My response to the “Critical Race Theory” debate by J. Madison Rich

EDITOR’S NOTE: Last week, in a ruling like those being contemplated in many US states and counties, the Florida Board of Education moved to prohibit the teaching of “critical race theory” and mandated that teaching in Florida public schools “may not define American history as something other than the creation of a new nation based largely on universal principles stated in the Declaration of Independence” or the idea that “racism is embedded in American society and its legal systems”. The meeting included comments and complaints about national and international protests calling for racial equality. During the Education Board meeting, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis stated that critical race theory is something “that forces children to think about the color of their skin rather than the content of their character”, using Martin Luther King Jr.’s words.

This rant is being thrown directly at the garbage Florida Board of Education: I don’t want to hear any other person who votes for and supports the Republican Party try to educate me on race or the right way to protest, let alone to use MLK Jr as a smokescreen. Or even worse, to suggest that they can make some kind of comprehensive protesting-while-Black guideline.

Never mind the fact that if MLK Jr was alive right now, he would without a doubt be joining #BLM in protests. Those same people who sing his praises now would hate him, because he believed in a lot of the same things that Bernie Sanders talks about and was very much on the record pro union. Look at this political cartoon from back in the day when he was still breathing. And tell me with a straight face that a majority of those people who are complaining about #BLM would be supporting MLK Jr if he were alive right now.

It is both funny and sad that while some Black people are protesting, there are other Black folk who vote for these kinds of policies and politicians like DeSantis. And if they had moved with that same kind of energy back in the day, they would be arguing things like “I don’t believe in integration of schools and public businesses and places. There’s nothing wrong with ‘separate and equal’”…all the way to, “Why couldn’t Rosa Parks just have gotten up quietly and gone to the back of the bus?” Both then and now, this become unfunny because it is a real-life version of Uncle Ruckus. The sad thing is that it is not a tv show where one can escape from reality. Life for Black people is something they have to deal with. Much of the media turn people into cartoon characters when they dislike them, not wanting to discuss the complex underlying issues and the situations/environments that make people who they are. These complex issues that lead people to protest are why education about the realities of race and how the construct of race operates and has operated in the US throughout its history is so crucial.

The situation today is nothing new. I get that! But at the same time, when it comes to trying to character-assassinate a group of people based on opinions which make you personally uncomfortable—or in the Florida Board of Education’s case, pass laws that make it legal to turn a blind eye and illegal to educate students about the truth of our history—the goal of these actions is clear. It is very telling when you are not open to listening to the opinions—or research—or the facts—on a matter. And in the same moment as you don’t listen, you have the gall to act as if you know everything on the matter, while your skin pigmentation is basically the invisible hall pass in society that masks rewards and protects you from dealing with situations that others are protesting about.

I’ve been open many times in saying that when I wake up, I feel like I’m being tested and judged every day because of my skin tone, and every day when I go out, even when I stay in what would be perceived as relatively “safe” areas, I am tested and judged constantly. Can Caucasian folk say with honesty that they feel that way? I’m sure one can argue that everyone does to some point. But the difference is—you, Caucasian person, you, White friend, you are not going to have violent confrontations, horrific incidents, police up in your business if they pass you by in a vehicle, or people flashing their guns to try to scare you, women clutching their purses in elevators, or get what I like to refer to as gangsta-checked where people flash gang signs in front of you, assuming that you must be part of a gang. Based on your white skin, do you have a harder time finding a job, or do you find yourself having to participate in dumbass interviews asking questions that should be—and are—illegal, but if you don’t answer, there goes the opportunity? Can you honestly say, my White friends, that these are common experiences for you?

I go outside looking like a Black man or woman, and I’m more at risk for any and all these things and more. I am tired of people telling me I am imagining or overreacting. Why would I or anyone else lie about things like this? I’m not looking for sympathy or a pity party. I say it because it sucks and I’m tired of it.  If I say Black Lives Matter, it’s not because I believe my life means more than anyone who doesn’t have the same pigmentation as me. I say it because the government back in the day brought my ancestors here on slave boats, raped them, killed them in horrible ways, and indoctrinated them with carefully selected Christian texts that kept them subservient to do slave labor. I say it because I wake up from dreams that everyone was treated like human beings and judged by the content of their character rather than by their sexual orientation, gender, or skin pigmentation.

But for the sake of argument, let’s say I agree that white people are oppressed. In that case, I agree that if you are oppressed it’s only fair that Black people get to be oppressed in the same way. If Dylan Roof can shoot up a church yet not get Swiss cheesed by the police and be driven to Burger King it’s only fair I can shoot up a church and not get Swiss cheesed and go to a Burger King. If Riley Cooper gets caught in public while under contract to the NFL saying a racial slur towards Black people and can still be employed, it’s only fair that I would still remain employed if I get caught in public saying a racial slur towards white people (which I wouldn’t, by the way, regardless of fairness, because that’s stupid, draconian, deplorable and super disgusting—this is for the sake of argument). If George Zimmerman can kill someone while claiming to be the neighborhood watch and get off with no penalty, it’s only fair I can claim to be neighborhood watch and kill someone who is running away from me and get away with it. If Derek Chauvin has every right to put his knee over someone’s neck in a very blatant misuse of standard procedures (police are trained over and over again when to use such a technique), and you argue that everything he did was justified and he shouldn’t rot in a cell—it’s good to know that you will have no problem with me wearing a uniform, waving a badge, and putting my Black knee on your neck with extreme pressure in the same way that can and will result in your death for no apparent reason since I already had the upper hand and was already in a position to book you. See why everyone outside of the small loud yet dying Republican Party finds this a joke?

Black Lives Matter because we aren’t your cartoon characters. We are human beings, but until the government looks in the mirror and holds police forces and other organizations—including State Boards of Education—accountable, including the government itself, I’m going to keep saying things to remind everyone as human beings that we matter whether you like it or not.

Also—spare me on “but…but….but black- on-black crime!” The reason black-on-black crime exists is because of lack of job opportunity, education, and Jim Crow 2.0 (that is, the “War on Drugs”), which statistically on the record has unjustly targeted Black people and other minorities. If I went to jail for lighting one up, heaven forbid, my job opportunity drastically goes down when I get out. Now, put me in an environment where if I don’t have a job, I can’t eat (of course!), so I’m going to turn to crime and not care about who gets it so long as I have mine. A good education that gets me out of that environment costs money—MONEY. I wouldn’t be able to afford it. But, of course, without the proper context (and that goes for everything), it’s easy to point and stare and be like “See? See? We TOLD you Black people say Black Lives Matter, but see what they do to their own people!” Context is everything—in life and in educating about our history.

It is funny and sad that some of the same people who make these arguments also really like rap music. Even Tucker Carlson and Ben Shapiro say they like rap! Hollywood glamorizes, trivializes, and lampoons the gangsta lifestyle to caricaturist proportions to make bank. There are things in the music that relate to the decision of the Florida Board, and others around the country pondering such moves. The violence, aggression, and anger in the music comes from something. It is not something dreamed up by the artists. The choice to not deal with history as it happened—from Black people, to Native Americans, to people who arrived in what is now the US from Mexico and south—and the fact that a politician would use the words of MLK Jr to support such a move—this is a sign of how bad things are and have been. Wake up and smell the swamp, Florida—there is something rotten behind the decisions you are making.

J. Madison Rich is an African American young adult writer living in Columbus Ohio. Rich writes on sports, race, and history.