Canaries and coal mines.

I think everyone does this to one extent or another, we like to argue with people who aren't actually in the room. Be it a person directly in our lives or a voice through the ether. I know I am not the only one who rages against… no one. At least, I hope I'm not by myself in this particular form of insanity. It's quite…amusing sometimes and I would hate to be the only one in on this joke.

Today I had a very good argument with Larry Elder. If you don’t know who he is, go to YouTube and have a listen. Brilliant man, absolutely brilliant. It’s a rare person who can recite statistics conversationally, like he does. A self-declared libertarian who advocates for self-improvement and individual accountability.

I'm an anarchist, finding mutual ground with a libertarian isn't hard. Politically speaking, it’s the rough equivalent of comparing a vegan to a raw vegan. One is the just extreme of the other. 
So…What's there to argue with?

Mr. Elder is one of those negros who says racism doesn’t exist. Whenever I meet or hear one I have to fight the urge to dismiss them off hand as "coons". It’s not hard to dismiss them. They're usually...Ridiculous people.

But, listening to Mr. Elder, I had to give pause. I'm listening, trying to see his perspective… and through all of it, I keep hearing the same thing. Denial. People like Elder, Candace Owens, Tommy Sotomayor or Jesse Lee (Lee is by far the most obnoxious) and a few others all hit the same talking points. They throw out the stats which are almost impossible to argue with and then they blame "The Democrats".

As if "The Democrats" were this autonomous force that exists outside of the system. They point the finger as if to say this mysterious cabal is somehow creating fallacies. Furthermore… We, black people, are too stupid to see it. Which is...just as fucked up as the narrative of "they want us to think we're victims".

It’s true, the most damaging thing to the black American has been democratic policy. Hands down, without question. If you bother to read the policies and compare the resulting stats, you cannot argue that point. Elder is not wrong when he points out the fact that the democratic party is the major contributor to the destruction of the black family, which is unquestionably our biggest set back. Ok… but there are two sides to that coin.

How is it that one half of the power structure is able to make rules and policies that are detrimental to a specific segment of the population and the other half is somehow….innocent? WTF?

If you haven't noticed, The Left has spent the last 8o years creating ghettos while The Right builds prisons. Have you noticed that? Is it just me? Democratic politicians promise free ice cream, extend the welfare state and by proxy perpetuate poverty. What's the result of poverty? Violence and drug use… the two reasons most felons are in prison.

That is "systemic racism". Race isn’t a color, it’s a class. Legally speaking, it’s a class. Blacks and browns are the canaries in the coal mine. American society is the only place where shit rolls uphill.

What do I mean? Where did the prison pipeline begin? Going back to the late 80’s and early 90’s, police presence in public schools started in "troubled" (black) schools.
 Fast Forward 30 yrs and every public school in the country looks like a prison. 
• "Whites" are the majority in almost all areas. 
• The largest population.
• Largest consumer of govt benefits.
• Highest rate of opioid use.
• Highest rate of domestic assault.
• Highest rate of domestic terror.
• Highest rate of death by cop. 
• Largest consumer of hip-hop/gangster rap. 
But... for some reason, we get touted around as an example of crime and chaos. We are the example. As they create more and more laws to address the black and brown problems, the cage all (whites too)of us are in just gets bigger. Canaries in the coal mine.

There are two distinct camps when it comes to black "un-wokeness", two very distinct camps. The paranoid and the oblivious.

Not too long ago I was working a gig ("writer" is a fancy word for marginally employed) catering the Phoenix Open. One of the kitchen staff who we will call "Amy" is a black woman in her late 50's, a little younger than my mother. She and I were the only two black faces working that particular kitchen and as such, there is a given...comradery. I think all groups do that, birds of a feather and all. I've never seen white people do it, but I'm assuming roles reversed the same dynamic would apply.

Consistently throughout my time with her she would say things like "being black in America..." or when we were talking about my motorcycle she voiced concern about me being "pulled over while black". In one way shape or form, being black as a point of attack or defeat permeated almost every conversation we had. Which...Is normal. Blacks in her age group and above have a tendency of thinking that way. You learn to just smile and say “Ok.”

In "Amy’s" case, being black and a victim is a very accurate assessment. Where did that mentality come from? It didn’t spawn itself. 
Could it be that everything about the color of her skin is associated to sex, entertainment and or violence? 
Could it be that the outside world reflects images that promote self-doubt, self-loathing, inability and fear? 
Could it be that as a mother, the world has reflected her to be...nothing more than a mammy and the production house of cannon fodder. Could that be it?
Is she paranoid?

When I meet people like her I have to be mindful that they are experiencing something very real, to them. I’ve heard that we, blacks, live in a state of PTSD and there is a certain level of truth to it. People like Amy are on one side and people like Mr. Elder are on the other. The Amy’s never learned how to take control of their fears, The Elder’s...they reject being harmed completely. It didn’t happen. Like rape victims who deny being raped. "I’m not a victim!". "Nothing happened, I’m fine". 
There is power in the latter mentality. Without a doubt, there is power and a sense of pride. But, neither power or pride are real. They are both temporary illusions of the ego.

The funny thing is, both, Larry and Amy have the same thing in common. Concern. When Larry speaks, he speaks from a place of concern for his fellow man, as does Amy.

The Mr. Elders however show that concern from a very detached place. He refers to us, black folks, as a "them, they and those" where the Amy’s say "us and we". When Larry speaks, I hear, for lack of a better term, a "house nigga".

The house nigga doesn’t want to see you or anyone else get whipped, but.. if that’s what has to happen so be it. The house nigga will warn you, he might even try to help, but at the end of the day..."massa told you not to do that" is the mentality The Elders and Owen’s bring to the table.

And why not? It’s good to be a house nigga. Right? Who in their right mind wants to be a “field nigga”? Those are my choices, correct? One or the other? The Left or The Right?

Step back and be objective for a moment. Look at our media. If you are arguing with me as you read, that’s fine. For just a moment, step back and look at what I see. 
When Black’s like Elder’s, Lee, Owens, Sheriff Clark speak, American media gives them a platform. Yes, the liberal media loves to swing the conversation, but they are given the spotlight. Politicians like Ben Carson, Herman Cain and even Barack Obama.. all of them have the same thing in common. They play the role of the "good negro". They directly, clearly, unquestionably denounce any and all grievances pointed towards "white America". And in turn America rewards them. 
The house nigga says "See, if you be like me, then everything be all right."

Don’t see what I see? That’s fine. I won’t say that you are blind or willfully choosing not to see... Just like with Amy, your reality is real to you. OK.

Ultimately, our anecdotal experience is the only one that matters. All the stats in the world do not change your experience. 
If I am being objective I have to look at the times I’ve been physically and verbally assaulted by white police. That’s my real life experience. Being hit with a car, called a nigger and frisked is my experience. Watching a white cop stop 4 lanes of traffic so I could safely walk my broken down motorcycle across the freeway, then hanging out for damn near 30 minutes to talk bikes... that is also my experience. Listening to my Uncle, a retired Cop talk about how he and the other black officers would run a pool on how long it would take the white detectives to "convince" the victim that the perpetrator is black... that’s my experience as well. Meeting a girl who I thought liked me, only to find out she is curious about "big black dick"... that’s my experience. Hearing "my family hates you because you’re black but I love you"... That is also my experience. Walking into a room of what I thought were my freinds and hearing "nigger" this and "nigger" that...another one of my experiences. Watching my father cry when my white grandmother died. The woman who raised him as her own after my black, biological grandmother abandoned him in a crib... another of my experiences.

Are my experiences... false? Did these things not happen? Are all the people with similar stories lying? Do my good experiences mean the bad ones don't exist?

Everything in existence is part of a continuum, everything. Call it the Tao if you like. Cause and effect are the observed instances of the thing itself.

Systemic racism is a dynamic, a poorly articulated, mislabeled dynamic. Saying it doesn't exist is like saying weather doesn't exist cause you don't like being cold.