By Ruth A. Sheets
In recent years, when I have been in a group of colleagues and one or more is a Black man, the topic of The Police inevitably comes up; something always seems to slide us into that discussion. They almost casually mention that they actually feel fear when they see flashing blue lights behind them. My former boss told me that even though he was not a very regular churchgoer, he would pray first, that they were not planning to stop him and second that if they did stop him, he would come out of the encounter alive. I think my first thought would be, “what did we do? Or What do they think we did, not, will I come out alive. I have read police officer comments as to why they shot a Black person at a traffic stop and the defense I have noted most often, “he was reaching for his gun” or “I was afraid for my life.
It seems many White men, and some white women in America are scared, scared all the time and in some way perhaps, are angry that Black people have caused their fear. Those particular white folks may just be afraid that if more people of color and women enter their space, they might not have the privilege they won't even admit they have. They are afraid everyone will know what everyone already knows, they are no smarter, wiser, more worthy than people of other "racial" groups. That is a hard pill to swallow. For some, such “equality” might seem inferiority.
Throughout history, at least since the 15th century, we have as a society let white men believe in their own supremacy and have reinforced their beliefs. We women have been right there supporting them, sometimes to get along, sometimes to survive, sometimes to get a taste of the power the men have by virtue of their being white men.
During the “Age of Discovery,” white men went to places they had never been and encountered people who looked different from themselves, not as civilized, you know. To many of those white “explorers,” the people they met were ripe for exploitation in their quest for “god, gold, and glory.” They hardly hesitated at all to enslave as many of the people as they could. When those they found first didn’t function well in slavery, they looked elsewhere for people they could make do the heavy lifting while the white guys got rich and so did their kings. Slavery was not new to landed white men. It was practiced all over Europe. The enslaved persons were called serfs, peasants, and other terms, and those rich landed white men knew just how to work them.
When money is pouring in, few in authority will question the practices that bring in the bucks. Sound familiar? All sorts of cruelties were perpetrated on the enslaved persons who could do little if anything to stop it because they were enslaved for life unless freed or escaped. The law sustained the enslavers, not the enslaved. That continued long after the end of slavery in this country.
When Black persons were declared full citizens through our Constitution, by 1870, white men continued their cruelties and were rarely, OK, almost never held accountable. Our troops didn't intervene when the government of Wilmington, NC was forced out by white men because it was mixed racially. No one was held accountable for the thousands of lynchings "at the hands of persons unknown," even when the persons were known, often the legal authorities themselves. The massacres in Tulsa, East St. Louis, Rosewood, and other communities were dismissed as “there was violence on both sides.” Sound familiar?
No one at this late date is going to prosecute the white descendants of the murderers of Black Americans from the past, so how is it the white fear is still so intense, even greater than decades ago? Many have speculated that electing a Black President, Barack Obama, could have launched us into a post-racial America, but in fact, reignited the fear and a bunch of white supremacists stoked the flames. One of the most prominent “stokers” was Donald Trump. Trump portrayed himself as a super-rich white guy, man of the people, neither of which was true. His public persona attracted a lot of interest from other rich scared white men who knew just how to use him to get power, ultimately they got the White House, Supreme Court, and Congress, and a whole lot of money changed hands, and a whole lot of damage was done to our rights. Those rich white mostly men knew Black people and other people of color really scared conservative, evangelical “Christians” and used their fear to build a movement with a crude, ignorant, lying, cheating old man at the center.
A lot of the Trump supporters grew up during the Civil Rights movement of the 1950s and 1960s and witnessed daily, the myriad of incivilities perpetrated against Black Americans and actively participated. Their families made it clear they didn’t want to live near Black people, worship with them, work beside them, swim in the same pools, go to the same schools, and the rest. The relatives of the current white supremacists carefully nurtured their fear and hatred as their parents before them had done far into the past, blaming Black Americans, Jews, and other people of color for any obstacles they faced in procuring “the American Dream.” The fear and hatred of the others became habit and it will require serious thought and positive action to change such habits, if white men even want to change.
Today, people of color including Black men are finding positions of significance in our society, and that terrifies some white men, making them angry and scared, resentful that someone they don't like and feel is inferior to them has something they don't have. Those scared white men and a few women attacked our Capitol on January 6, 2021 and have participated in mass shootings as the gun wielders. Some have been held accountable, but for far shorter sentences than what I suspect men of color would have been given.
The rogue Supreme Court has even further weaponized white folks by gutting the Voting Rights Act of 1965 and overturning Roe v. Wade so those white men in red state legislatures could wreak havoc on the Black community, particularly women. The Court also told states they can't control gun possession and whether a man can carry a gun in public (only white men, of course). Police all over the country have been given free rein to do harm to Black people through qualified immunity.
Every night on the local news, the first 10 minutes or so is about the latest shootings in the city and surrounding area. It seems to be set up to look like what Republicans are claiming, that Black crime is up in cities, implying that white fear is reasonable. Alas, scared white people, crime rates in red states and communities are higher in general than in blue areas. I suspect they have an explanation for that too. There has to be an explanation because the truth does not fit with the scared white male world view. And, that warped world view is carefully shaped by the Republican lying machine which is pumped up to keep white people on edge and to influence the Trump-hypnotized to talk, plan, and do violence to others, especially if they can do it with no accountability or can just blame Democrats.
One of the figures who has been an important source of the generated white fear, Tucker Carlson, was fired from Fox (Not Nearly News) on April 24th. It was not because he regularly lied to his viewers, spewed racism and misogyny, or because he spread conspiracy theories, rumors, and “encouraged” violence, not on your life! It was because he had become a liability. It came out that he didn’t believe most of what he was saying on air and people found out. Then, there were the sexual harassment reports which could lead to more suits. Yep, it was the threat of losing money that Rupert Murdoch, Carlson’s boss couldn’t stomach. I am sure someone else will be coming to replace Tucker who will be just as disgusting and fearmongering, maybe he’ll believe the lies he is telling. The viewers certainly will.
It is time We the People start to ween white men off the milk of superiority. They need to stand on their own two feet without people they see as inferior constantly being forced to tell them how wonderful they are when all they are is white. Those scared white men can learn from the many many secure white men who don’t get their value from keeping others down. They don’t need others’ suffering to ease the fear that has been manufactured for them by other white men who only want to use the energy fear, hatred, and anger produce. We the People need to begin this process because the scared white men are even more dangerous now as they try to turn our country into a dictatorship run by rich scared white men with everyone else as inferiors to be used and abused at their whim. We had better immediately be about the work of curbing the tendencies of scared white men if we would save our society and our planet in time.
