Do you think many white people are still scared of black people?

It’s been a while since we've chatted about the invisible knapsack of black privilege in the age of Obama.
Tragically, the killing of Trayvon Martin by George Zimmerman demands
that we black folks engage in some “real talk,” as I like to say, about
our special role in American society.

During the last week or so, I have spent a good amount of time
listening to white folks talk about the shooting of Trayvon Martin. I
have talked to friends, been invisible as I sat next to white people at
bars and cafes, and eavesdropped on conversations while riding on the
bus. I have watched Fox News and lurked on right-wing Web sites to get a
fair sense of “real America’s” collective pulse on this issue. I truly care about white people. I am their best friend because I always tell them the truth.

After doing all of this research, I have come to a conclusion that
may be a bit upsetting to some of you: Black people are scary. In fact, I
have come to realize that as a black man, I am a member of a group that
scares white people more than any other in America.

I think we should own this fact. Could it be that the disproportionate coverage we are blessed with by the news media has
convinced white America that we are a threat to them? Always
suspicious, dangerous and suspect? Is this fear a result of a deeply
held, almost primordial belief that still lurks in the collective
subconscious and racial id of whiteness: that black men are naturally
more vibrant, masculine, dynamic, virile, and athletic than white men?

Who knows where this fear comes from? As black men, we are left to
deal with the consequences; the mysterious ways of (some) white people
are not ours to divine or to understand.

However, I am sure of one thing: regardless of how we may be dressed, many white people find us scary.

It could be our cool pose, our energy, or the mere fact of our
existence that scares some white people. Black men are so scary, that
even when wearing suits in order to mute the power of our habitus, we
are subject to extra precautions and security measures by the police, as
well as individuals like George Zimmerman who
have nominated themselves the protectors of their communities.
Ironically, for some white people there is nothing more terrifying than a
dignified, intelligent, confident and attractive black man wearing a
fine, tailored suit.

Given these facts, it is only reasonable that a hoodie would frighten white people–and those who think like them–such as George Zimmerman. In all, common sense dictates that people wearing hoods cannot help but be anything but terrifying.

Because he was 17 years old (and, we cannot forget, 6 feet tall), there are some white people who are quite upset that Trayvon Martin is being labeled a “child” or a “boy” in the news media. Given that American society treats black children as though they are adults,
this protest is both reasonable and fair. We must be empathetic and
understanding here: for the white gaze, a black boy (Ronald Reagan’s “strapping young bucks”) is always a growth spurt away from becoming a “giant negro” such as Willie Horton or a “superpredator."

One of our unique privileges in the United States is that we are
forced into adulthood early; black people are spared the luxury of a
purely innocent childhood. At an early age, we are made aware of the
realities of race, “niggerized,” and forced to understand what it means
to be a problem.

These are necessary life and survival skills in America, even
post-civil rights, with a black man as president. This reality holds for
both black girls and black boys. It is especially true, however, for
the latter, lest they end up like Trayvon Martin.

In her essential book, Playing in the Dark,
Toni Morrison suggested that whiteness as a color, abstraction, symbol
(and indeed a "race" of people), has not been associated with purity,
justness, and comfort by most people around the world.

Given the facts of European colonialism, imperialism, the
transatlantic slave trade, and other assorted barbarisms, white people
have wrought terror and destruction around the globe. In practice, the
“white man’s burden” was a cruel contradiction in terms. Morrison’s
deconstruction of whiteness, and how its owners have created a
self-validating and benign sense of self, is spot-on in many ways. But
however trenchant her analysis, Morrison overlooks our unique and
singular ability to frighten white people.

In the minds of white people (even those armed with guns), blacks have the magical ability to transform harmless objects into deadly weapons.
So afraid are they of this power that white police (and others)
actually believe candy bars, house keys, wallets, cell phones, and other
objects are capable of lethal force when held in our hands.

So deep is our power to scare white people, that many of them have developed a subconscious association that links black people, apes and gorillas. These
white folks are so terrified of black people that they are
significantly more likely to give black defendants the death sentence
during criminal trials. Historically, white people have been so afraid
of black people, that even when they outnumber us 50 to one, such numerical superiority was not sufficient to guarantee their sense of safety.

Black people are also uppity troublemakers. We make a habit of going
where we are not wanted, and of appearing in the most surprising places.
During our centuries of bondage, black people absconded, killed
overseers, and searched out their kin. The South would witness hundreds
of slave rebellions during which African Americans fought a white
supremacist military state and the overwhelming force it possessed.
Blacks fought and served in America’s wars, dying by the tens of
thousands, even when the country treated us as second-class citizens.

As more evidence of our willful natures, African Americans earned
jobs and positions in industries, universities, colleges, and offices
where the vast majority of rank-and-file whites resented and resisted
our presence. In the year 2012, some black people have the authority to
tell white people what to do on a daily basis; one black man was even
arrogant enough to run for the presidency of the United States of
America and to win. What nerve!

Blacks migrated by the millions from the South to escape Jim and Jane
Crow, leaving everything behind, in order to seek out freedom and
opportunity elsewhere. We dared to achieve and succeed. Black people had
to be at least twice as good to get half as far as the average white
person.

How can a people with that level of hardheadedness, drive and
determination not scare those Americans who were born into racial
privilege?

Much of the fear of black people, and black men in particular, comes from the fact that whiteness, and white American culture in particular, is very much a story of absence and emptiness.

Black people have given whites a gift: a sense of cohesion, community and meaning. There would be no “white people” if there were no “blacks.” As Ralph Ellison famously observed,
the first word the European immigrant learned upon arrival in America
was “nigger.” This gave him or her an automatic foot in the door of
white American belonging.

Those Europeans, and especially those who we now know as white ethnics, had
to come to America and take slaves, kill the red man and exploit the
yellow man, in order to no longer be called Irish, Norwegian, German,
Dutch, Polish, Italian, or Greek. This is the odd and synthetic mix of
loathing, fear and need that creates the ties that bind together white racial identity. To be “white” is to be anything but “black.” Most importantly, whiteness is an identity defined in juxtaposition to blackness.

What would America be like without us?

It would certainly be less culturally vibrant, interesting and
democratic. But in our absence, whiteness would have to create new
“black” people. Why? White people would eventually realize that being
“white” is a lie, and all of the prejudices, stereotypes and
insecurities that are transferred onto black people would have to be
processed elsewhere so the collective white psyche could remain intact.

Empathy matters. As we think through why black people are
existentially and perpetually scary to many white folks, we should also
take an accounting of the white soul. Could this fear be a manifestation
of something pathological and unhinged? Could there be something amiss
in the heart of whiteness?

White people have witnessed many radical changes in the racial order
of this country. Black people went from being property to citizens; from
the periphery of America, to the center of its life and culture. There
is even a black man and his family living in the White House.

One of the great ironies of the post-racial era, is that a white
America that spent many years denying the very existence of racism
against people of color, has now discovered it for themselves, as
conservatives and right-wing reactionaries boo-hoo and fret over
“reverse discrimination” and how white people are oppressed in the year
2012.

Could it be that many white folks are scared of black people because
at a root level there is anxiety about karmic justice, that as Brother
Malcolm suggested, the proverbial chickens could potentially come home
to roost?

Most white folks are good and decent. A notable few have been allies
of people to color in our struggle to make America a more fair and
inclusive country for all of its citizens. But in total, white Americans
have demonstrated quite a bit of naivete and innocence about matters of
race. For example, at the height of the civil rights movement public
opinion data suggested that most white Americans believed that black
people were treated equally and fairly in America. In their eyes, there
was apparently no “race problem.” Decades later those numbers are little
changed.

This is not necessarily a function of malice or bias. It is simply
the privileged and cultivated ignorance of life that comes with being on
the other side of the color line. Given our special insight, people of
color must be patient with our white brothers and sisters on these
matters.

In the aftermath of the Trayvon Martin killing, black people need to
be especially careful of the feelings, anxieties and fears of white
folks. Many of them appear willing to work with us on this issue; we
must be sure not to antagonize them, or ask too many difficult
questions. Because black Americans are the conscience of a nation, we
must also ensure that George Zimmerman’s rights and liberties are
respected. We must always be role models on matters of justice and
fairness.

The murder of Trayvon Martin has pushed the national conversation on
race one step forward. White folks have been kind enough to share their
deepest fears and worries about black men. As a reciprocal act, black
men need to acknowledge our profound power as we imagine ourselves from
the point of view offered by the white gaze.

Dress up. Smile. Grin. Show some teeth. And don’t wear a hoodie. If
we do these simple things, white folks and their anxieties will be
soothed. Black people, and black men in particular, are privileged and
blessed. We are the most envied and imitated people in the world. With
this privilege comes a special burden.

Let’s acknowledge how we scare white people. Once we take this step
it will be possible to move forward as a country, and all of us can find
peace in the aftermath of Trayvon Martin’s murder.