In America, life for Black folks has always been tough with various degrees of racism and oppression. The ebb and flow of contempt for our very essence and being has often been like the wind: sometimes the gust is strong, sometimes it is a mild.
The one constant theme of life in America for Black folks is the reality of racism and all of its wicked incarnations and iterations. It does not have to be like this for Black Americans, or for that matter, the nation. Yet of late, there is a resurgence of an old racial narrative.
This wave of contempt has returned with a vengeance for Black Lives in America.
In the post-industrial era of America, on the footprints of slavery, segregation, and the like for many Black folks in the nation, we must now confront the specter and culture of Negrophobia.
This is now pervasive in every space in America. Negrophobia is a derivative pathology of racism not novel in substance, just different in application and behavior.
Often Negrophobia is a civil disdain hidden in a non-verbal activity or a cloaked bigoted behavior absent the optics of raw prejudice. It has the distinct stench of racism, but it lacks the venom and vulgar and virulent demeanor of hardcore bigotry.
In the gentile terrains of an office environment or the mild contours of a restaurant or even in a plaid elevator gathering, the presence of Negrophobia is a reality that is far too often present in the space of Black folks and others (read: whites and of late even other people of color). From the nostrils and optics of many Black folks, often one feels that he or she is germ or some kind of disease that people seek to avoid when they are in our orbit and presence. We have become in many circles an inconvenient truth, an interactive poster of crime and darkness.
Usually when Negrophobia is in effect, communication, dialogue and authentic displays of normalcy are absent. A surreal reality takes over, and quite often, the Black person in the equation is the odd person out. What is really insane that even in the Age of Obama, the presence of Negrophobia was returned to the nation’s landscape with a vengeance. White politicians have become emboldened with verbiage that incites racial angst. Media outlets fill the their platforms with racially charged violent crimes. The nation’s zeitgeist is packed with themes of civil rights fatigue where the normal white majority is tired of the claims of victimhood and grievance from “those people.”
The personal toil and anguish of always being viewed as a threat and unworthy of respect and trust is creating havoc on the health of Black Americans.
The specter of Negrophobia has destroyed and shattered the internal texture in our communities .
Negrophobia augments the disconnection between Black students and their teachers. It has created record numbers of suspensions and disciplinary actions in both our public and private schools across America.
The basic civility that is required for a civilized nation to operate is now in peril. The reality of Negrophobia is contaminating even other minorities and their interactions with Black Americans.
There is a noticeable display and reservations and contempt towards Black Americans, regardless of our class or status.
Our country cannot allow Negrophobia to exist in America; it will destroy the soul of America.
Read more from Greg Thrasher at his Plane Ideas blog.
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