Calling Michael Brown a "demon" underscores for me language in the subconscious of a majority of white policemen and a good majority of white people in general that see black men, in particular young black men and teens, as a danger no matter what they are doing. Do you walk on the other side of the street when you see black teen(s) coming towards you? Do you lock your car doors at a traffic light when a young black man walks in front of your car? Do you do the same when you see white young men? That is not to say that crimes don't occur, but the majority of crimes that occur are white on white and black on black. It is just our subconscious alerting us and the fight or flight principal takes over. We could be thinking of absolutely nothing or thinking about buying that new car or when our next break for coffee and donuts is, but our subconscious takes over and anything else but fear freezes and disappears well into the background.
White slave owners had to be fearful any time they were in the midst of their slaves. Thus, they carried weapons and hired violent overseers. And it is this fear which evolved over hundreds of years like any idea that evolves from a small group to the overall population until it becomes so acceptable that to say it is now hard wired in our brains would not be that much of a stretch though in reality it is something that we have to be taught.
To hate and fear,
You've got to be taught
From year to year,
It's got to be drummed
In your dear little ear
You've got to be carefully taught.
You've got to be taught to be afraid
Of people whose eyes are oddly made,
And people whose skin is a diff'rent shade,
You've got to be carefully taught.
You've got to be taught before it's too late,
Before you are six or seven or eight,
To hate all the people your relatives hate,
You've got to be carefully taught! -- South Pacific (you've got to be carefully taught)
You can do your own simple test. If you are white and the police pass you, do they look at you? If you are black don't you feel all eyes are on you at all times? I've done this test many times. An old white man like me is hardly ever worth a second look or even a first look either from police or store owners or any other person walking towards me. I'm not a subconscious alert mainly because I'm white and look like I'm about to set off to sea like the ancient mariner in a sailing vessel.
Ferguson, MO, where the black population outnumbers the white population by more than 3-1 I think provoked the subconscious within the individuals of the majority white police force and even today makes them feel the same way the white slave owners felt being among their slaves. The police in Ferguson is the opposite of the population where its white force members outnumber by way more than 3-1 its black force members. This story is not a new story. It is an ancient story older even than the foundation of American slavery. It is fear of the other. Fear of the other in this country could be understandable if say black people suddenly turned up for the first time in the 21st century. But our histories intertwined, examined and shared should bring us different results by now. This country had a horrific war over slavery.This country marched and protested and many including whites were beaten and killed in the name of civil rights. Jim Crow laws were eventually crushed. Six years ago America elected a black man (51% black BTW) for President. Yet what is the one result from all of that? Fear of the other persists and in its extreme form racism (including some white responses to our President)
"An integral part of any culture is its language. Language not
only develops in conjunction with society’s historical, economic and political evolution, but
also reflects that society’s attitudes and thinking. Language not only expresses ideas and
concepts, but actually shapes thought. If one accepts that our dominant white culture is
racist, then one would expect our language- an indispensable transmitter of culture- to be
racist as well. Whites, as the dominant group, are not subjected to the same abusive
characterization by our language that people of color receive." (https://www.pcc.edu/resources/illumination/documents/racism-in-the-english-language.pdf)
I believe subjugated peoples have always been called derogatory names by their oppressors. It's part of the psychological war to give the oppressor the upper hand and to feel as though he is dealing with a lesser being. And conversely I think the subjugated individual internalizes this language and agrees with the oppressor that he is a lesser being in order to find some kind of homeostasis or otherwise he will go mad. He knows fighting back individually is a thoroughly losing battle. However, when derogatory names don't seem to be enough violence is used.
Does white racism persist here and now even in our language covert as it might be? You're goddamn right it does though for the most part out of fear of being excoriated in public it doesn't reveal itself until an event such as a white policeman killing another young black man occurs. Then we hear the cheers for the white policeman and hear of the grotesqueness of his victim. And once again the truth of racial hatred is revealed in the language used to justify that slaying. Demon, he said.
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