Are Black People Just Being Too Sensitive OR Is Racism In The United States Real And Being Ignored?

On May 29, 2018, MSNBC aired the town hall event Everyday Racism in America, hosted by Joy Reid and Chris Hayes. 

Coincidentally it was the same day Roseanne Barr (we’ll get to Roseanne a bit later) went on a racist Twitter rant against former President Obama’s Senior Adviser Valerie Jarrett.  And it was the same day Starbucks closed 8000 US stores to perform bias, sensitivity training for their employees.  

So, white people need to learn how to be sensitive to Black people (and other minorities)? 

Isn’t that one of the things we learn in our formative years?  

How are white people educating their children?

What are they teaching them about getting along with others?

The purpose of MSNBC’s town hall event was to discuss racial bias in America.  The panel included Valerie Jarret, Rev. Al Sharpton and Sherrilyn Ifill.  For those of you who are not familiar with this power house woman, Sherrilyn Ifill is a law professor and President and Director-Counsel of the NAACP Legal Defense Fund.  She was asked by Starbucks CEO Kevin Johnson to operate as an expert to advise Starbucks on its’ bias training. 

To my knowledge, this Town Hall did not get a lot of views and discussions.  If you did not see it, click the link to watch.  Honestly, I recommend watching and taking notes. 

After watching and learning (I use the term learning loosely) about the experiences Black people endure every day of their life, I know that it is exhausting waking up Black. 

Incidents discussed included:

• The Black woman who is a student at Yale and was questioned by police because she was asleep in a common area room in the schools study hall.
• A Black woman who lives in the Brooks County area and shops in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, described the micro-aggression she experiences while shopping.  (Ignoring Black people in public spaces.)
• Two young women (one Black, one White) who made the Starbucks incident of the two young men who were there for a business meeting and was subsequently arrested, go viral. 

Lately, the racism in America seems to be rampant and it’s getting worse or maybe more overt.

Roseanne Barr has been an openly disgraceful, biased racist for a very long time.  Twitter has a history of tweets sent out by her.  Below are just two of her tweets. The first one, she focused on Ambassador Susan Rice, 24th United States National Security Advisor from 2013 to 2017. 

This other Roseanne Barr tweet below is about her perceived “Islamic pedo culture”.

Disgusting, right?

ABC should have known, if they did not already know, Roseanne’s history and her vulgarity.  And they should have realized that her volatility and her inflamed personality could damage their brand.  

Instead, after one season, they were forced to cancel her money making TV show because of her racism; plus, they wisely foresaw the amount of money they were getting ready to lose if they kept her on their TV schedule lineup. 

Don’t forget that Shonda Rhimes has an entire evening dedicated to her shows on ABC.  Keeping Rosanne on ABC could spell trouble for that kind of money.  (In the end, it’s all about the dollars.)  ABC’s comment after the cancellation of the show was, “Roseanne Barr’s comments were abhorrent, repugnant and does not represent who we are.” 

Starbucks has been working double time to fix their staff’s mea culpa and to rid themselves of the incident in Philadelphia where an employee called the police on two black men, Donte Robinson and Rashon Nelson, who sat in the store for several minutes in April waiting for a colleague to join them.  They had not ordered any drinks yet.  Starbucks have made, what I deem, giant strides in trying to show the public their concern and dedication to correct the problem. 

Long before this incident, on September 6, 2017, Starbucks hired Rosalind Brewer, a Black woman, as their COO. 

On June 5, 2018, Starbucks announced that Mellody Hobson will become their Vice Chair after their current Vice Chair Howard Schultz departs on June 26th.  Ms. Hobson, who is also married to Star Wars’ George Lucas, is a financial literacy beast.  That is meant in the most admirable and respectful way.

Yes, Mellody Hobson is a Black woman.  Fierce and super intelligent.  Now two of Starbucks’ top heads are Black women.  Maybe there is hope!

They (White people) don’t think that Black people are human!

And even with these high level advancements of these women and other Black people breaking the color barrier, it seems a large group of white people are moving closer to the hatred of anyone who is not white.  One would be led to believe that the sight of Black people, to them, is like seeing a pack of lions or tigers or any other group of dangerous animals approaching them and they must defend themselves, by any means necessary.

The police is being called to help them defend themselves against non-threatening incidents.  A black student at Yale University sleeping on a couch in a common area, a black man moving into his apartment, a child playing with a toy gun in a park, a husband and father playing his music loudly in his garage, winding down for the day enjoying his man-cave.  The list goes on -- and on.  It’s dangerous being Black in America. 

Donisha Prendergast, granddaughter of Bob Marley leaving AirBnB while Black.

On April 30, 2018, Donisha Prendergast and friends were checking out of their AirBnB they rented in Rialto, California when police cars surrounded them.  With Prendergast were her colleagues, documentary filmmaker Kelly Fyffe-Marshall, visual artist Komi-Oluwa Olafimihan and Prendergast’s white assistant. 

Billboard.com wrote that Prendergast and her colleagues were ordered out of their vehicle, while a helicopter hovered above them.  They later learned from the police that they were responding to a neighbor’s call claiming three black people were “breaking into” a nearby home.  The police claimed that the neighbor became suspicious because the black people were moving luggage out of the home and when she waved hello, they refused to smile at her.  HUH?  WHAT?

Prendergast was one of the people interviewed on MSNBCs Everyday Racism in America.  In her interview, when asked “What would you like to say to those people who say “This was just an incident, move on!”?

Prendergast answered softly but sternly, “I would say to them, I hope this never happens to your child … so you never have to understand what it feels like to be defenseless … in a moment when you’re right and they’re wrong … and because of the color of your skin, your voice … your words … are not enough!

Let that sink in!

The racial anxiety that Black people endure every day is enough to cause you to want to stay away from public areas where white people are plentiful.  Cause you to suspect every white person you encounter in your daily routine to be racist.  Cause you to look and listen keenly, and if you can, ignore the micro-racism that you’re experiencing. 

Cause you to wonder if you’re just being too sensitive.  Maybe!  Maybe not!

©2018 Radiance Smith (aka Radiance Lite)