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Stop Telling Black People Not to be Angry [1]

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Date: 2023-08-30  

America has lived through titles for black Americans as dangerous slave revolters, agitators, race baiters, and militants. Nat Turner led a slave revolt and, when caught, was hanged and skinned for killing the likes of those who butchered him, his cohorts, and, previously, his ancestors. Turner was known as a man supposedly led by visions from God to free his people. I would venture to guess Turner was righteously angry as well. During the freedom rides through the South in the 1960s, young black men and women tired of being treated like second-class citizens were labeled agitators. Seeing the visions of other young blacks spit on and doused with food and drink for merely sitting at a lunch counter, I dare say, also made them angry. Whether you are a fan of the reverend Al Sharpton or not, throughout the 1980s and ’90s, Rev. Sharpton and the Rev. Jesse Jackson were dismissed by conservative white America as race baiters. Jackson was present at the assassination of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., and it would be unnatural for him not to have been angry.

Barack Obama was elected the first black President of the United States in November 2008 and took office on January 20, 2009. I thought I would never live long enough to see that day. On that frigid January day, I got up at 6 a.m. to make my way to the Capitol, pressed my way into the crowd, and danced in place to keep warm to see history. After months of seeing and hearing Mr. Obama and his wife, Michelle, depicted as angry, American-hating militants, it was hard to wipe the smile off my face that day. Nicknamed No Drama-Obama does not mean he did not have days when he was angry over his treatment and maybe more for that of his wife.

After the mass slaughter at Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in South Carolina (Mother Emanuel), the murder of Botham Jean—by a Dallas police officer in his apartment, and the Tops grocery store massacre in Buffalo, New York, the magnanimous gestures of forgiveness toward the killers by the surviving loved ones were praised. Just as quickly, the murders became footnotes for the next racially motivated killing story. The murders of three black citizens in Jacksonville, Florida, last Saturday by an admitted racist and coward were met by a welcomed demonstration of anger. Although the murderer irretrievably changed the lives of three families, he took the coward’s way out and committed suicide. There were no hugs by a grieving brother or prayers for the killer. After years of fanning the flames of racial animus, Fox News did not get to show the faces of forgiving and tearful family members to soothe their consciences. Finally, blacks across the country said they were damn angry.

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis was roundly booed, heckled, and jeered when he showed up as much for the photo-op as he was to console the community. DeSantis has spent months trying to marginalize black lives, history, and identities as meaningless. State Rep. Angie Nixon said it best through tears: “I am more than angry…”

x YouTube Video

Conventional wisdom warns against using anger as a solution, but what is not said is that anger is sometimes needed, cathartic, and justified.

Vote Against Guns

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[1] Url: https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2023/8/30/2190428/-Stop-Telling-Black-People-Not-to-be-Angry

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