The Sellout Negro

There is a trend in the black community which attempts to create standards that should be adhered to that qualify someone for "blackness." Many blacks who oppose the traditional democratic alignments of black people or who do not share the same roots of economic and/or social struggle as many black people are castigated by their brothers and sisters.

Popular among many black peple are the ideas that if one was not raised in poverty, if one speaks grammatically correct English, or if one dates outside the race, one is a "sellout." It is sad that these litmus tests exist, because rather than address blackness, they address personal preferences and individual experience. The only true test for blackness is descendence from African slaves or free Africans and the obstacles associated therewith. Even amongst blacks of different American geographical regions there are differences in culture and politics.

On the flipside, many blacks labeled "sell-outs" have faulted the black community. Black rightists such as the black Tea Partyers have distanced themselves from the legacy of social inequality and internal strife that the black community continues to struggle with on a daily basis. Such men and women seem to want to run away from their fellow brothers and sisters and embrace the white man as though to say, "Look, I'm not like them, I agree with you." One need look no further than Jesse Lee Peterson or Allen West to see the black rightists who do not represent or deal with the majority of blacks, nor possess the desire to do so. Rather, they claim they do not grow "afros" but "amerifros" and that they "bleed red, white, and blue." Jesse Lee Peterson has even gone so far as to express gratitude to the slavemaster for capturing his forefathers and civilizing them.

These people are the real sellouts if any ever existed, not because they possess different views, but because their views are based on the notion that they are not African. Their views do not take into account the suffering of the children of African slaves in America. Their agendas attempt to shed their dark skin, sweep white supremacy under the rug, and claim that there is no problem. There is no getting around the fact that while individual responsibility is paramount to the progression of black people, the nature of black inequality and the slew of social problems associated therewith is white supremacy and black slavery.

That being said, how do we deal with the divisive nature of black culture and stop accusing our brothers and sisters undeserving of our accusations? We must ALL bear the responsibility for alleviating the pain we endure and end plantation-style thinking. We should no longer be house negroes and field negroes; rather, we should be free negroes. Democratic blacks are slaves to the democrats and Republican blacks are slaves to the Republicans. Neither party was founded in the interest in black people. You can change a dog's behavior but you can't change the fact that he is a dog. You can try to use the parties to your advantage but you cannot change the fact that they were not created for black people. 

We must come together as a people and rid ourselves of the seed implanted in us by the white man. We must uproot the poisonous plant which have sprouted from this seed. We are all black, and we all share that in common. We cannot afford to be divisive in a country that has for so long attempted to keep us separate--from our cultures, our spirituality, our families, and ourselves.