Black Forgiveness, White Vengeance

Why are we as black Americans so quick to forgive white vengeance?

Put the shoe on the other foot and I guarantee vengeance will be swift and powerful because it have happened too many times in this nation's history - ain't that much forgiveness coming from over there.

My more openly militant brothers may wonder why we so vehemently defend our oppressors as they pick us off like sitting ducks. Is it religion? The slaves had everything taken away from them and were given Christianity - and not suprisingly, taught only the parts that demanded subservience or made to hate ourselves. Why else would you see a blonde hair, blue-eye sanctimonious image of Jesus in homes and churches despite the Book of Revelation portraying a very different image of Him?

Below is a tweet from Colossians 3:22 concerning how we were taught to be childlike and submissive to masters.

Servants, obey in all things your masters according to the flesh; not w/ eyeservice, as menpleasers; but in singleness of heart, fearing God

— A. Cedric Armstrong (@cedteaches) December 13, 2015

Mental slavery is real.

Over the course of the past few years, tragedy has befallen black America in ways not known since the onset of the Civil Rights Movement. Yet, for each event, we implicitly are expected to forgive our violators as if they only stole a piece of candy from the counter. Case in point:  the bombings of NAACP buildings, mosques, and black churches nationwide. We readily forgive the monsters who perpetuate these hate crimes, but when it happens on the other side of the tracks, the pitchforks, rifles, and hateful rhetoric come out of the woodwork. Why else would Lesley McSpadden (Michael Brown's mother) be lambasted for saying what we've thought all along?

Let's burn this bitch down.

We're picked up brute violence and perfected it because it was (and the very threat) used so frequently against us. See Tulsa or Rosewood as proof; Arkansans have the Elaine Race Riots of 1919 as our local example.

True I am a practicing Christian, but I am no fool.

While members of Mother Emanuel in Charleston are forgiving of Dylann Roof, white America was clearly less kind to Denmark Vesey or Nat Turner. That vengeance (usually upfront at Republican Party events and on social media) has not gone away. Sadly, our Muslim brothers and sisters are the new targets as evidenced on September 11 and the recent events in Paris and right-wing commentary of "bombing the piss out of 'em" first before asking questions. Taken to an Afrocentric level, who authorized the bombs that wiped out the inner-city neighborhood in Philadelphia? Sure wasn't the African-American residents.

White terrorists get Burger King and the chance to arrange their affairs. Black terrorists get executed.

On this side of the token it looks like black American Christians are the ones living closest to what thus saith the Lord, taking the Beatitudes (Matthew 5:1-12) to heart and stoking both judgments and more vile acts of violence. Keep in mind Jesus did flex His anger at times, as shown when He turned over the moneychangers' tables in the Temple.

Recall the Parable of the Good Samaritan from Luke 10:25-37 as a study of compassion which we are obviously so incompetent. Matter of fact, click on the link below and read a modern take of the parable.

The Good Muslim - Gospel and Humanity https://t.co/v8Ih8X4wiS

— A. Cedric Armstrong (@cedteaches) December 13, 2015

So, why are we so forgiving towards everyone else's sins whereas vengeance is the first thing that crosses their minds?

Simple:  we let white paternalism speak for us.

Last time I checked, I AM A MAN. I don't need to ask for permission to defend myself or my family. Plus, being token still means I'm black.

I also don't recall any of the yokels surrounding Arkadelphia being asked if they would forgive al-Qaeda for hitting the World Trade Center or the Pentagon or the field in Pennsylvania on September 11, 2001. How do I know? I was a senior at Henderson during that time.

Forgiveness has become a requirement for those enduring black death in America - we're expected to publicly grieve, offer comfort, redemption, and a pathway to a new day. It has also been nurtured in our politics to anticipate divine justice and liberation in eternity. This sentiment has shaped nonviolent protests all in the hopes that white America would cast aside its racist assumptions yet we're still disallowed from sharing the rage, even under the most horrific circumstances.

Rather, forgiveness - the virtually reflexive demand - has become more about protecting white privilege than WWJD. That's another 100-lb. weight for black America to tote.

While it is perfectly understandable that Jewish people not forgive the Nazis for anti-Semitic acts, black people do not get that luxury. We're held to an impossibly higher standard which enables white denial about our pain. Where rage is challenged as inappropriate and unhelpful, the media (and you social media judges) laud those who call for compassion and love in our darkest hour - as if it were automatically expected, but after getting abused, confused, and otherwise psychologically molested, forgiving the tormentors is what we know. It's like the nerd who gets bullied from middle school to the week of his high school graduation coming back for his ten year class reunion feeling like he still owes his bullies something.

It's that Superman complex all over again - black people don't seem human because of how we publicly show grace in the face of opposition, as if nothing can bring us down. Black magic - the idea that African-Americans feel less pain than their white counterparts - has also manifested itself in the medical community via falsehoods and misinformation. 

Give that some thought.

America likes happy endings. Black forgiveness in the face of white vengeance fits the bill.

For #BlackLivesMatter to truly matter beyond holding Johnny Law and his miscreant benefactors accountable, we must not devolve our reality and cheapen the concept of forgiveness by giving it away so easily, often, and quickly. Black people should be able to express the entire gamut of emotion without snide commentary, and white America must earn our forgiveness as we learn to value ourselves wholly. When we make white racial salvation our responsibility, the cycle of racial intolerance remains unbroken because they think we are too dumb to make it matter.