WHITE PRIVILEGE SHAPES OUR VIEWS ON BLACK LIVES MATTER

Recent newspaper commentaries and discussions with black friends have focused my attention on the issue of “white privilege” and compelled me to take a fresh look at the Black Lives Matter (BLM) movement.  I am now convinced that white privilege has a profound effect on the way many whites view BLM.  Moreover, BLM began as a direct response to white privilege by those who understood that the killing of blacks through extrajudicial police actions was not eliciting the same social or political outcry and call for action as the killing of whites.

“White privilege” is a term for societal privileges that benefit white people.  These privileges have been defined as “an invisible package of unearned assets.”  These include cultural affirmations of one’s own worth; presumed greater social status; and freedom to move, buy, work, play and speak freely. Many of the advantages that whites enjoy are passive and not obvious, which is why white privilege does not necessarily involve overt bias or prejudice.

While there are not many recent examples of extrajudicial violence against whites, the Kent State killings on May 4, 1970 is considered a major event in our nation’s history.  The killings occurred four days after then President Nixon announced the invasion of Cambodia. On that date, national guardsmen fired 67 rounds into a crowd of white students killing four and wounding nine, one of whom suffered permanent paralysis.

In the aftermath of the killings, the largest student strike in American history took place, involving two and one half million students on seven hundred campuses. Many refused to go to classes or take final exams. Thirty ROTC buildings were firebombed.  The governors from 16 states ordered the occupation of 21 campuses.  Almost all the protesters were white.  Their parents could not understand how white National Guardsman could kill white students.  Many parents reconsidered their position on the Vietnam War and turned against it.

Following Kent State on May 15, 1970 at Jackson State College, an African American school in Jackson Mississippi, state police called to address demonstrations randomly shot up a college dorm killing two and wounding 12 others.  Few remember this incident and it provoked little outcry when compared to Kent State.

In 1970, white privilege determined which killings would draw the attention of the nation and shape the anti war movement until Nixon was forced to resign. Today, the same white privilege minimizes police killings of African Americans and ignores systemic issues of institutional racism in the criminal justice system.

What is to be done? First, BLM deserves the vocal and financial support of all those who care about social equality and justice in America.  It has morphed from its early growing pains as a twitter slogan protesting against the killing of young black men by police and developed into a strong and vibrant movement that can make a difference in this year’s elections and beyond. 

Second, it is important to understand what BLM is not. The title was never intended to degrade the lives of police officers or non blacks.  Such an interpretation was always an easy cop out for whites, exercising privilege, who do not take the time to understand black activism in light of institutional racism in America.  

Third, the movement has expanded and now seeks to insure that people of color be given the same respectful tolerance as the rest of us in all stages of the criminal justice process.  For those families that have lost a young man in a police shooting, a life matters. Equally, for those families that have lost a young man because of drug abuse, incarceration, or a gang shooting, a life matters.  The movement encompasses all of this and more.

Fourth, BLM is not the reincarnation of the Black Panthers.  Its black liberation message is about ideas, not armed violence. One of its posters shows a young black man with fist in the air holding a flower not a weapon.  Neither is it about Black Nationalism, supporting “blackness” for its own sake and encouraging isolation from society.  It is about:  “…broadening the conversation around state violence to include all the ways in which Black people are intentionally left powerless at the hands of the state.  We are talking about the ways in which Black lives are deprived of our basic human rights and dignity.” In other words, BLM is about exposing and minimizing white privilege.

Fifth, if BLM can motivate young African Americans to get politically involved in urban areas, college campuses and local politics across the country, it can become an interest group with real power to facilitate change.

In a recent address at Howard University, President Obama’s remarks included his impressions on BLM: “It’s thanks in large part to the activism of young people like many of you, from ‘Black Twitter’ to Black Lives Matter, that America’s eyes have been opened — white, black, Democrat, Republican — to the real problems, for example, in our criminal-justice system,” But to bring about structural change, lasting change, awareness is not enough. It requires changes in law, changes in custom.”

It is not easy for white Americans, particularly those who consider themselves liberal or progressive, to stand back and examine how white privilege is shaping their views.  When it comes to Black Lives Matter, now is a good time to do so.

DONALD TRUMP AS HOMERIC HERO

This summer I have been working my way through the excellent book WHY HOMER MATTERS by Adam Nicolson.  Near the end of the last chapter I had an epiphany concerning Donald Trump.  The main stream media and talk show pundits may have misjudged the Republican candidate for President.  

Nicolson has convinced me that there is something much deeper and frightening playing out that goes well beyond Trump’s words and actions. Whether he consciously knows it or not, Trump is staging a Homeric hero quest.  This tradition originated 2000 years B.C., when myths were passed down orally from generation to generation and writing did not exist.   

I am referring to the ancient dichotomy between the warriors “outside the walls” who view the civilized class “within the walls” as too soft, corrupt and dysfunctional. The quest is for the people of the “earth” and “sword” for whom action is everything and words have no meaning to tear down and replace the existing structure. In this Homeric tradition a hero appears to champion the angry unwashed forces that have nothing but contempt for the comfortable followers who bow to the elite.  The Hero’s goal is to crush what has come before and to take life back to a simpler time.

The Homeric tradition reaches into the earliest myths that provide the foundation of western civilization.  It sings the praises of a powerful leader who is able to meld uncooperative bands of miscreants into a coherent force to conquer what was thought to be the essence of the civilized world.  Thus we have Agamemnon, uniting the unkempt Greeks on the shores of Troy to sack and destroy the well formed civilization behind its walls; Julius Caesar doing the unthinkable in crossing the Rubicon knowing that the angry and underrepresented common citizens would support his bid against the Republic; Mussolini forcing out democracy in Italy so that the trains would run on time, (to the praise of other western nations, including the United States) and Trump’s soul brother, Vladimir Putin, stamping out his opposition to the cheers of his people who want him to regain the past glory of Mother Russia.

Donald Trump may not be crazy.  He may be the newest manifestation of the Homeric myth, which he obviously admires and seeks to emulate.  The Homeric view of the world centers on revenge and conflict, not consensus or compromise.  Power is something to be fought for, not passed peacefully from one political elite to the next.  The Homeric warrior who can reach the pinnacle of power, without the aid of other politicians or institutions owes nothing to the order that came before.  He controls his destiny.

Upon reflection so much of the Trump persona is Homeric.  For example, his rejection of established campaign orthodoxy; his refusal to be politically correct; his statements that only “Trump” can bring peace and stability to the country; and his unwillingness to back down from a controversy or to apologize to perceived enemies, all ring true in the Iliad.  In the Homeric tradition, the hero must continue to identify and attack his enemies. Victory is never enough but simply a stepping stone to the next conflict.

Trump’s famous business missive, THE ART OF THE DEAL, provides classic statements in support of my observations. There is no room in Trump world to accept criticism from any quarter: “I am very good to people who are good to me.  But when people treat me badly or unfairly or try to take advantage of me, my general attitude, all my life, has been to fight back very hard.”  The heroic battle is what he lives for not the spoils: “The real excitement is playing the game.”

There may be a reason that the Trump tactics have not changed from the primaries to the general election.  Consider that it is not because he is disorganized or politically naïve. Remember that the Homeric warrior prefers to be defeated in battle rather than to win through compromise with those who have fought against or dishonored him. 

Trumps principles have nothing to do with party loyalty, ideology, democratic ideals or a specific worldview.  It is a scheme of endearing himself to the millions who might actually vote for him. He does this by feeding on their anger in being left unaccounted for, and attacking all others.  It is a simple plan, forged in the ancient myths of humankind that does not appear in the playbook of modern political consultants.

More “civilized” critics often mock the Homeric tradition, finding it too brutal and unrefined.  But there is something in the ancient words of Homer that still touch the oldest of our sensibilities.

 For those of you, who think I am giving Donald Trump too much credit, remember that Agamemnon has been called psychopathic.  In the Iliad he murders his daughter to gain a favorable wind to Troy and later steals Achilles’ woman, Briseis, thereby angering his greatest asset against the Trojans. Are these ancient and Trump’s recent acts those of a madman or of an Alpha Greek warrior in the Homeric tradition?

 On Election Day an outlier candidate, ignoring all the rules of decorum, who appeals to revenge, anger and political blood lust, may yet raise his sword in victory and turn our world upside down. Trump would not be the first in modern times to do so, nor the last.