I’m not really a person; I’m a tool. It used to be that many white policemen in big Northern cities learned to carry an extra pistol or a knife with them, so if they were ever involved in an unjustified shooting death of a black person, that extra pistol or knife became evidence to exonerate the policeman and justify the killing. I condemn the North for this practice, but in Southern areas of the country, this was an unnecessary annoyance. These are the tool white policemen used to protect and guide their careers in law enforcement. I am the tool white policemen use as subterfuge for the horrors they commit.
Personally, I don’t mind it for myself, but it does cause a lot of disruptions and unpleasantness in black communities and among black people. Many black men have died in my stead. Many of them while profusely proclaiming their innocence, and many of them, while plainly innocent to officials and the public, are condemned for the dysfunction, on the matter of race, that takes place in the minds of some white people. On many occasions I have been accused of engaging in what they say is my favorite pastime, raping white women, a preeminent capital offense, and over the years scores of innocent black men have had to duplicate the fate of the Scottsboro Boy in the most horrific manner. Nothing ever enrages and blinds the white man more than the accusation that I have bedded his woman – forcefully or not.
I don’t mind that many white people describe me in the same way, after all, if they didn’t, I could not exist. The energy of my existence comes from their imaginations. It is through them that I derive my shape, my notoriety and malformation, my helplessness as well as my power. Yes, my power – although I have casted myself as a victim, on the Yang side of my weakness is my power, as, on the Ying side of my power is my weakness. Slippery? Let me explain: It is only there, in the mass white psychic, that I exist.
There was a time in the South when the majority of white voters favored the Democratic Party. During the civil rights era, the Democratic Party aligned itself with the movement for equal rights; a position that alienated white Southerns, to whom my image became iconic for the Democratic Party – for then an intolerable association. Over a period of three decades there was a massive shift of white voters to the Republican Party in order to retard the social progress of black people. The irony is that this shift has the resulted in millions of white people voting against their own interest, doing damage to their families, the political system, the country and themselves. The South is a region of the country where even some professional people work second and third jobs trying to make ends meet and yet, many working-class white people are persuaded to support policies that favor the rich, simply because they are certain that these polices don’t help blacks. Whenever they view the Democratic Party, they see that sketch of me and the distortion sends them off in the wrong direction. That is the kind of power they have given me. Admittedly, it’s not a direct power I possess of my own accord, rather, a power that results from their folly – but power just the same.
Article comments
1 - taurus47
On January 20, 2009 Barack H. Obama became the first African American President of the United States. Yes, there is racism in these United States and we should not forget tht, but there is also hope. Of course we need to remember the past, but we also need to look at our actions that feed into the myths, stereotypes and just plain lies about us. We could pull up our pants, tie our shoes, stop producing and buying crude music that is disrespectful to our women and our people, stop using the "N" word, stop putting poison (food and drugs) into our bodies, persue higher education and stop being so ever loving angry all the time. This is 2009!!!
2 - Horace Mungin
Yes, there are many self-afflicted wrongs in the black community and I hope to get to write about some of them in the course of things - this article,a careful read will reveal,is not about those those self-afflicted problems.
3 - roger nowosielski
Beautiful writing, Horace. Echoes Ralph Ellison's Invisible Man.
I'm really surprised you have received so few comments thus far. I suppose the political junkies don't have much appreciation or use for fine literature.
You should try to have this piece re-posted in "literature" section (but unfortunately, we don't have one); or in "culture" perhaps.
I really loved it.
4 - Horace Mungin
"Fairy tales," what fairy tales? To me a fairy tale is a fabrication - there is none of that in this peice. I didn't intent this article to be an example of racist dogma, I merely chunched a brick in the dark to see who would screem - I ain't blaming anyone for anything and I protest the removel of AlterEgo's posts - please return them - they are essential to the point my article makes.
5 - Baronius
The big tip-off is that most people, if their comments are deleted from a site, would leave in a huff and never return. H&C keeps coming back and asking why his comments are deleted. Next, typically, is his "who is this JOM person you're talking about" phase. Anyone else getting called by the "wrong" name would just assume that the commenters are jerks, and quit. He sticks with it.
I find in unfortunate that H&C cannot play well with others, because I bet that his commentary about Obama would be hilarious.
6 - Jet Gardner
That and a lack of a back URL... Who is H&C?
7 - Jet Gardner
Is it me or is everyone on Pacific time now?
Who is JOM????
8 - roger nowosielski
I think it's too reasoned for H&C. He wears his prejudices on his sleeve and no apologies of any kind. That's what kind of "charming" about him, never mind the lesser characters.
9 - Jet Gardner
Ah, then it was me, probably the title of this article threw me :)
10 - Aaron Whitehead
Horace --
Enjoyed the story. Reminds me of a lot of August Wilson's characters.
It is odd to me that, like #1, many people point to Obama as president as if to say "it's over" or "at least things are better!" But that doesn't seem to me to be what Horace is saying. For so many people -- white and black -- things haven't changed. They don't change just because there's a Republican or a Democrat in the White House and they don't change because of the color of their skin.
I think if you want to refute the essence of the piece, you have to argue that Horace's character doesn't exist, and that what he describes as reality is not, in fact, real. That is very, very difficult.
And I don't know what black-on-black crime has to do with this. A little elaboration is in order.
Speaking as a white male who is in favor of moral -- if not political -- correctness, I think we need to start talking about our big, unspoken fears and desires. And we need to stop looking for a quick fix -- a presidential election or an elaborate burial of a racial slur -- to a complex problem.
To quote Shambala Green on "Law & Order," "Putting a picture of Bobby Kennedy on your wall isn't enough anymore."
11 - Christopher Rose
Horace and whoever else may be interested:- The comments made by the person hiding behind the AlterEgo name is already banned from Blogcritics and has only managed to sneak in here because of the ongoing tech issues.
He and his comments will be gone soon so please don't waste your time or mine by engaging with him.
12 - Jet Gardner
Horace, a bit long but a good read none the less... minus the distractions of course
13 - roger nowosielski
Why, Jet. I think it was very descriptive.
Have you ever read "Invisible Man" by Ellison?
14 - Jet Gardner
Roger I wasn't talking about distractions within the article. and yes I have a copy of it here somewhere withing my hundreds of books I own, but it's been a lonnnnnnng time since I read it.
15 - roger nowosielski
I get you!
16 - Jeannie Danna
Hello Horace, I really like your style . It is crisp and to the point. You are so right about the white fools in this country running to the Republican Party for the wrong reason. My father taught me at a young age to treat all people with respect and not to clump one another together and label with tags. So I am trying hard not to do that to all these white fools running to the Republican party! I like your use of the word slippery and I wish aliens would come from outer space so we could all get together to fight THEM!
17 - roger nowosielski
Horace,
Would it be OK if I were to republish your article on my own weblog?
You can check the site by clicking on my url.
Roger
18 - Horace Mungin
Roger- publish on, my brother.
19 - roger nowosielski
Thanks. And I will provide all the references once done.
20 - William Carter
Excellent read. I remember you talking with me about that some time ago. It's as though the politicians are playing both sides against each other while they pursue their own agenda.
21 - Horace Mungin
5/26/09 " The Phantom Culprit and accomplice accused of abducting white mother and daughter " both later found at Disney World.