Playing The Race Card??

Whites have become adept at trying to disguise their racist sentiments and impulses by latching onto an event or cause that is convenient to hide behind, while lobbing their racist missiles. This has been seen most recently in cases involving Black celebs and athletes like Kobe, Barry Bonds, and Michael Vick. They always vigorously claim it is not about race, but is instead purely about the act or crime as charged. They would have us believe that they have sufficiently evolved, and can now separate race from justified moral outrage at what was allegedly done.

 

But Black people are not deaf, dumb, nor blind, we can pick up on the strident tone and inflections in the voice, or the facial expressions that gives them away when discussing it. We know they have not separated race from it at all, rather they are using the incident to provide 'plausible deniability' and cover, to protect themselves when their racism is exposed by their over-the-top protestations, feigned moral outrage, or by being more condemning than they would ordinarily be at a White celeb/athlete charged with the same offense. Their number one offensive maneuver, is to charge Blacks with 'playing the race card' if we (Blacks) have the temerity to point out the racism in the things being said and done. The truth is, they have always clearly played the race card and will always do so, but are now trying to hide it by preemptively accusing Blacks of doing the same thing.

 

Blacks are also not stupid, we know when it comes to matters of race etc., Whites are rarely if ever, race-neutral in their opinions. This is why we instinctively rally around and support those accused, because we know Whites cannot be trusted to refrain from acting in a racist manner towards the accused when he is in the process of being charged, tried and convicted. This applies to most, if not all Whites, whether they label themselves liberal, progressive or conservative - they are all afflicted with some part of the racist DNA inherited from their ancestors, and passed along through the vehicle of white privilege and power.

 

Another tip-off is their consistant and condescending, lecturing of Blacks about 'making everything about race'. This is as if race hasn't always been the elephant in the living room of our society, and as if most things concerning Blacks in our society, hasn't always had a racial context. But when Blacks allege racism, they accuse us of making excuses for the criminal behavior of the Black person and playing the race card. Blacks have shown racial solidarity with those who have been accused, not necessarily because they approve of or endorse what has been alleged, but we know most Whites are not morally fit to qualify them to fairly judge the guilt of the Black person who is accused. More than anything, Blacks want fairness and balance from Whites when a Black person is accused by them. But we know enough of our history on these shores from day one, and have seen enough of their injustices since then, to not trust their alleged good intentions, and to be skeptical of their truly being willing or capable of race-neutralness in their dealings with us. 

 

The sensational OJ case was a good example - it was a bonanza to Whites, because it allowed them to vent and express their deepest and most vile racist feelings without fear of being branded a racist. Even when I calmly and intelligently discussed the case with some who believed he was guilty, and gave them a point by point list of evidences that pointed to his possible innocence, they reacted and screamed in moral outrage, as if to say, how dare you suggest that he may be innocent, when we Whites already believe and have decided that he is guilty! Their patronizing sneer and contempt for my opinions, were palpably racist and very revealing. To me, the OJ case proved that race does matter in this racist society, and Whites often instinctively play the race-card, which is as American as apple pie and the flag, notwithstanding their denials.