White Riot?
[National Guardsmen wielding rifles with bayonets advanced along Springfield Avenue in Newark on July 14, 1967. Twenty-three people were killed and 700 injured in rioting. Image via The New York Times]
"Would black people riot if Sen. Barack Obama didn’t win the election?" That was the question a white man in Memphis recently asked a racial reconciliation group with which I am involved.
After five years of being a columnist for the daily paper in Memphis, I wasn’t surprised by the absurdity of his query. Many whites still labor under the illusion that black folk act en masse and that if you ask the right one, you can get the official position of some 40 million people. If a few of us get angry, that logic allows, it must surely result in a riot.
Riot because we didn’t get our way? Please. Black people have more than their share of experience with disappointment and dashed dreams. (See: King, Martin Luther; Evers, Medgar; Chaney, James.) Matter of fact, I’d go so far as to say we’re experts in making the best out of a losing hand.
The reply to the curious white gentleman: "No! There is no reason to believe black people will riot if Obama does not win."
But soon after getting this man’s e-mail, I started to wonder if he was on to something, if he had noticed what I had: a seething, barely constrained, ugly anger and frustration that makes good riot fuel. The kind of anger that prompts people to shout "Kill him!" and "Off with his head!" at rallies. The kind of hatefulness that would prompt a man to bring a stuffed monkey with an "Obama" sticker on the toy’s head to a campaign event.
That kind of group-fueled nastiness must surely beg the question: Will white people riot if Obama wins?
.:Will White People Riot? -> by Wendi C. Thomas, via The Root
Posted: October 23rd, 2008
at 8:00am by orangemenace
Categories: hood status,myninjaplease,crime,politricks,fo' real?,events
Comments: 1 comment
One Response to 'White Riot?'
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I asked that very question of a coworker: “So will white people riot if Obama wins.?” Without missing a beat, this quick-witted clown said, “Naw, we have to be at work the next day. Will black people riot if Obama loses?”
I said, “Aw hell naw! We’ll just blame the white half for losing the election.”
Buh-DUMP-BUMP!
Jill The Shill
29 Oct 08 at 3:39 pm