Old article but worth the read.
On Aug. 9, 2014, Darren Wilson killed Michael Brown. A young black boy was killed, made into a corpse for the threat he was perceived to be but never actually was. He was imagined to be a raging beast, and in America, the fear a black boy is imagined to be is in fact what he is. That terror led many in white America to blame Michael Brown for his own death. He was depicted as a criminal, a violent young teen — a super-predator.
In media accounts following Brown's death, the justifications for Wilson's use of lethal force ranged from Brown attacking Wilson (which resulted in a "broken eye-socket") to a campaign aimed at painting Brown as a robbery suspect posthumously. Michael Brown was not the first and will certainly not be the last black male unjustly killed or murdered in the light of day in America. For all its promises of equality, democracy, and the rule of law, America has an appetite for the death of black men. The question, however, is why?
In May, Rod Dreher, a blogger at the American Conservative, resurfaced comments I made in 2012 concerning the movie Django. He was offended by my speech patterns and tone, as well as my insistence that black Americans had a right to self-defense and have valiantly exercised said right against white racism, police brutality, and vigilantism. In particular, Dreher was obsessed with one line in which I claimed that "in order to be equal, in order to be liberated, some white people might have to die" — something he took out of context.
His accusation ignited a slew of death threats, ranging from pictures of dead monkeys being sent to my email account to threats by white women who said I should be lynched because as a black man I was born a rapist. This is America. It makes no distinction between a black man with a Ph.D or a black man without it.
Column: Why does America have an appetite for the death of black men?
On Aug. 9, 2014, Darren Wilson killed Michael Brown. A young black boy was killed, made into a corpse for the threat he was perceived to be but never actually was. He was imagined to be a raging beast, and in America, the fear a black boy is imagined to be is in fact what he is. That terror led many in white America to blame Michael Brown for his own death. He was depicted as a criminal, a violent young teen — a super-predator.
In media accounts following Brown's death, the justifications for Wilson's use of lethal force ranged from Brown attacking Wilson (which resulted in a "broken eye-socket") to a campaign aimed at painting Brown as a robbery suspect posthumously. Michael Brown was not the first and will certainly not be the last black male unjustly killed or murdered in the light of day in America. For all its promises of equality, democracy, and the rule of law, America has an appetite for the death of black men. The question, however, is why?
In May, Rod Dreher, a blogger at the American Conservative, resurfaced comments I made in 2012 concerning the movie Django. He was offended by my speech patterns and tone, as well as my insistence that black Americans had a right to self-defense and have valiantly exercised said right against white racism, police brutality, and vigilantism. In particular, Dreher was obsessed with one line in which I claimed that "in order to be equal, in order to be liberated, some white people might have to die" — something he took out of context.
His accusation ignited a slew of death threats, ranging from pictures of dead monkeys being sent to my email account to threats by white women who said I should be lynched because as a black man I was born a rapist. This is America. It makes no distinction between a black man with a Ph.D or a black man without it.
Column: Why does America have an appetite for the death of black men?
