"Get Whitey"

Certainly if this story had a black victim, and white perpetrators, we would have been deluged with black activist talking heads all weekend, and the columnists in my local paper would have been waxing poetic about the sad state of race relations. Maybe even Kayne West would give us another George Bush hates Black people-like statement. But, since this story involved the death of a (yawn) white man, who was chased into traffic by a gang of black youths, the crickets are chirping louder than any of the media outlets handling the story.

There is no honesty in regards to race stories. White on black crime is repeated and drum-beaten into our heads, and interpreted to be indicative that most white people are still racist. Black on white crime is totally ignored. Black people cannot be racist because they are the minority, so the logic goes. But, can black people hate white people and target them for violence? Since we can't call this "racism", what is it, then?

A few years ago, I used to bartend in downtown Detroit ((where I certainly was a member of the "minority".) One night, heavily pregnant at the time, as I crossed a street on the way to the parking lot, a car of black youth sped-up toward me, yelling that they 'hated white women.' I had to run to get out of their way. I doubt they they actually intended to kill me; this was their little bit of fun. How would this story be interpreted, if the colors were reversed?

White racism is (properly) chastised by society. Black racism is ignored and denied. I worry about our future.