerous members of the media elite wanted to capitalize since
Michael Jackson represented the epitome of W.E.B. Du Bois' concept of double consciousness: “It is a peculiar sensation, this double-consciousness, this sense of always looking at one’s self through the eyes of others, of measuring one’s soul by the tape of a world that looks on in amused contempt and pity. One ever feels [a] twoness—an American, a Negro, two souls, two thoughts, two unreconciled strivings, two warring ideals in one dark body.” Although Du Bois wrote that assessment of the Black condition in his masterpiece The Souls of Black Folk over a century ago, it still rings true even now, For all of his plastic surgery, family dysfunction, questionable sexuality, and undeniably strange behavior, Michael Jackson was the quintessential example of the ironic tragedy of Black genius--exceptional folks who want to escape their race due to self-hate and internalized oppression when it was being Black that made them so extraordinary in the first place.
In light of all that supposed racial goodwill from the Jackson memorial service, it seemed that mainstream America deluded itself into believing that racism was over and done with in this "sweet land of liberty." Then, lo and behold, Dr. Henry Louis Gates Jr., renowned professor of literature and African American Studies at Harvard and foremost Black public intellectual, got locked out of his own house at 17 Ware Street in Cambridge, Massachusetts last week. When his neighbors reported seeing two Black men breaking into the residence to the local police department, the police responded to the crime as a perceived threat to the the quaint neighborhood right next to the nation's oldest, most prestigious institution of higher learning. Like a moment ripped from a Dave Chappelle comedy routine, the Cambridge police officers who responded to the 911 call actually confronted and arrested Prof. Gates for breaking into his own house. According to the thinking and actions of Sgt. Crowley and his fellow law enforcement officers, no Black person could (or should) be a homeowner on that block much less a professor at Harvard. To make matters worse, the incident is a clear example of racial profiling but not the only one that has happened this year, this month, this week, or even this day! Although the arrest of Prof. Gates is a travesty, it is an awful situation that is multiplied a thousand times over by Black women and men who are not affluent, world-famous Ivy League scholar who is close friends with celebrities and garners national media attention. Even as President Obama desperately tried to present his case for why his health care plan is vital to the national interest to the American people, a journalist broached the question of Prof. Gates' arrest in an attempt to provoke Mr. Obama. In the last moments of that prime time press conference, the president's initial response to the inquiry was succinct, sweet, and sincere. However, in the face of the frenzy of media scrutiny, especially prompted by the virulently bigoted faction of American conservatives, Mr. Obama is now inviting Prof. Gates and Sgt. Crowley to the White House for a chat over a couple of beers!?! Is the president of the United States really trying to solve one of the most pernicious and hateful expressions of legalized racism by having the offended victim of racial profiling and the offending officer while drinking brews? Sadly, this is a foolhardy proposition that will serve as a photo op but does not get to the heart of the matter: race and racism is at the core of American life.
As legal theorist Ian Haney López notes in his book Racism on Trial, notions of race typically operate as a complex set of background ideas that people routinely draw upon but rarely ever question in their daily encounters. Taken further, Haney López argues that "most people think little about race, save perhaps to deny its continued importance. Yet most people uncritically accept racial distinctions as a natural and necessary component of society. We depend upon racial ideas in conceiving of ourselves, in concluding our relationships with others, and in with great certainty, and yet we give this question little or no thought. Race informs how we view, and treat, the 'white,' 'black,' 'brown' and 'yellow' people we interact with even if we do not think about them in racial terms." Viewing race as a matter of "common sense" according to Haney López implies that "when we uncritically rely on racial ideas, we often, in turn, practice racism. We treat people according to their place in the racial hierarchies created by society and, by doing so, perpetuate those hierarchies." Simply put, no matter how celebrated and successful a person of color becomes in the United States, racist attitudes and actions are deeply embedded in how we function on a daily basis, even when doing something as mundane as walking into our own house or interacting with police officers. All things considered, as Prof. Gates, not every Black person in America can have the influence of Harvard University or the intervention of the U.S. president working on their behalf to drop criminal charges, squash negative publicity, and the like. Sadly, most Black folks in this country are not so fortunate yet we ought to recognize the challenges posed by racism in today's society. When the biblical scripture mentions that "we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers," there is just cause to view racism as a manifestation of evil in this world. For those who believe in the Lord of hosts, we have to discern the nature of "spiritual wickedness in high places" in order to understand how racism affects people of color on various levels but we also know that God is greater than the individual and institutional acts of racism. What believers need to understand and fully recognize is that the struggle for social justice is not merely an academic debate but a n actual battle for our hearts, minds, and very souls. What gives us the strength, wisdom, and courage to withstand the onslaught of hate, prejudice, bias, and discrimination is the knowledge that we fight the good fight from a position of victory in God.
Something You Should Check Out…
Written, produced, and directed by visionary filmmaker Spike Lee, Do the Right Thing is one of the most thought-provoking and groundbreaking films of the last two decades (it is hard to believe that this movie is twenty years old!). With the story centering on the hottest day of the summer, the film deals with rising levels of racial conflict in the multi-ethnic neighborhood community of Bedford-Stuyvesant in Brooklyn, New York. Demonstrating the anatomy of a deadly riot to show how such a volatile outburst can erupt out of a series of small misunderstandings, Do the Right Thing is an undeniable masterpiece, probably the best film ever made about race in America, revealing racial stereotypes, deep-seated prejudices, and rampant hostilities in all their guises. As an interesting historical note, despite—or maybe because of—all the controversy surrounding this film when it originally debuted, Barack and Michelle Obama went to see Lee’s Do The Right Thing on their first date. Having said all this, the movie needs to be viewed and discussed over and over again.
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