White Fragility and White Violence in America

Last updated on: October 25, 2014 at 9:28 pm by Guest Contributor

White Fragility and White Violence in America 2014-10-25T21:28:00-05:00 Guest Contributor

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In 1900, W. E. B. Du Bois declared that “the problem of the 20th century” would be “the problem of the color line.” His prediction turns out to be just as true for our 21st century. Black men and women in contemporary America are judged not by the content of their character, but by the color of their skin. And for black Americans, such judgment is not merely hurtful or offensive. It is often fatal. It has become a literal matter of life or death.

The number of African Americans killed because of their skin color is legion, and showing no signs of slowing down:

Michael Brown was shot to death by police in Ferguson, MO, while walking on a street.
Two days later, Ezell Ford was shot and killed by LAPD officers.
John Crawford was shot to death by police after he dropped a toy gun in an Ohio Walmart.
Jonathan Ferrell was shot 10 times and killed by Charlotte, NC police, while he sought medical aid after sustaining injuries in a car collision.
Eric Garner was suspected of selling untaxed cigarettes, and choked to death by the NYPD.

Far too many more human lives–not mere statistics–could be added to this tragic and unnecessary list. Lives such as Trayvon Martin or VonDerrit Myers.

This litany of unarmed, modern Emmett Tills is a reminder that in America, black is the new black. To be black is to bear in one’s own body an undeserving target, made permanently and indelibly visible by the color of one’s skin.

The scourge of lynching which plagued the American South has yet to come to a definitive end. It has certainly changed and evolved in many significant ways. What remains the same, however, is the identity of the victims of white brutality: black men, black women and black children. Accompanying the new Jim Crow in America is this not-so-new legal lynching.

Compounding the tragedy of American legal lynching is that it is often executed by people charged to serve and protect. Malcolm X had reason to quip that the KKK traded in their white hoods for police uniforms. When those who kill African Americans wear a badge, they usually are immune from justice. “Pedestrian check” seems to be the new Jim Crow code for: “What are you doing around here, boy?”

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