It’s this angry White man – not the Black or brown man you see approaching on the street at night – who poses the most dangerous threat to democracy in America. His anger also helped fuel the January 6 insurrection at the Capitol. He gave the country slavery, the slaughter of Native Americans, and Jim Crow laws. ![]() This angry White man has been a major character throughout US history. There is nothing inherently violent about White men, or any human being.īut recent events have convinced me it’s time to put another character on trial: A vision of White masculinity that allows some White men to feel as if they “can rule and brutalize without consequence.”ĭemonstrators during a protest outside the US Capitol in Washington on January 6, 2021. James Reeb, a White Unitarian minister – died for Black people during the civil rights movement. The vast majority of White men are no menace to society.Ĭountless White men swallowed tear gas and braved rubber bullets while marching with demonstrators during last year’s protests over the murder of George Floyd. I’m not suggesting we start racially profiling White men. Here’s what legal experts say helped acquit Kyle Rittenhouse It’s encountering an armed White man in public who has been inspired by the White men on trial in these three cases. Nor is it the brown immigrant or the fiery Black Lives Matter protester, or whatever the latest bogeyman is that some politician tells me I should dread. It’s not the “radical Islamic terrorist” that I fear the most. ![]() Rittenhouse shot three people, two fatally, that night but was acquitted this week after claiming self-defense. Kyle Rittenhouse carries a rifle in Kenosha, Wisconsin, on August 25, 2020, during a night of unrest following the police shooting of Jacob Blake. There is nothing more frightening in America today than an angry White man. 1.īut as I’ve watched three separate trials about White male violence unfold across the US these past few weeks – the Kyle Rittenhouse trial, the Ahmaud Arbery death trial and the civil case against organizers of the 2017 Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville – I’ve come to a sobering conclusion: It’s part of the psychological tax you pay for being a Black man in America – learning to accept that you are seen by many as Public Enemy No. I’ve watched White people lock their car doors or clutch their purses when men who look like me approach. I’ve seen viral videos of innocent Black men losing their lives because of this stereotype. The specter of the angry Black man has been evoked in politics and popular culture to convince White folks that a big, bad Black man is coming to get them and their daughters. Those are just some of the names for a racial stereotype that has haunted the collective imagination of White America since the nation’s inception.
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