Who Are These People?

I made a post a while back about a young white guy who was picked up by the FBI for burning a cross in one of his neighbors' yards. If you didn't see it, scroll down the page until you see Bitch Please, Redux.

As I noted in the post, the boy's mother insisted that he wasn't a racist, and to buttress her point she pulled out the old stand-by excuse that the young fella had "black friends." We've all heard that one before.

Anyway, this weekend I read over that woman's comments again, and also checked out what some of y'all wrote on the subject. It got me thinking about a post I wrote a whille back about the different definitions that white people and black people have for friends.

I want to go revisit that concept because of something said by The Uppity Negro in his comments. See, I can actually understand how an average white person might be confused about whether the average black person is their friend. Y'all may laugh and joke at work, occasionally share a sandwich and generally have a cordial relationship. It's easy to mistake that kind of interaction for friendship, particularly if you're looking for a way to increase your minority friend count with the least amount of effort.

But, in the case of somebody who burns crosses, I wonder exactly what type of black person is associating with them enough to give them the impression that they have black friends.

WNG said that there are racists at her job who would probably call her a friend, although she despises them. However, I would wager that WNG's racist co-workers have never done anything that rises to the level of cross burning because if they had, I have no doubt that she would have made sure they never called her friend again.

Cross burning is one step below lynching in my book. If you're bold enough to set fire to cross in my front yard with a bunch of friends, I'd wager that you and those same friends would drag me from my home or car and string me up given half a reason.

tSome of y'all may think I'm going to far, but let's be clear, this isn't some crazy idea created in the mind of a black radical. No, this is a carefully reasoned opinion based on historical fact. Throughout history, burning crosses have served as racial fire alarms for black folks; we know that gunshots and night riders are never far behind that lovely lawn ornament.

The type of white person who engages in cross burning has such an overriding dislike for black people that even the most assimilated Negro would have a hard time being comfortable around them. That type of loathing seeps from your pores and forms a "hatred blackhead" that is damn near impossible to miss.

How blind would a black person have to be to miss those feelings and go out to the local pub for a beer with Mr. or Mrs. Cross Burner? Ward Connerly blind? Shelby Steele blind?

It really is amazing to me that this cross burner's mother felt comfortable saying that he has black friends. In fact, the woman's comments are a sad commentary on the self-hatred that is still all too prevalent in the black community because she had to have seen her son socialize with some black person to reach that conclusion.

That any of us would willingly associate with someone who shared these sort of views, or the views held by Pat Buchanan and other less violent racists, really disturbs me. It shows the "sickness" in us is full-blown; that the infection is putrid. I see it when Fox News trots out their pet Negroes, and I see it on inner city streets when I watch certain black folks interact with each other. It seems like some of us dislike ourselves so much that this cross burner's feelings don't even bother us.

Shit, there was probably some black person nodding along to every hateful word cross burner spewed because that Negro was convinced that he/she was a different sort of black person.

I really wish I could slap the stupid out of them.