Welcome to the Temple of Black Lives Matter, a new national religion. It isn’t state-sponsored, but this secular creed of identity politics is increasingly accepted and promoted by government officials, big corporations, social media giants and businesses across the country.Â
Even loosely knit organizations devoted to hobbies and other non-political interests are now encouraging folks to support Black-owned businesses.
Many Americans are enthusiastically encouraging racial preferences!
On a practical level, do you know the skin color of individuals who own the businesses you frequent?
Furthermore, how dark does a person’s complexion have to be to qualify for the “approved” list?
Is one-half Black enough? How about 1/16? What if a business is owned by a mixed-race couple? Or a Black cop? Now that’s a dilemma!
Such bigotry is different from yesteryear’s characterization, but it’s prejudice nonetheless. And the fact that it’s openly accepted and promoted is breathtaking.
Look in Webster’s Dictionary for “racism,” and you’ll find: “a belief that race is the primary determinant of human traits and capacities and that racial differences produce an inherent superiority of a particular race.”
Note that Webster says nothing about power structures or history or demographics.
Further, the word “discrimination” is defined as “the act, practice, or an instance of discriminating categorically rather than individually.”
Sounds like what #BLM and its sycophants advocate.
We thought our country was making progress eliminating the scourge of racism. Now we’re told to accept a variety of intolerance that purposefully favors people with darker skin.
We’ve witnessed groups setting aside separate areas, facilities, campus activities and days just for Black people. The intent may be to honor or elevate Black consciousness, but back in the Jim Crow era this was called segregation. Might as well buy up a few of the old “Colored Only” signs from Southern thrift stores!
In today’s Black Lives Matter “religion,” Americans are expected to BELIEVE, to bow, to proselytize and, of course, to donate generously. We’ve witnessed city mayors kneeling and citizens washing the feet of Black power “bosses.”
Leaders in Congress adorned themselves with African-patterned scarves and assumed a submissive posture for their media minions. (Too bad the Kente cloth was historically worn by rich African slave owners and traders…but I digress.)
In a disturbing scene out of Bethesda, Maryland, hundreds of young men and women (almost all of them white) gathered in a library parking lot, arms raised in a gesture of surrender and devotion, engaging in a call-and-response pledge.
Looks like worship to me.
In Texas, a crowd of racially segregated Houstonians prayed for the family of George Floyd, with everyone on their knees “repenting.”
The liberal “bible” for this new belief system is entitled “White Fragility” by consultant Robin DiAngelo.
A social justice zealot seeking converts, DiAngelo claims that white people are burdened with a form of godless original sin. They must admit it, seek forgiveness and take some kind of action.
And if you deny her unprovable theory, you are confirming its validity! How convenient.
If you accept her hypothesis, you might logically ask the question, “What do we do?”
DiAngelo’s response shames her audience with psychological mumbo jumbo.
In a YouTube interview I watched, she asks, “How can you be a fully functioning adult in 2020 and not know what to do about racism?”
Well, gosh, Robin, if the answer is so obvious, why don’t you say it aloud? You’re the highly paid consultant with all the answers! I kept watching, but she shared not a hint of an answer.
Throughout her best-selling tome, DiAngelo basically argues, “All white people are invested in and collude with racism,” further claiming that white gains “come through the subjugation of others.” Whites are inescapably racist, and their “white fragility” blinds them because they are “socialized into a deeply internalized sense of superiority.”
I call BS, and so should you. But then, our denial simply means we’re “fragile.” Sigh.
According to a 2017 Pew Research study, 63% of non-Blacks in 1990 said they would oppose a close relative marrying a Black person. Today that number has fallen to 14%. Seems like dramatic progress in 30 years!
In 1980, there were fewer than 150,000 immigrants from sub-Saharan Africa residing in the U.S. In 2019, there were more than 2 million.
So why do they come here? After all, the Left claims that this is a systemically racist country!
The answer is simple. They come because they know something that the mainstream media, Hollywood and our elite universities do not — that America is the greatest country on Earth, one where everyone has the opportunity to prosper.
Patricia Suzanne is a professional writer, retired small business owner, and conservative Republican activist. She was born and raised in the once Golden State of California, now a land of despair and disrepair for all but elite Leftist Democrats and their cronies. The views expressed in this column do not necessarily reflect the views of The Signal or its editorial board.
