entitled.
By: Data Dumping
Tags: Minorities, Racism, People Of Color, Bullying

There was a humorous viral video of a male while riding a bike, stopped in his ride to attempt to tear down a pride flag on someone else’s property. The homeowners took video of the male’s attempts and found it humorous that he took time out of his day to try to destroy something that identified them as members of the LGBTQIA community. This video closed with the owners showing the fixtures that kept the flag in place. The male rode off in a rage at his determination for destroying something that he found offensive not meeting his bully justice in this simple act of property damage.

What is mildly shocking is a case of a member of a left-leaning political party being charged with a hate crime for destroying the signs supporting an extreme right-leaning political stance on the supporters' lawn. This case opens a level of discourse in similar justifications of the attempted coup on the nation’s capital on January 6th being met with mixed criticisms wavering from open thanks to outrage depending on the individual’s political position. As a country recovering from a deep dive into our systemic racism, one has to come to grips with their righteous rage against the open racists that plagued our nation. There has been a level of coded freedom afford to the communities that want to reaffirm a state of racial class superiority that has been put in a shallow grave since the late 60s.

The previous administration allowed America’s systemic racism to shuffle its way to the surface in a way that beneficiaries hoped to return to their racial heyday- openly killing members of another race and having a family outing around the body. At least, that is what the dead-eye stare of the officer murdering George Floyd mirrored- pictures of white community members taking photos of themselves with a hung Black man in the background. Photos like these have not been circulated in a few decades in public spaces but members of the white race in Black face have been met with controversy that this essay hopes to examine today.

Looking at the resurgence of open hostility against members of color could make white people examine themselves but it only makes them strive for the comforts of a previous period of financial stability, open racial superiority that permitted them to have people of color openly humble themselves in open fear for their lives or well being. It should bother them that this is what they seem to be missing- an open reminder that they should be feared for their white skin and members of color should be ashamed for not being them. And yet, the response to the tests of white privilege- open hostility and unbridled rage against people that fear white skin for being white in concert with loathing individuals of color for reminding them that their skin is the thing being feared and not the individual- makes the act of murder on their end, empty.

Looking at these photos of white men congratulating themselves on banding together as a group to kill one person of color only to go back home and have their partners really fear them the way the Black person already did, why would they bother taking out their bully rage on anyone when they could not stomach the aftermath among their own people. How many of them keep to the circles of individuals that participated in the actions to ensure their actions were justified and honorable? It should come as no surprise that these people rarely leave their communities to ensure they are comforted by like-minded individuals.

Alas, this social stance is being challenged by every generation. The ‘good old days’ were based on a level of financial security that no longer exists for the middle class in any capacity. That social status and privilege has been a blinder to these entitled people while the sources of their wealth were whittled away. As COVID enforces these people to huddle in their own communities and ensure no one comes to visit in a Sodom and Gomorrah homage, their bully-based fury is festering.

Why take the time to observe this population? For fear of using it as an example of what the oppressed will fall into with turned tables. The woman facing hate crime charges is a supporter of my personal political agenda; however, I would not condone anyone destroying another’s property because it was offensive to me. Nor would I take the time out to educate anyone who lived in that property. I would deny them the opportunity to expand beyond a narrow point of view and hope their personal ideals choked them on their unsupported obscurities. That is what Facebook allows with the self curation of one’s feed- suggesting more things that relate to your previous queries. That is what the AI’s Google has built showcase- extreme bubbles of unlanced hatred against members of society one may never be exposed to in certain states. That is something Black Americans struggle with as they attempt to reclaim a level of community and culture that is not a mere replacement of a white face with a Black man.

It is an open fear that the organizations supporting the left-leaning political agenda will turn into its enemy should it obtain the political clout it needs to open doors to all America’s peoples. We should not mirror our bullies. And yet, is that not what happened during Woodstock and the Women's March?