An Open Letter to Racist People

BY ERIC SMITH

The African American community does not owe the white community in America a damn thing. That said I ask who the hell are you to call us militant? Who the hell are you to demand that we black people ask for your approval to fight for those rights that were given to you by the creators of this nation for no other reason than the whiteness of your skin? It is not our job to make you feel good about yourselves. If you as a whole had done right and did right by the African American community in this country and by that I mean apply the same standards of justice & equality to African Americans that you apply to yourselves then there would not be the racial polarization there is today.

Stop blaming the victims of your cruelty for calling out the injustice of your actions. The only white person who considers a black person militant for standing up for their rights and speaking out against injustice is a racist white person, period.  In doing so you are assuming the racially superior posture that it is your right to tell us how we should react to you.  You do not have that right for you did not earn it.

We do not care if you do not like us. We do not care if you disapprove of us. We don't care to seek any middle ground or accommodation with you if you insist on holding on to your primitive racist attitudes be these racist attitudes paternalistic, overt, or subtle. Your racism is ultimately your problem, not ours, and as such it is your problem alone to deal with. Thus if you feel any guilt about your attitudes regarding people of color then it is for you to look into your own hearts and reexamine your own policies & positions in order to seek redress for that is neither we African Americans job nor concern. The oppressor is in no position to demand comfort from those they oppress; to seek reassurance from those they victimize. To take such a position is racism in its purest form. 

The white people who are not racist are the ones who do not go around saying they are not racist when no one has directly accused them of being such. The racist white people are the ones who feel that they must say they have black friends in order to prove that they are not racist and this is so because in these people color is the first thing that always pops into their minds. The color blind person never, ever, has to deny that they are a racist. They don't have to.

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They don't have to because the color of their friends skin is never mentioned when they are referring to their friends and the people & policies they support promote equal justice and equal opportunity for all people of all races, colors, creeds, genders, sexual orientations and economic class. They do not answer appeals to prejudice or to racial polarization. They see black on black crime not as a black problem but as an American problem; as a problem for all Americans to address for it is American men, women, and children who are dying from these crimes. 

They do not segregate. They do not see the victims in our inner cities as being black or poor; that is not what enters the mind of the white person who is truly color blind; they see only that one of their own is in distress; one of their fellow citizens is in need of help. 

That is why these white people open their hearts, their minds, and even their wallets to assist whenever and however they can. They arre doing this not to prove that they are not racists, to make themselves look good, They are dong this because it is right and only because it is right. They are not giving anyone a handout. They are giving their fellow citizens a hand up. Many accuse such people of having a bleeding heart and though this is meant as an insult it is in reality a compliment for one who is told that he/she has a heart that bleeds is reminded that he/she has a heart and that is a wonderful thing. 

There is nothing wrong with being kind. There is nothing weak about showing compassion or empathy. For this is evidence not only of one's humanity but of their Americanism for if as an American you think that being kind and showing compassion & empathy to those who are less fortunate or are of a different race, economic level, gender, or sexual orientation, is wrong; that it is a sign of weakness, then not only are you not fully human, you are not really an American for to be an American as America defines itself, you must be all of the above. It can be no other way.

So all this said let's get one thing straight. If we black people were as militant as you racist white folks who resent our speaking up for ourselves accuse us of being. If we had acted like you people have from the beginning of time towards those those who have oppressed you. There wouldn't be a United States of America right now for the whole lot of us would have gone Nat Turner, grabbed weapons, and utterly annihilated this county a long, long time ago, and justifiably so.

So the bottom line is this. Stop standing in our way and making excuses for your continuing to deny us those equal rights and equal opportunities that you assume for yourselves. Get the hell out of our way and stay out of our way or as sure as the sun will rise we will knock you out of the way, assert, and exercise those rights in spite of you. What's more understand this: we will not be alone in knocking you aside for we stand not alone. Every person of every race, creed, gender, and sexual orientation who believes in justice stands with us and will continue to do so as they have from the dawning days of the Republic. 

The Age of the Bigot is past. Those of you who feel that you know what's best for the African American community; that you can speak for us; you people and your opinions are no longer relevant. You are now part of our past. You have finally been consigned to the trash heap of history where you have long since so rightly belonged.

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