If you can pull a bandage off an old wound and it hurts, that means it\u2019s still not healed. Apparently, Chris Rock picked at a festering wound on the American body, based on the \u2018ouch\u2019 heard cross the nation.<\/p>\n
The outrage over the Chris Rock 4th<\/sup> of July tweet, \u201cHappy white peoples independence day the slaves weren\u2019t free but I\u2019m sure they enjoyed fireworks\u201d<\/a> reminds me of a quote I once heard, \u201cPeople will forgive you for everything under the sun except for telling the truth\u201d. The range of responses have gone from Don Cheadle\u2019s simple \u2018haha<\/a>\u2019\u00a0 to Jeff Schreiber\u2019s\u00a0 \u2018go f*ck yourself\u201d <\/a> . Where has all the civil discourse gone? Why is there such venomous backlash to a simple, factually true tweet?<\/p>\n Apparently, it is a little known fact that Bill Moyers elaborated in text<\/a>\u00a0 on what Chris Rock alluded to. If someone was offended by reference to the conditions of slaves on the 4th<\/sup> of July (or any day for that matter), then Moyers\u2019 quoting and commenting on an abolitionist indicting Thomas Jefferson, should have been incendiary. After all, Jefferson was the author of the Declaration of Independence.<\/p>\n Moreover, Chris Rock\u2019s tweet echoed arguably one of the greatest abolitionists in American history, Frederick Douglass. One must never forget the written words<\/a> of Douglass, a living witness to the celebrations of 4th<\/sup> of July festivities in the faces of slaves. We need only to read the \u201c13th<\/sup>\u201d paragraph which states, \u201cWhat, to the American slave, is your 4th of July? I answer; a day that reveals to him, more than all other days in the year, the gross injustice and cruelty to which he is the constant victim. To him, your celebration is a sham; your boasted liberty, an unholy license; your national greatness, swelling vanity; your sounds of rejoicing are empty and heartless; your denunciation of tyrants, brass fronted impudence; your shouts of liberty and equality, hollow mockery; your prayers and hymns, your sermons and thanksgivings, with all your religious parade and solemnity, are, to Him, mere bombast, fraud, deception, impiety, and hypocrisy — a thin veil to cover up crimes which would disgrace a nation of savages. There is not a nation on the earth guilty of practices more shocking and bloody than are the people of the United States, at this very hour.\u201d I interpret Frederick Douglass\u2019 response as a very loud f*ck you and your 4th<\/sup> of July, mo&erf*ckrs.<\/p>\n There is a combination of layers at work\u00a0 First is the atmosphere of racial tension the generated by the election of an African American to be president. The reactive right in America sent forth an undercurrent of vilification<\/a>\u00a0 and the attitude of him not being a real American. Often ignorant and in possession of low-class mindsets, these whites are driven to extreme action.<\/p>\n Fear of inheriting a crippled world view of white supremacy. Moyers wrote regarding Jefferson; \u201cWhatever he was thinking when he wrote \u2018all men are created equal,\u2019 he also believed blacks were inferior to whites. Inferior, he wrote, \u2018to the whites in the endowments both of body and mind.\u2019\u201d This idea is at the heart of the ideology of white supremacy. However, with the election of a Black President Of The United States (POTUS), this ideology is presented with a contradiction. The high profile of select successful Blacks like athletes and entertainers combined with the so-called \u201curban\u201d (code for Black) lifestyle being adopted by youth of all ages, increasingly makes promulgating white supremacy untenable.<\/p>\n Second is the positive attitude of the generations of whites<\/a> that apply a healthy serving of perspective regarding African American history. Kim LaCapria comments \u201cMany took to Twitter to complain about Rock\u2019s \u201cracism\u201d in pointing out that something that happened actually happened. As a white person myself, I would much rather that than getting shot in the chest at point-blank range when I am just trying to buy a damn iced tea, but I realize that opinion is just me, and far be it from me to speak for all white people, or suggest that the reaction to Rock\u2019s tweet still illustrates we have a long way to go.\u201d Zach Braff took to the Twitter waves to respond <\/a> to Jeff Schreiber\u2019s profane comments against Rock, noting that Schreiber, who is the managing editor of the America’s Right blog, actually had his facts wrong.<\/p>\n