Armed With the Truth, We Are More Able to Fight!

The inferiority of black people is a lie manufactured by white people whose success is dependent on the subordination of blacks. This is the stark truth Derrick Bell presents in Faces at the Bottom of the Well. Rather than consider the injustice that all are subject to, Bell argues black people  are scapegoated and fixated upon, so that whites who have failed to rise to stature might have a subordinate class to  condemn and feel superior to. The mechanisms  of America are predicated upon these lies and as Bell reveals, it will never change. Bell uses the decline of black civil rights, the increase of unemployment and the phantom, not easily discernable racism that is operative in the United States hiring practices as evidence of his theory. He argues that black people will always see this mercurial pattern of progress and regression  because, “ blacks are objects of barter for those who while profiting from our existence, deny our humanity” (Bell, 11).  Consequently, black people will only profit from policy f it behooves whites people and when it does not, the rights of black people will be trampled upon.

Circumstances seem bleak as unemployment in the black community continues to rise and opportunities for progress become increasingly slim. Black existence and black life hang dangerously at the will of white advancement. Such a system must villianize the subjects it seeks to oppress for the psychological distance necessary to continue such injustice. Bell’s lifting of the white psychology that made slavery possible is chilling, yet even more chilling is his assertion, that this history must be a constant reminder of what white people are capable of.  Bluntly stated, white people in America are willing to deny the humanity of black people so that they might be considered righteous. This psychology puts into context the heinous shooting of Oscar Grant and the subsequent slap on the wrist given to the police officer that shot him. In a world  dependent on Black subordination and the criminalization of black people to maintain this subordination, white men will always be given the benefit of the doubt when transgressing upon a black man because black people are not entitled to rights, not even the right to life.  In these hopeless circumstances what is a black person to do?

We can find a new place to live, as the blacks of the potential refuge of Afrolantica wanted to do? We can live and persist knowing the truth about America and focus our attentions in more realistic goals for equity? We can brazenly struggle and resist knowing what we are up against, finding the virtue of struggling against injustice as Cone calls for in God of the Oppressed? Bell offers that we have one duty, and one duty alone: that of not renouncing our freedom through our choices (Bell,  xiv). This suggests that the revolution necessary is not external, but internal. Like Franz Fanon who inspires much of Bell’s work, a resistance based on the perception of the oppressed, choice, and truth seem to be what Bell is calling for (Bell, xiv).  Bell argues, “Beyond struggle lies potential to perceive more clearly both reason and the means for further struggle” (Bell, 12) Essentially participation in resistance begets the ability to persist in struggle.  But  one has to wonder what are we struggling for? If racism is permanent  is the struggle for our own sanity? Our own survival or actual change? Bell argues the struggle is for meaning. Bell says that progress begins with truth and acceptance of the real predicament black people find themselves in, and then engagement and dedication, which manifests itself in service (Bell, 198).  This amounts, I imagine, to a change within those who are oppressed, but does it stop white people from killing without cause, or avoiding punishment when they do? I believe the answer is yes. Service, changes a community. It holds them accountable to one another and prepares them to fight for each other regardless of the outcome.

The problem of so many black people today is that we wrongly believe that we are entitled to freedom. While this may be the case, these are not the rules America is playing by. Paulo Friere teaches, “Freedom is acquired by conquest, not by gift.  It must be pursued constantly and responsibly. It is not an ideal located outside of …[the individual]; nor is it an idea, which becomes myth. It is the indispensible condition for the quest for human completion]” (Bell xiv). Bell recounts this as the quest for meaning. Such meaning gives us the strength to fight, relief from the terror of being stalked and gunned down, and the capacity to desire and fight for more, rather than waiting for it to be given to us.  Through the revelation of truth we are armed with the will to fight and our attentions are focused on the source rather than the symptom of injustice. 

A posture of boldness creates an opposition to the powers that be, so that when the blatant disregard of black life is manifest the community is out in force, ready to struggle, sacrifice and fight regardless of the consequences. The truth of the permanence of racism is an important truth that needs to be told. It frees black people from the illusion that white people will change without a demand. It reveals the truth of the stronghold we call racism and its benefits to those who feign concern about its injustice. Moreover  it arms black people with the truth that there is really nothing to lose, but our humanity and dignity to gain. As those subordinated by white America for their own status and benefit, black people must get up and fight, because everyday their lives are at risk.  I wonder how/ if the new campaign to humanize black people in film will affect the regard for black life? I see lots of white people going to movies in droves, crying at the end of Fruitvale station and Twelve years a slave, but that blindness James Cone speaks of in the Cross and  the Lynching Tree persists when it comes to making real policy and legal decisions that demonstrate real concern. Perhaps if we abandoned our self-delusion and embraced the difficult truth that white people benefit and perpetuate racism in the maintenance of their own status, we might be able to fight more appropriately. Only in recognizing the truth of our situation can we fight to resist it. Let us die resisting!