A Modern Taboo: Black Racism

Written by a black West-Indian woman living in the US.

For me the definition of racism is prejudice against someone due to their race. You judge them, despise them, have a set belief system against them and are disgusted by their very presence based on skin color.

There are several types of racism in the United States that I've witnessed. Racism from blacks and whites against all other races, Racism from all races against each other, Racism from blacks and whites and racism from all races to those of mixed race.

We all talk freely about white racism for all other races but we hardly hear about racism against whites in the US.

I've always thought that it takes two to keep racism going. Without the other half of the racism equation you would simply have terrorism instead.

Why do I say this? If only one group was racist and attacked the group they have prejudices against, all other races would condemn that one group for their actions including people who are the same race of the perpetrators. The US has hate crime legislation but that legislation is seriously flawed. Hate crime legislation should not favour only a few groups because there will always be another group that is targeted and not covered; like sexual orientation. The hate crime laws should cover all hate crimes. Violent attacks of a group against another based on prejudice.

What happens today is that we will see a black person being attacked by another race be it white, Spanish, Asian, or Native American and the immediate outcry will be hate crime. If it was another race being attacked by blacks there is no outcry only an unspoken sense of satisfaction. That maybe the white person was being a racist and provoked the attack. This reminds me of that study done that showed people would react negatively if a woman were being attacked by a man than they would if a woman attacked a man.

I've listened to conversations from African-Americans who will list all the reasons why the "white man" is the devil, how we were stolen from our home and lost our identity. That's just bullshit but if everyone wants to shove their heads in the sand and believe that Africa was a united country that got together and tried to fight off the white slavers, I wish you well with your delusions. No businessman will willingly spend serious cash reserves to equip ships, send paid troops across an ocean to then fight, and be killed, to grab a few African slaves here and there. They also would not keep up the money loss for the next 400 years unless someone was helping them on the other side.

There are some African Americans who do know this bit of history of the established slave trade in Africa before the colonial slave trade began and how deals were made to sell captured slaves to the European slave traders. It's one of the reasons for black on black racism.

I am from the West Indies, or Caribbean, if you will. The first contact with racism was black on black racism during a US Government class in HS. We were having a debate on slavery and I mentioned that slavery had been around since the beginning of time. I said that the one group of people who should be pissed off throughout our entire human history should be women. Every single war that came along you knew what it meant. Capture, rape and then slavery. Men would fight and women got the shitty end of the stick. You lost everything. First your children, then your virtue and last your freedo...wait...you didn't have freedom to begin with.

One African American girl got upset, did not agree with me and thought I was diminishing African American slavery. She shouted at me "Why don't you get back on your banana boat, go back where you came from and stop stealing our men and jobs". Our poor teacher was a young white man in his early 30s and he stood there looking shocked, surprised, and perplexed. After class I had to explain black on black racism.

I guess Africans are the most hated since their tribal ancestors basically sold the African American tribal ancestors and all of us, West Indian and African are considered in the same league as Mexicans. As one African American informed me "You are undermining our fight for equal pay". I didn't really understand that since I worked hard and I got my raises or promotion. At one point I made more money than my white counterpart. He was more educated but I had more experience and I don't walk around with an inferiority complex. Most of us in the West Indies don't have many negative feelings against whites and Africans. That's just how society was back then, society is different now and let's all strive for continued freedom and equality. If we have hard feelings it's usually political stuff.

When I first came to the US, I thought African Americans were people to look up to because they were part of the most powerful country in the world. They had Martin Luther King, Malcolm X and a bunch of black leaders that we heard about all over the world. We respected what we heard. To actually experience African American society in the US was a disappointment and strange.

I met two types of African Americans. The poor and the elite. Almost everyone I spoke to in the ghettos talked about white suppression. I thought to myself, how is white suppression happening to us in a mainly black neighbourhood? I heard about black power, the fight, the struggle, and powers keeping us down. Not being able to find work, having white folks send drugs into the inner city to keep us enslaved. I wondered how that was possible when nearly all of the drug dealers I saw were black. Nearly all of the pimps I saw were black. The reply was that it was the white people who were supplying the black dealers with drugs. Well why don't the black drug dealers just say "No" then? I was naive I guess.

I can't say that I've encountered any discrimination within the work place. I started working in HS, showed up on time and I did my job. I opened a bank account and I saved my money. I never bothered to hang out with anyone in the neighbourhood because I thought it was just too much drama and depressing crap to listen to.

When I went to college, I thought the educated blacks would be different but it was the same thing again just this time in a suit and tie. It was weird when prominent blacks segregated us between Citizen and Resident. If you were a citizen you could stay and they would tell you how to improve and succeed. Offer help. If you were a resident, there was no reason for you to be at the meeting because you "could not vote in elections to support their causes". That's when the last candle I held up went out. They were the same as the people they claimed were oppressing them I thought. Can you blame me? I came here with African Americans placed on a high pedestal and every year the pedestal pieces kept falling off until I was left with clay feet.

The only time I've ever feared other blacks was when I returned from my country with my infant daughter. Why? My daughter was as pink a baby as you could get without both parents being white. She has brown hair and had gray eyes at birth. Everyone in the neighbourhood who had previously paid no attention to me suddenly were very aware of our presence. You have to wonder how they would have taken the news that her father was considered black even though his mother is biracial which makes him mixed race. Same as I am.

At first it was just innuendos on the street. Then it was comments from the men. Then someone shot at our house. Then a group of men tried to corner me. The one sided conversation went "If you can give your pussy away to some white cracker ass mother fucker you can mother fucking well give some of that ass to us." It was after someone broke into my apartment while I was asleep, left my front door open, with my expensive electronics still inside but only my purse missing that I decided it was time I moved. If I were down south instead of Brooklyn and my harassers were white this would be where another black person would be telling me that burning crosses were going to appear on my doorstep.

I became more and more aware of black racism the longer I was in the workforce.

Suddenly it was 6th grade from when I first immigrated all over again. I was "acting" white. I was "talking" white. I was "trying" to be white. No. I was being me. I refuse to censor myself for the approval of a small bigoted bunch of people no matter what colour you are. I refuse to be terrorised into being a statistic so I can be held up as another example of "racial segregation".

Why is it that we have the highest cases of HIV? Why is it we have the highest cases of drug abuse? What's the number 1 reason why so many African American males are in jail? Where is the black community during all of this? I don't mean national and local leaders. I mean our neighbours.

That's what a community is made up of; a group of neighbours looking out for each other. That's why Americans of other races don't have such high rates of all the crap that the black community has. Their community cares about each other, supports each other, and starts resources to help the community.

This kind of behaviour is highly discouraged in the black community.

In a sick sense, we've re-enslaved each other. Our slave owners are the drug dealers, gangs and churches now. The drug dealers keep us dehumanized with drugs, the gangs keep us terrified of violence, abuse and retribution and the churches promote the abuse of the rights of anyone thought to be weak. Women, homosexuals and those who have been "brainwashed" by the white man. All of these groups profit on black despair. The drug dealers with their multi-millions, the gangs with their billions and the churches with their multi-billions.

Drug dealing is actually looked on as a legitimate occupation for the most part or why else would they be so many. I've seen volunteer community centers opened in other sections of the city that teach work skills, the only thing I remember seeing in my Brooklyn neighbourhood was the 24 hour bodega and churches.

So far I have heard that, HIV/AIDS is a white disease; "homosexuality" is a white problem; drugs are the white man's way of enslaving blacks and there's no point in working hard because you're only making the white man rich. The most recent claim has been that the reason why HIV/AIDS statistics of white males have dropped is because the white people have found a cure and aren't sharing. How much denial do you have to be under? HIV/AIDS of black males is off the charts and rising because the black community refuses to recognise Gay African-Americans and offer more community based programs for couple counselling, sexual education and Free HIV tests.

One African American woman told me online that there was no way she could get HIV/AIDS because her husband is black so therefore he is not gay. Only white homosexual perverts contract AIDS. Another woman said that if they are gay, black men were turned gay by having a single mother or being a momma's boy. Basically, the black racism will never permit anyone to get the help and education they need.

In this modern world, the biggest cause of harm to the black community is now black racism.

It wasn't just a group of white people who wanted to segregate the races. A group of black people also approved of segregating the races.

White supremacy groups will continue to exist as long as black racism exists.

Hate and fear cannot survive without hate and fear but both die in the presence of knowledge and acceptance.

This entire subject gives me a headache. I grew up with community support and my community championing my every effort to succeed. In the US, I've seen an entirely different community depending upon which part of the country you go and then which area in that part of the country. I've watched as other African Americans tell youth; you'll never make it because white America will never let you. That doesn't promote positive activity and kills any future argument you may have to make them become a positive role model. Youth's answer will be "Why bother?"

I know not all blacks, whites or other races are racist. It's just those few that we want to strangle.