Hypercriticism of black men and women in traditionally white roles is at a fever pitch. I don’t say this lightly. I say this with the full understanding of the political climate we live in and the understanding that racism is, more often than not, politically aided. It is basically the default position to say that if a person of color is doing a job then there is a likelihood their race played some role in getting them there. As such, when they are judged they are additionally judged by that standard–often falsely. In other words, a person of color in a prestige role needs to represent the entirety of their race, while a ‘white’ person in the same role does not. This is how we end up with memes like this:
The brother looks like a stereotyped hispanic person. Except he’s a black man. Note that the white man was not transformed in any way here. A choice was made and propagated by the President and his cronies. That tells us everything we need to know about how race is viewed by those presently in power. Here’s the thing: If you are a person of color, you have to work twice as hard to escape the stigma of not looking like the dominant race in the USA. Everything you do is questioned. Those questions create a a sense of inability that continues to haunt us as a people.
What we are seeing is an uptick or a blowback of the idea that white privilege should be eliminated. What we are seeing is a sense of victimization–not by those of color but by those who are NOT of color. They are claiming to be the victims in all of this. That is what is driving a great deal of the terribleness haunting this country right now. It isn’t just politics. It is sports as well. It is self-perpetuating largely because we live in a ‘eyes’ economy or a ‘clicks’ economy if you prefer, where the more attention you can get, the more dollars you can get. This is why we spend so much time talking about Sanders and his son. People want to see the kid fail or succeed. This is why the meme above is on every news show. People want to see what happens as a result of such a brazen insult.
The thing of it is, this isn’t new. When Rome fell, it was nonsense like this chipping away at the foundations. It took a few hundred years for Rome, and later the British Empire, to go down. I suppose it is coming round to being our turn.