On Charles Ramsey: A Black Hero Cannot Exist At The Intersection of White Supremacy and The Media

Like many, I find it incredibly disgusting that Charles Ramsey can only be an object of humor/entertainment or an object of scorn. His humanity is stripped away, callously by the media and the public. These are the options provided to Black people in America, even in a situation where he saved lives.

But it makes “sense” in a White supremacist and racist society and honestly didn’t surprise, only angered many people that I talked to. The fact that it never surprises us is a testament to how we endure and fight racism in this society.

In my post about Charles Ramsey on Storify, I mentioned the following (via tweets):

Realize that humoring via racist and classist memes and desecrating the reputation of a bystander who helped teaches people NOT TO HELP others. People are watching this and quietly deciding to themselves to stay “out of folks’ business” and who can blame them now? This is bad. If your name can be slandered WORLDWIDE for helping someone, people will definitely turn their backs on others now. Black criminals are treated like animals. Black victims are treated like criminals. Black heroes are treated like punchlines.

I am NOT applauding him having a domestic violence charge in his past. Who would other than other abusers and misogynists? My argument here is that I should NOT know his past record. WHEN has a background check ever been done on someone White who is hailed as a hero? Why is more known about this man than the men who kidnapped the women? 

The fact that he was willing to save White women (and Latina women can also be White or have passing privilege or White privilege) but may have abused a Black one in the past speaks to quite a bit in our culture.  Even so, the bottom line in regards to what he did, even with all of the politics of patriarchy, racism, sexism, Eurocentric beauty myths when framed with crime, classism, rape culture and more circling and intersecting this issue in every way, he STILL SAVED THEIR LIVES. 

Cops who abuse people, including their own families often, are called heroes in other situations. Soldiers trained to kill for imperialist, capitalist and xenophobic goals are called heroes even as many of them are responsible for the 26,000 unreported sex crimes against women in the military last year. The idea that a hero is a perfect human being (and Ramsey does not want to be called a hero anyway, he said so himself) is laughable. The very Founding Fathers and other worshiped White male historical figures were slave-owning racist rapists or White supremacist slavery apologists.

This is solely about RACISM and CLASSISM and nothing else. This is about maintaining the White supremacist myth that Whiteness is goodness and nothing else. That is what motivates this marginalization (and distraction from the real issues: kidnapping, human trafficking, sexual abuse and rape culture in an imperialist White supremacist capitalist patriarchal world) through “humor” memes and the slander via White supremacist, racist and classist media, period.

On Kiera Wilmot: When Intellectual Curiosity Is A Crime

Kiera Wilmot is a 16-year-old Black female high school student in Florida who is facing the permanent destruction of her young life because of intellectual curiosity. A Black girl with a curious mind and an inclination towards science—in a country that places 25th in math, 17th in science and 14th in reading, a place where STEM in college and the workplace still reveals very White and male spaces, ones often hostile to Black women—is someone to be punished, not nurtured?

According to Miami New Times, Kiera “got good grades and had a perfect behavior record.” Thus when the following incident occurred, it would make sense that who she is (beyond the need to overly punish Black students, including Black girls) as an individual would matter.

The 16 year-old mixed some common household chemicals in a small 8 oz water bottle on the grounds of Bartow High School in Bartow, Florida. The reaction caused a small explosion that caused the top to pop up and produced some smoke. No one was hurt and no damage was caused.

Despite the school officials, including the principal, agreeing that there was no malicious intent and that it was an accident, the reaction to the accident is incredibly extreme. She was expelled from school. With expulsion, any college plans that she had are severely altered if even still possible. Being that she was a good student, she may have had college in mind. Finishing a diploma through an expulsion program is not what most colleges want to see in an applicant’s record. However, this is the least of her worries. She faces criminal charges as well. She was “charged with possession/discharge of a weapon on school grounds and discharging a destructive device. She will be tried as an adult.” Expulsion. Criminal charges. Tried as an adult. Her life may never be the same.

When I first heard about the story and shared a few tweets (which I posted on Storify), the first thing that came to my mind is a scene from the film People Like Us. In the film “Frankie” has a troubled son “Josh” who creates an explosion at school and does cause serious damage. However, “Josh” escapes trouble for this (despite being a consistently problematic child) because his White mother “Frankie” lets the Black female principal know that it’s the school’s fault that he had access to chemicals and his curiosity related to things discussed in science anyway. He gets off that time. ”Josh” is eventually expelled, however, when he later physically attacks another child. He had to draw blood before facing expulsion, and even so, he never faced criminal charges. This film (a good film no less) came to mind because this kid is everything Kiera is NOT. She is a good student. She has no record of trouble. She is Black and female not White and male. Her administrators admitted one thing (understanding it was an accident and no harm was done) yet feel that extreme punishment is the only thing acceptable. One of the reasons why I liked this film is because it REVEALED White privilege (despite these characters not having class privilege until they came into some money) and I don’t even think the filmmakers intended that. That’s White privilege—not seeing how that cinematic situation reveals what occurs in real life; “getting off” and “getting by” in ways never afforded to Black students.

In the post The Case Around Fla, Teen Kiera Wilmot is Part of a Bigger, More Disturbing Pattern on Davy D’s Hip Hop Corner, the author points out the trend of criminalization and extreme reaction to Black students’ behavior. Handcuffed 5-year-olds and a Black student accused of shoplifting for “fitting the description” are among the examples provided. Story after story seems to surface where an extreme reaction is taken to a small problem when the student is Black. And while the focus is often on Black male students, Black female students face more criminalization than any other students, other than Black male students. In the post The Effects of Unchecked Criminalization: Teen Charged With Felony For Science Experiment by Sesali Bowen on Feministing, the author addresses the point of whether or not this is about the “safety” of other students:

I call bullshit. This is not about the “safety and security” of students and staff at Bartow High School. This was about setting an example, at the expense of Wilmot, and sending a message that even (mis)perceived threats will be dealt with swiftly and harshly. The unfortunate truth is that in America, those perceptions are heavily tied up in notions of race, class, and gender.

Race, gender, class and more impact everything in our society because they are inherently tied into who we are as individuals and a society. The myth that despite the evidence of Black students being criminalized, somehow race is not a factor here is ludicrous at this point, and to me, ultimately unacceptable. The question of whether or not race matters is not an IF question but a HOW question. Clearly, the reaction to school violence (notice how if a White male commits school or mass violence on a national scale, the reaction is to police more people of colour), the criminalization of Black students who will eventually feed into Prison Industrial Complex and something else less obvious but still sinister and a factor no less—the silencing of creativity and intellectual curiosity has occurred. Students at that school received a message loud and clear and it is not one about some “crazed bomber, bad student” that some who responded to this story suggest. It is a message that curiosity should be punished, not explained. Instead of detention for two weeks where Kiera could spend time with her Chemistry teacher learning more about what chemicals cause what reactions and why, and conducting experiments in controlled environments, her education and now possibly her freedom for years is over.

Who wins from this? Another Black family is harmed. Another set of classmates learned not to be intellectually inquisitive. Prison Industrial Complex may get a new slave. Who wins, indeed? The problem is I know who wins. Those who do not want Black, female or Black female bodies anywhere near science. Those who need to believe that to be Black is to be criminal and there is no nuance to be had here. Those who know deep down in their hearts that they would react completely differently (with more concern) to this story if she were White. The worst part is that people had to march, beg and plead for someone like George Zimmerman to be arrested for MURDER, and it took 45 days for that to occur. Uncanny how SWIFT and how EXTREME the reaction is to Kiera.

Why Whites Call People Of Colour “Racist”

I have been called “racist” by White people whenever I specifically reject a legislative, political, media/film/art, or cultural manifestation of White supremacy. I’ve also been called “racist” for recounting any experience that I have had with racism. The actual act of naming what I heard or experienced is deemed “racist.” The naming, deconstruction and discussion of experiences of this nature is important, however. As Black feminist scholar Patricia Hill Collins notes:

Naming daily life by applying language to everyday experience infuses it with the new meaning of a womanist consciousness. Naming becomes a way of transcending the limitations of intersecting oppressions.

Apparently, what I actually heard or experienced is of no concern or consequence to Whites seeking to call Black people or other people of colour racist.

There’s two reasons why Whites call people of colour (especially Black people) “racist.” First of all, it comes from a lack of understanding of the term (through ignorance or willful ignorance and hatred), its history and its consequences. As long as “racism” is viewed solely as “one person being mean to another person because of their race” or basically solely as an individual and arbitrary instance of prejudice with equal social capital between the individuals, Whites can obscure or ignore the ramifications of the historical (whether implied, microaggressions or overt racism), institutional, structural and systemic manifestations of White supremacy (which does NOT require extremism to exist) and racism.

A Black person being insulted based on slurs that facilitate(d)(s) oppression and genocide for centuries and that same sentiment behind that slur facilitates the denial of a plethora of opportunities as well as supports a plethora of types of discrimination and punishment represents a different magnitude and scope of an insult versus a Black person “hurting” a White person’s feelings, even if the former is rude. Oppression is about more than hurt feelings. The latter doesn’t even begin to encapsulate what the former is. Further, individual acts of harm from a person of colour to a White person may be an insult, a tort or a crime—but it does not connect to violence (which is more than just physical) used to facilitate the oppression of an entire people. (Even so, because the criminal justice system is about punishing Blacks and “protecting” Whites, a White person wouldn’t have to have the expectation that a Black person would go unpunished for harming them. More convictions and harsher sentences are factors. Even Black adolescents face more punishment than White adolescents. In fact, Whites should fear Whites, in regards to the criminal justice system.)

Many times an insult is not occurring—it’s just a Black person adamantly rejecting White supremacy. The rejection of White supremacy and racism themselves is not “reverse racism.” Rejecting White supremacy is not then telling Whites to be “ashamed” of Whiteness, as they should be able to live and thrive without the lie that is the claim of inherent superiority. For example, I’ve had White women suggest to me that any rejection of Eurocentric beauty, including considering myself beautiful as a Black woman who looks nothing like them, and having a blog where Black women are celebrated visually, is being “racist.” By not making yet another space (since apparently, having their images dominate commercials, films, television shows, magazines, fashion blogs, print ads, books, stock photography and more is not enough), my personal space, dedicated to White women, I am then deemed ”racist” and “oppressing” White women. This is only a smidgen of the nonsense that I face when Whites choose to call me “racist.”

“Reverse racism,” as well as “misandry” and “heterophobia” are not forms of oppression. The oppressed deconstructing, rejecting and fighting oppression does not then make the privileged become oppressed. The privileged have no “right” to oppress, so losing the opportunity to oppress does not make the privileged become oppressed. If the privileged measure their freedom based on how much they can oppress or not, the know nothing of actual freedom. Nothing.

Whites ignore how White privilege protects them from racial oppression but does not for people of colour, especially Black people. They retreat to examining intersections where they may be oppressed (if they aren’t cisgender, heterosexual, White men in the socioeconomic 1% and living in the Western world)—intersections based on gender, class, sexual orientation, being trans*, weight and ability, while not realizing that despite any or all of these areas where oppression can manifest, they STILL have White privilege. Some Whites will ignore the experiences of people of colour who are women, poor, LGBTQ, considered overweight or have a challenge with a particular ability and by doing so, they can focus on how they themselves experience oppression while ignoring White privilege and matters of race. No country for nuance and intersectionality?

The second reason why Whites call people of colour “racist” is quite different. I’ve been in several graduate-level psychology classes where White students stated that being called “racist” is the absolute worse thing that could happen to them. I always wondered why saying or doing a racist thing didn’t scare them more than being called “racist.” What I realized is that some Whites will call a person of colour who called out their racism “racist” in an “I know you are but what am I” reductionist retreat. The defense mechanisms of projection and denial are to protect their egos. If there’s nothing they fear more than being called “racist,” then the best thing to do is to get that label “away” from them as soon as possible. By deciding that a person of colour rejecting racism is the “real” “racist” act, not the racist act that they or another White person was called out on, they can deflect and derail. A common derailment tactic is to assert in a whiny voice “all Whites aren’t like this.” Who said they are? Again, racism is not solely about individual to individual relationships; even when the discussion or action is between two people, it speaks to a greater experience impacted by institutional, systemic and structural factors. Further, an individual White person does not have to be racist in any way to benefit from White privilege living in a White supremacist society. As Mychal Denzel Smith writes In White People Have To Give Up Racism:

Not every white person is a racist, but the genius of racism is that you don’t have to participate to enjoy the spoils. If you’re white, you can be completely oblivious, passively accepting the status quo, and reap the rewards.

A lack of understanding regarding what racism actually is, the belief that White supremacy is “normal” in society, the inability to see the manifestations of racism because they do not experience them and are shielded by White privilege, as well as self-protection from the label that they fear most is why Whites call people of colour “racist” and from my experience, seem to take great pleasure in doing so when that person of colour is Black.

Related Essay List: On Race…

A Fantasy About Black Moms and Their Children’s Education

I am not a mother, but I have this little fantasy about education.

There would be five Black mommies who are friends. They all have these amazing jobs where they only worked 4 of the 5 business days. On each one of the days where one of them was off from work, they would teach all 5 of their kids via homeschooling. That way, all of their kids could experience the different perspectives of each mom. In the evenings, their fathers and/or extended family (whomever is active in their lives) would review homework with them (the way millions of Black parents already do; I have flashbacks to my dad helping me ace Trigonometry in 11th grade)—whatever was assigned by the corresponding mother that day. Then on the weekends, they would have educational play time and some free time with their mothers and fathers/extended family. They could rotate which ones would manage their weekend activities so that some of the parents could have “time off” to do things of interest to them as adults.

This way, the children are not being homeschooled in isolation and still have a handful of kids around to socially interact with. Everyone would be plugged into their education together and they wouldn’t have the worries of criminalization in school for sheerly existing, for writing poetry (i.e. Courtni Webb), or for conducting a science experiment (i.e. Kiera Wilmot), or have to deal with the racism, racist sexism and classism that causes disproportionate punishment of Black students, including Black girls.

There’s so many institutional, systemic and structural factors standing in the way of this, but a woman can dream dammit. Anytime I think about this, I get happy. Sometimes I need some happy.

The Most Commonly Challenged/Banned Books

There is a long list of the most commonly challenged books in the United States, many of which appear on various “banned” books lists. Some of the ones on this list by Black authors include:

• Beloved - Toni Morrison
• Black Boy - Richard Wright
• The Bluest Eye - Toni Morrison
• The Color Purple - Alice Walker
• Go Tell It On The Mountain - James Baldwin
• Invisible Man - Ralph Ellison
• Native Son - Richard Wright
• Their Eyes Were Watching God - Zora Neal Hurston

You know what this means; if you haven’t read them, now you must. :) I have.

I love all of the authors mentioned above. I mentioned Beloved first since there is a White mom actively trying to get this book removed from a high school curriculum in the effort to whitewash and “sanitize” history in regards to the reality of slavery. James Baldwin wrote so well about the delusions and “sanitation” involved in preserving White supremacy. Check out his book Cross of The Redemption for some of his non-fiction writing on this very topic.

(H/T @DamoneWilliams_)

Link: 100 Books by Black Women Everyone Must Read

Related Post: Good Reads In 2012

Patriarchy, Sexism and Misogynoir - An Intraracial View

I recognize the amazing work that many Black men who are intersectional feminists engage in (and I don’t confuse benevolent sexists for feminists just like I don’t confuse White supremacists for feminists either) whether it is some of the ones that I talk to on Twitter, or mention here on my blog (i.e. Son of Baldwin, The Anti_Intellect Blog or Furious and Brave) or others out there, and like bell hooks mentioned, I speak about that good work and don’t pretend that there are no Black men interested in such work.

However, I am NOT going to be silent on the impact of intraracial sexism, misogynoir and patriarchal thinking by Black men and its impact on my own life, Black women or the Black community. I have never been silent on this. Further, I am always interested in discussing it within the larger context of White supremacist capitalist patriarchy and kyriarchy itself because I don’t believe in arbitrary, de-contextualized blaming, as that is not analysis or Womanist work.

Like bell hooks wrote:

Everyone seems eager to forget that it is possible for Black women to love Black men and yet unequivocally challenge and oppose sexism, male domination and phallocentrism.

Below are some of my essays that I’ve written on this topic, some highly personal and others examine my experiences and Black women’s in a larger context.

• Black Male “Relationship Counselors” On Twitter Have Taken A Turn For The Worst
• Nice Guys™ and Race
• Black Men, Patriarcha​l Masculinit​y and Django Unchained
• Black Masculinity, Dating, and Twitter
• Black Women’s “Unreasonable” Dating Standards
• Submissive Is A Noun Now?
• I Don’t Have To Know You To Care
• Patriarchy Is Not Logical, Boo
• Patriarchal Thinking Is Hypocritical Thinking
• Here’s The Deal…
• “Lame” vs. “Thug”
• When Silencing Tactics Hit Home
• Look Somewhere Else. Ugh.
• I…Just Wanted To Take Your Picture
• Who Hates Black Men? Who Indeed…
• Race, Gender and Violence
• 2 Bad Dates, 2 Mediocre Dates, 2 Great Dates
• Delusions of Black Patriarchy
• How Internalized White Supremacy Ruined a Black-Owned Small Business
• A Tale Of Two Men
• The Faux “Allies” of Black Men
• The Truth About Black Love
• No…Your Educational Level Isn’t The Issue At The Moment…
• Not Interested In Patriarchal Labels For Women…
• Submission? Nope. Kthanxbai.
• Why People Listen To Steve Harvey’s Advice (Ugh…)
• Are You Sure He’s That…”Great?”
• A Great Compliment From A Man…
• Black “Conscious” Rappers and White Liberals Remind Me Of Each Other
• The Word “Unity” Has Become Funny
• A Core Problem That Black Women Face In Regards To Domestic Violence
• “But…We Look…Alike…”
• Why I Don’t Like Tyler Perry’s Work
• Politics and The Blackness Police
• Social Justice and Cultural Hierarchy
• Me. Black Men. Street Harassment. White Audience.
• That Awkward Moment When A 4 Year Old Boy Attempts Street Harassment  (I write a lot about street harassment and race, because I experience it every single day and primarily [though not exclusively] by Black men.)

Related Essay List: On Race…

Read This Week

This is my 35th Read This Week feature. Below are some interesting articles, papers and/or essays that I’ve read in the past week. (For new subscribers to Gradient Lair, I’ve shared a post like this weekly since the blog’s start, including some writing that I think may be of interest to you, based on your interest in my blog.)

My Feminism Will Be Intersectional Or It Will Be Bullshit by Flavia Dzodan is the ORIGINAL essay where this phrase came from. I know that many people have stated that this is their quote, but, well…we know how the Internet is. Anyway, it’s from 2011 and confronts the lack of intersectional analysis amidst the White feminist approach to the past SlutWalk, and feminism itself…something that I write about OFTEN. It was good to finally take the time to read this long, but well worth the time essay.

Why Appropriation Never Looks/Sounds The Same Or Even Good by cnrush on Tumblr is an interesting quick read that addresses how blatant copying of the mechanics of a facet of the cultures of people of colour can fall flat because of the lack of emotion and historical connection to that very facet. It’s not solely mechanics that makes something artistic great. (Ahem…the White “Harlem Shake”…)

Why My Rapist’s Race Is Relevant by musingsofanawkwardblackgirl on Tumblr is worth the read, BUT head the necessary TRIGGER WARNING for rape, as you may not want to read this. Here’s something CRITICALLY important that is mentioned in the essay: “96% of rape victims state that their rapist was a White male, yet about 80% of rape prisoners are Black men. 54% Of rapes go unreported, and 97% of rapist will NEVER see a day in jail. Which means not only is rape a crime that seems to be White male dominate, but oddly enough white males are rarely convicted of rape. I honestly wonder why that is…” She mentions that the man who raped her is White; she is Black. This type of case, other than White men raping Native American/American Indian women are the LEAST prosecuted of all.

Why Rape Jokes Are Uniquely Bad by afternoonsnoozebutton on Tumblr is an important read, and head the necessary TRIGGER WARNING for rape, as you may not want to read this. This essay is important and delineates the differences between jokes about this crime and others. I am NOT HERE for ANY rape jokes, whether about any women, Black women specifically, gay men, or incarcerated men, which seem to be the predominant categories for these jokes. THEY ARE ALWAYS UNACCEPTABLE TO ME. ALWAYS.

Higher Education Ideology Wars: Who Is The “Slave”? by @tressiemcphd is EXQUISITE. While she admonishes Emory’s president for using the Three-Fifths Compromise as his metaphor for compromise on debate in the academe, she explores this very same metaphor and reveals why it doesn’t work, despite it being tasteless in the first place. She writes “The regional elites of the North and South merely quibbled about their share of the hegemonic pie, not that the pie was rotten with strange fruit.  That is not a debate. It is competition.” And also: “In his artless slavery metaphor Wagner inadvertently revealed the ludicrousness of elites battling for who will be more elite when the entire structure of opportunity is changing around us to produce so few real contenders for social mobility as to make the proposition of choosing among them downright foolish. The credential is only as good as the belief in the promise of the mobility it affords. Right now, both are in jeopardy.” MUST READ. VERY IMPORTANT.

Stay tuned for next week’s suggestions!

Read This Week

This is my 33rd Read This Week feature! Below are some great articles and essays that I’ve recently read. (For new subscribers to Gradient Lair, I’ve shared a post like this weekly since the blog’s start, including some writing that I think may be of interest to you, based on your interest in my blog.)

100 Books By Black Women Everyone Must Read on For Harriet is a nice list! Of course it is not a “conclusive” list; it’s an amazing collection and a great starting place. I’ve read many of the books on this list and even more that didn’t make the list. However, don’t say Black women never gave you nothin’. This list is so rich. Amazing.

10 Things You Didn’t Know About Rosa Parks by aninvisibleman on Tumblr is good. Rosa Parks, like Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and many other Black political icons seem to have their complicated histories and lives White-washed and reduced to tropes and slogans. But, even Black people are complicit in this because many feel that if anything deemed a “flaw” surfaces about them, their legacies become “tarnished” and their work means less. I disagree. It means they are human beings. Fear of the White gaze from Blacks and racism and tokenism from Whites is why their true histories aren’t examined often.

What Is Life In Black (USA) by racismschool on Tumblr is an important read. It answers the ludicrous assumption that life is “easy” for Black people in America, and mentions the race-specific problems that we encounter from birth through death. It’s a painful but important read.

Trayvon Martin Could Have Been 18 If Not For Racism by cnrush on Tumblr is an important read. Trayvon Martin’s 18th birthday was this week on February 5th. In this essay, she explains the cycle in which Black victims, their families, our communities find ourselves in, in regards to how these crimes are prosecuted, or not.

So You Want To Be A Straight Ally by 9001twistedstrings on Tumblr is a great read. The author explains how NOT to be an ally and then explains how to be a good one. This is an important read for cisgender heterosexual people. Further, the author elaborates on the point of intersectionality, as it pertains to the LGBTQ community. Remember, all people of this community are not thin, attractive, cisgender, middle-class, White gay men. Important read!

Stay tuned for next week’s suggestions!