By Clairmont Chung
The Admission
In the sad aftermath of the Zimmerman verdict, former
federal prosecutor, Sunny Hostin incredulously admitted on CNN that she had not
‘seen race’ in the Trayvon Martin case. She went further, adding that she had
never seen race in her 20 plus years as a prosecutor. I had heard similar
statements before and, though always incredible, dismissed its owners as
ignorant and without any power to seriously hurt anyone anyway. But Hostin had to have hurt many people in her
capacity as prosecutor and now had a certain power as legal analyst and
frequent commentator on TV with CNN’s Anderson Cooper and others. This essay is
not about the specifics of racial inequality and its parents: white supremacy
and monopoly capitalism. I am not writing about unequal pay, access to health
care, mass incarceration, homelessness, joblessness and sub prime mortgages. It is too complex a subject to cover in an essay. I
make brief references and recommend a few sources for that information and there are many. Instead, I write about a peculiar group who, all things being equal
would stand as true examples of achievement; the colorblind: and particularly
those of African descent. Perhaps they are not as colorblind as claimed and have
chosen the massas over the masses.
I tried to contemplate what it meant for a person of obvious
African descent, living on earth, let alone in America, not to see race, in the
Zimmerman case, any criminal case, anywhere, on this planet. American platitudes
from the highest office and cabinet about ending ‘stop and frisk’ and repealing
‘stand your ground’ ring hollow. It’s time for the expansion of a national and
international movement to lift the veil from the eyes of the injustice system;
beginning with a review of all verdicts Ms. Hostin, and others like her, has
had a hand. Because to ‘not see race’, to be ‘race neutral’, in a racist society,
is to violate its victims. To not see race is to be racist.[1] There
could be no serious discussion of racial inequality without seeing race.
 |
| Sunny Hostin, CNN legal Analyst |
As stunning a revelation as that was, Ms. Hostin exceeded it
by adding that she did not see race in the case before, not until the Anderson
Cooper’s interview with juror B37[2]. Unbelievably,
it was not the history of slavery and race in America, Zimmerman’s predation, the
method of Trayvon’s killing, the prosecutors’ ineptitude, the exclusion of
Black people from the jury, the covert references to race by the defense, or
the verdict itself, that informed Ms. Hostin. Instead, it was the interview
with, a hooded, hidden, White, juror B37 that opened Ms. Hostin’s eyes. It is
then that I began to see Trayvon’s killing as a ritualized sacrifice: shrouded
in some kind of mystical cloud, maybe destined to change the world, yet hidden
from the uninitiated. I’m speaking metaphorically and metaphysically.
On one hand, it was for George Zimmerman to act-out some ancient
rite to cleanse his personal torment through a terminator-like predator
syndrome, coded for activation by any perceived threat to White supremacy. On
the other hand, and as a consequence, even the colorblind could now see. In a
role reversal of sorts, on national TV, justice wore a hood rather than a
blindfold: The juror hid her identity like a Ku Klux Klan member, but in the
process lifted the blindfold off a number of eyes: if not brains.
 |
| Justice with Blindfold |
The Outing
As a result, out came a number of peculiarly situated people
of African descent, like Hostin, to speak on race. Many prominent figures, some
barristers of eminence, and others not so eminent came from behind the
blindfold or some rock. Many African descendants, who ought to know better, had
fallen into uneasy silence, totally co-opted, invested. The sacrifice of Trayvon and, more so, the
sacrilege of juror B37’s interview ‘outed’ a group of people ‘passing’ not as
White, but as Black.
‘Passing’ was historically used to describe very light
skinned people of mixed African and European or other descent who looked, acted,
and lived White, as a way of accessing white privilege, while protecting, and
advancing themselves. It was like a reverse witness protection program: where
you witnessed crimes but joined the gang to save yourself rather than be a victim.
It’s not peculiar to any people or race. It’s a technique applied wherever
advantages are gained because of membership in identifiable groups, for example,
political parties, ethnic groupings, gender and sexual orientation. Generally those
under despotic rule seek to join the ruler, even if in disguise, to preserve
self.
Of course, the stakes are higher, dehumanizing, when the power
group seems to control all the advantages and the basis for exclusion is your ‘unchangeable’
skin or sex. Bleaching is its own dehumanization. But we struggle to explain it
in the context of White privilege. White
privilege is the reward in a racist construct. Often, the privileged neither
knows nor admits to privilege. There was a time when successful passing could
mean life over death. But as the name suggests it was intended to be temporary;
like clouds. The plan would be to revert to your true self in safer times. Evidently,
those times are not here yet.
Today the terror is more sinister. In a pigmentocracy the
lighter you are, the better: white is still best. But it’s more about ideas or
the absence of ideas and less about color. If you were passing in the
traditional sense, you could not realistically claim the absence of racism. It
was the reason for your passing. But this
new group, passing as black, requires the absence of race based ideas and
analysis. You can be obviously Black and still pass by absorbing the cultural
norms of White supremacy. That requires colorblindness: an affliction affecting
people of all hues and requiring a blindfold. Those who cannot ‘pass’ in the traditional
sense instead ‘pass’ as Black. It’s ideological.
The Passers
You pass as Black when you enjoy the benefits of the
historical struggle, but ignore any attempt at its recognition: you ignore the
existence of White supremacy. Others in this group recognize it exists but say,
so what: fight harder. To them the idea of reparation is ludicrous. Even some,
who shouted racism from platforms in the past, now appear forgetful or blind. Some
are public figures and represent their government at conferences on racism then
walk out on the crucial discussions on repairing racial inequality. In their
personal lives, those who can afford it, they move to completely White, or
passing, neighborhoods; as is their right. They live with the trappings of
privilege: exclusive schools, gated communities, and summer homes. This access
was fought for by people over centuries of struggle, the majority of whom remain
without access. Okay, maybe summer homes are a little too much, and not the goal
of struggle, but you get the idea: it flows from assimilated upward mobility.
Trayvon’s dad’s mobility played an unfortunate and cruel trick. Intended, perhaps, to serve as a reserve of
peace, the gated community became a trap.
 |
| Trayvon Martin and his father, Tracy Martin |
All passers need do is close their eyes to race
discrimination as a way of advancing oneself and maybe maintaining a kind of
sanity. There are two groups: the blind and the blindfolded. It’s a peculiar
altered state. Whereas they act like a White person, seek out and pursue all
the privileges enjoyed by white people. They are able to secure the benefits
fought for by those who, could not or, chose not to pass. Affirmative action
access to schools and many token positions in the social and economic structure
are filled by these people. Others may even claim racism as a way of advancing
but soon forget. Some in this group, that see race, feel their hands tied and
their mouths taped; the blindfolded. They occupy the same positions as those
who see no race: the blind. So, something tragically dramatic has to happen
before they say or see anything. Trayvon happened.
Racism is a reward system.
If you play your cards correctly
you can make it all the way to the top: even to president.In the past, we may have referred to this group as Uncle
Toms or House Negroes but these terms have been misused. Malcolm X was
attempting to make a particular point in a particular context, when he berated
house Negroes as an ideological concept. It’s the same people I attempt to
address now. Much of what Malcolm X said has been converted to serve the ends
of these same opportunists. For example ‘by any means necessary’ is used to justify
the accumulation of wealth, gettin’ mine, even by trampling on the rights and
lives of others.
But contrary to popular belief some of our most
revolutionary and radical activists and thinkers were actual, if not
ideological, House Negroes. Revolutions in Haiti and Berbice, and rebellions
elsewhere, would not have been as successful without House Negroes. They lived
near, and had access, to the Great House. They had intelligence on the comings
and goings of massa, the location of weapons and the numbers of the enemy. They
had access and opportunity to poison opponents and animals and otherwise
sabotage the plantation production system. L'Ouverture and Cuffy were House Negroes.
Servility was also attached to the House
 |
| Frederick Douglass |
Toms and Negroes
The terms House Negro and Uncle Tom is often conflated. But not
by Philosopher Dick Gregory who has credited Uncle Toms, made famous in Harriet
Beecher Stowe’s[3]
novel, with shape-shifting. Shape-shifting
is the ability to change shape and morph into different life forms: a skill found
often in African mythology. A hero may
become a lion or an ox depending on the obstacle ahead. In the Epic of like
Sonjara (Sundiata) the protagonist shifted shape. Today these ideas are associated
with Voodoo and Obeah. Stowe’s hero,
Uncle Tom, remained a loyal Christian but incited escape. Escape often required
a shift in shape. Nat Turner had certainly shifted his shape as a result of instructions
he claimed he received in a dream. Harriet Tubman avoided detection sometimes
dressed as a man. Frederick Douglas used fake identification as a prop in his
own daring escape disguised as a sailor[4]. Much
like the Uncle Toms of old, today, African descendants indentured to corporations
are often engaged in a kind of shape shifting as a survival mechanism. They must
present a face on the job and another at home.
In the supposedly post-racial era, African descendants have
been incorporated within, if not assimilated into, the whole: black and white. But
that too is not an exact science. That many of the passing members are,
historically and currently, light skinned is more than likely due to the long
history of the original ‘passers’ and the effect of White male aggression,
rape, on women of African descent. Douglass’ father was listed as an unknown
White man. This has been further reinforced by the reward system set up by
White supremacy where Black people consciously choose lighter partners to affect
better opportunities. Its current evolution seems to be the skin bleaching
phenomenon. Bleaching like passing is temporary, though you may kill yourself
before times get safer.
But this is not light skinned privilege, by itself. Passers
can come in any description. Malcolm X,
Detroit Red, did not make a distinction in describing House Negroes. On one
hand we have prosecutors and judges of dark complexion sending us to jail and
presiding over the disappearance of constitutional rights. On the other hand, many
of the most fearless fighters for the rights of people of African descent were
light skinned and some could even have passed for white. In fact, some were
white.
Passing is not something that afflicts only people of
African descent. Everyone is affected. At one time, some Jews had had to change
their names and list themselves as Christian to find work. Recently, Asian
media personality, Julie Chen admitted to plastic surgery to Europeanize her
eyes on the advice of her boss and noted the increase in opportunities as a
result. Even some White people seek to lighten their hair and eyes for the same
reason. Volumes have been written about
the Whiting of Europeans; the Irish and Italians in particular. This is not some pathology peculiar to African
descendants. But Black people have borne the brunt of its negative effects and
precisely because of their color and false notions of beauty, but only as a
toll to secure power and control for a White minority capitalist group: the one
percent.
However, this multiplex passing group is a one percent of
sorts, the chosen few, enjoying these benefits and while eating at the table of
white privilege, offer a few contemptuous comments to the wretched about the
hang of their pants, the correct position for caps, the coarseness of speech, the
importance of an education, personal responsibility, littering, laziness and fatherlessness. Beyond that, they see nothing and say little
else. They don’t see the skin or
anything deeper, below the skin. The education they speak of is not about
independent thinking, but about appearance and presentation. They don’t see
themselves. Instead, they look at mode of dress and appearance, the surface, things
that cover skin.
 |
| Uncle Tom assaulted by plantation owner Simon Legree printed Circa 1883 |
As happened to Hostin, Trayvon forced Eric Holder, our nation’s
highest justice official, to speak on race in a way he had never done. He
offered his own experiences at being racially profiled even once while a
federal prosecutor. We heard he had cautioned his own son on racial profiling as
his dad had cautioned him. He since offered to end prosecution of low level
criminal defendants for drugs and suggested we needed to take a look at the five-
decade old war on drugs with an eye to reform. This was something new: maybe,
its shape shifting. Shape shifting like
tom ism is also ideological. Tom in the Beecher Stowe narrative has come to
personify the hat in hand servile slave. But remember Tom was beaten for
refusing to whip another captive and later killed for refusing to reveal any
information on the whereabouts of the recently escaped Cassy and her daughter Emmeline.
It’s hard to fathom which is worse: Attorney General Holder
who knew and saw race, but said and did nothing, or former federal prosecutor
Hostin, who never saw race and said and did nothing: but for Trayvon. Even, President Obama suddenly found the voice
to intone that Trayvon could have been his son. These outings and confessions
ought to have caused a major shift. Don’t be too optimistic.
The Changes
Stop and Frisk [5]is
now under scrutiny: even though President Obama is about to appoint its most
recent public defender, NYC Police
Commissioner, Ray Kelly, as head of Homeland Security. In Floyd V. The City of New York[6],
Federal District Court Judge, Shira Scheindlin, in a brilliant opinion, ruled ‘stop
and frisk’ unconstitutional. New York City, the recent model child of ‘stop and
frisk’ has a council that is seemingly on the right path to end the practice.
But let’s not be carried away by these pronouncements and
rulings. Understandably, some and particularly the passers have rushed to
highlight these developments as progress. Avoiding the Voting Rights Act or the
health care discussion for the moment, am I to rejoice about the return of
something you took from me? Is this progress, the change? We will rejoice at
the return of both: The things you took from us and the things we lost because
of the things you took from us. Know the difference.
This is very little, very late, but an indication of what
continued pressure can do. Perhaps, that is what President Obama meant when he
said, “make me”. I resented it then and do now. Is Trayvon’s death the requirement? My
response then, as now, was ‘who do you think made you’?
Even as we rush to celebrate some victories, we are being
defeated. Michael Jackson, that extraordinary artist and microcosmic conundrum
of race and class with bleaching and all, reentered the news recently when his
concert promoter, AEG, was found not liable for his death. Imagine his doctor,
Murray, who worked for AEG was convicted in criminal court and at the higher
standard of beyond a reasonable doubt, while Dr. Murray’s employer, AEG, was
found not liable. Michael Dunn, a white
gun collector fired at least eight shots into a car full of teenagers, killing
17-year-old African American Jordan Davis. Dunn is awaiting trial and claiming
‘stand your ground’. Miriam Carey, an unarmed single mother, was gunned down by
security personnel in Washington D.C. while fleeing police pursuit and
allegedly using her vehicle as a weapon. I promised not to talk about mass
incarceration. But using the car as a weapon and eluding were laws and ideas created
to target the inner-city: Blacks and Latinos. The only video circulating so
far, show the police vehicles surround Ms. Carey but carelessly leave
sufficient space for her to reverse and drive away. The chase should have ended
right there with all parties safe. Then
there is the motorbike ‘gang’ in New York. Did the driver of the SUV not use
his car as a weapon, seriously hurt somebody, and left the scene of an accident
while eluding a group that included police officers. Instead, the voices are
about the attack of the bikers on the ‘passing’ driver.
As I write the US Supreme Court deliberates over a White student’s
claim of discrimination as a result of being rejected from the University of Michigan
and because of spaces reserved for minority candidates. The tenor of the times
says she will win. It says enough that the highest court is considering these
issues 50 years after the march on Washington. Though Trayvon forced some
important people to belatedly lend their voices to the obvious, its business as
usual.
This race based access to education needs more attention, because
it is the same passers who attended these same universities because of race but
now are against the idea. Imagine, this court challenge amounts to people
requesting a judge to force public universities to wear blindfolds. After years of racial oppression and
inequality everything is now equal. We now must all agree to be colorblind. One
would think you balance scales by adding or subtracting from the left or right.
The University of Texas is also in court over the issue of ending race based
enrollment at public universities. Given recent decisions on Voting Rights and
others, I fully expect a minimum of five Supreme Court judges to find race-based policies unconstitutional. One of those Judges will definitely be named
Thomas.
But it was not just Trayvon that brought the positive results
and outings. It was the voices of people like Michelle Alexander in her book, The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the
Age of Colorblindness. It was the voices of Cornel West and Tavis Smiley,
Harry Belafonte and Boyce Watkins. More importantly it was those unknown voices
that took to the streets for Ramarley Graham, chased and gunned down in his own
home by NYPD, and Kimani Gray in Brooklyn, and many more across the United
States and abroad.
There is so much work to do and its global. Trayvon’s
killing and Zimmerman’s trial had global repercussions. We cannot forget the 43
miners at Marikana, South Africa, the 3 protesters at Linden, Guyana, and 70
plus at Tivoli Gardens, Kingston, Jamaica. When we calculate per ca pita the 70
plus lost in Tivoli Gardens is more than the 3000 lost on 9/11. [7] Instead
of fear seizing the masses it seems to have seized the state.
On July 28, 2013, I was sitting in the Atlanta Airport, on a
return trip from Jamaica, outlining a letter to Ms. Hostin, when Don Lemon
popped onto the screen with his ‘tripe’ as my mother would sometimes refer to
foolishness[8].
As I went through security, I was singled out; randomly they said, to test for
recent contact with explosives. Angered by Lemon and now this intrusion, I
realized that in ten days, I had been tested for bomb material five times. This
is not a confession intended to reveal my empathy and enlist yours. This is how
we are living.
 |
| Writer in Jamaica |
The first was on Thursday, July 18, 2013, I was stopped at
Port Authority, in New York. The officers told me I was randomly selected. They
did not say whether I could leave or refuse.
There were about five officers some in the dark blue of NYPD and at
least two in the lighter blue shirts of the TSA: the ones seen at airports. I
guess transportation includes trains, NYC subways too. They swabbed my hands,
ran the swabs through a sensor and sent me on my way: clean. The next morning I
went through security at the Newark Liberty Airport on my way to Jamaica and
was again randomly selected, swabbed, and sent on my way.
In Jamaica, I grounded with my brothers and sisters, ate,
drank and grounded some more and soon forgot all the anxiety. Until, ready to
leave from Montego Bay, I was randomly selected and tested, not once, but twice
before boarding. After passing security, I was randomly selected for exposure
to explosives, hands swabbed: you know the drill. I waited quietly for an hour to
board, showed my boarding pass at the gate, and was again randomly selected for
recent exposure to explosives. I told the security person that I was already
swabbed by security to enter the area. She indicated that that was for the
airport, her swab was for the plane. This is what is happening now.
Many young black men and women have been murdered by the state
or those acting in place of the state. In fact, many young Black men have been
killed by young black men as TV personality Don Lemon, another passer, reminded
us. The Las Vegas Guardian reported
Five hundred and twelve murders in Chicago for 2012[9]:
President Obama’s political home state. Seventy Five percent of those victims
and perpetrators were of African descent.
In these daunting statistics, somehow Trayvon’s killing stands out. It
is an epic tragedy and the trial a farce like so many.
Much like Africans involved in the trade of other humans,
blame must be placed where it belongs. It is a system organized and maintained
by Babylon without any care of any humanity, only for the strength of its
dollar.
 |
| Don Lemon, Host CNN |
The Don Lemons’ and Sunny Hostins’ are chosen indeed. It is
not entirely their doing. They have little power and are selected precisely
because of this propensity to ignore race.
The skilled job interviewer can identify this person without a word
exchanged. Anderson Cooper, for example, can select from any number of deep
thinking legal practitioners but instead selects Sunny Hostin. Dr. Drew also
demonstrates his contempt by selecting Shahrazad Ali as a panelist to help analyze
race and the Trayvon Martin case: completing the minstrelsy. Ms. Ali’s claim to
fame is a book on Black women that challenges Willie Lynch[10]
for foolishness. So, an occasion for serious discussion becomes a show replete
with colorful performers engaged to entertain.
Don lemon can host at CNN and emit some of the worst stereotyping
and nonsensical reasoning that I have ever heard unless it was Bill Cosby or
another of those passers. Then he cites President Obama for support. If he is
any indication of what his kind of education can do, I caution against it. He
prefaced his diatribe by warning us that Bill O’Reilly and he had agreed on
these points and O’Reilly had not gone far enough. Mr. Lemon and others like him
evidently hadn't noticed the killings in Black communities prior to Trayvon
Martin. Or maybe Trayvon gave him license to speak: whereas before, he only
mouthed the thoughts of others who seek to show why the young black male gangster
model, a micro set, is a paradigm for all black males and black people. No
social scientist has been known to show the relationship between sagging pants
and low expectations, low achievement and prison. But Don Lemon and his mentor
Bill O’Reilly have so concluded. That he
remains on air is incredible until you realize that that is precisely why he is
on air. He was properly vetted. Human resources did a splendid job in finding
Lemon. They know exactly what they are getting.
The establishment loves this group because they make the
point, of white supremacy, better than even White men. Once passers remain as
window dressing and powerless in the decision making process, the point can be
made about how well adjusted the rest of us can become. It’s our potential to
pass.
The random testing, just days after the Trayvon verdict, seemed
not so random and I began to wonder the reason for this attention. How does one
get tested for exposure to bomb making materials 5 times in 10 days? Perhaps,
it was my longer beard grown to escape the tyranny of the daily razor. I did
notice that more Black men had taken to growing longer beards. Perhaps it was
some silent solidarity with the would-be terrorist. I am just lazy. Imagine
that under the national leadership of an African descendant and an attorney
general of African descent I can still be randomly selected 5 times in 10 days
for bomb activity and so soon after their promised review of stop and frisk.
Not even gun or drug possession but bomb. Jamaica was only interested in
testing me as I left. Presumably they didn't care about Jamaican casualties,
but were protecting the US: my destination.
It is October and when we celebrate Columbus Day. In true
Columbian fashion, the US sets its sails abroad to recover the wealth and
obedience of others by arms. My nationalists’ family rejoice in the knowledge
that Columbus’ navigator was of African descent. Similarly, some revel in the
fact that the current expedition’s navigator is African, or of African descent.
Like Columbus, America targets the
world, but the Caribbean is special. Assata Shakur in Cuba has been placed at
the head of the most wanted list of terrorists by the US Department of Justice.
She is the new Osama Bin Laden with a bounty of 2 million. She can be murdered by the state at any time
or anyone acting on its behalf. Would that be black on black crime or is
Columbus’ legacy living?
I hope that my analysis is wrong, because seeing race and
not saying anything must be torture. If I sound like I am at the gate of color deciding who is and who is not, it is only because of the complexity of the subject and that it defies the confines of an essay. I
hope that those passing are really Uncle Toms and House Negroes that can shift
shape and swiftly reform as revolutionary change mongers rather than passing
like ominous clouds on the racial landscape, announcing a rain that can wash
color away.
Let’s be clear. Not seeing racial imbalance is, in fact,
racial imbalance. Not seeing white supremacy is White supremacy. Its goal is to
hide. It has always been that way, at its worse. Sunny Hostin’s view of race was clouded like
our view of juror 37. Hostin later relented and called her own view, ’naive’.
Naive is a soft word. Blind is more accurate. The education Sunny received did
not prepare her to analyze White Supremacy and monopoly capitalism. It is the education that blinded her. I hope that
our passers are like clouds temporarily blocking brighter skies or
shape-shifters priming for imminent rebellion and we would not have to mutter
as did Zimmerman, “these assholes always get away,”
The End
[1]
For a working definition of racism see Huffington Post, October 12, 2013, an
interview conducted by Kathleen Wells, J.D., Prof. Robert Jensen Discusses Racism, White Supremacy and White
Privilege, Part 1.
[3]
Harriet Beecher Stowe, Uncle Tom’s Cabin,
John P. Jewett & Co, Boston 1852
[4] "Escape
From Slavery, 1838," http://www.eyewitnesstohistory.com/fdoug.htm
Today, 12 million undocumented residents of the US cannot get on that same
train from Baltimore to Philadelphia and beyond unless with fake identification.
[5]
Stop and Frisk a policy credited to New York Police Department, in error, that
permits the stop and frisk of Black and Brown people without probable cause or without
any crime being committed. Ray Kelly is the current NYPD Commissioner and advocate
for the practice.
[7] Twice as any people died in the Tivoli attack than died at WTC, 9/11, per capita, and all African. Jamaica's population is roughly 2.9 million, 3 million for the ease of
calculation, and the US roughly 300 million. We would have to multiply the 70
deaths in Tivoli gardens by 100 to match the deaths on 9/11 to that in Tivoli.
Instead of 3000 deaths on 9/11 it would have to increase to 7000 to match the
death toll in the Tivoli Massacre. NOTE: as of Sept 9, 2016, as many of 5000 first responders have died from cancers believed to be tied to debris from the fallen ten towers.
[9]
Las Vegas Guardian Express, Chicago
Murder Rate Climbs, Four More Killed and Ten Wounded Since Friday, by Douglas
Cobb, July 14, 2013, “Between 2003
and 2011, 4,265 people were murdered in the city of Chicago. In 2012 alone, 512
people were murdered in the city.”.
[10] A
largely discredited essay, supposedly written by West Indian planter, slave
owner, Willie Lynch, instructing American slave-owners on the methods of breaking
slaves.
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