Non-Black America Experiences a Paradigm Shift

There is a sea change occurring in America fifty years after MLK Jr.'s "I Have a Dream" speech. This paradigm shift is spreading with the growing realization among our citizens that Black America (including our president) seems to hate Non-Black America. Temper this sweeping statement with the fact that blacks in America may genuinely like non-black individuals, just as whites in 1850 who believed blacks were a lower form of life still knew individual black men they respected for their particular talents and/or character. However, if we take specific individual knowledge out of the equation, on the whole, being black trumps everything else for blacks in America today. This is not true of any other ethnic or racial group. I first became aware of this fact on October 3, 1995, almost eighteen years ago. That was the day the jury returned a verdict of Not Guilty in the O.J. Simpson murder trial. I personally thought the verdict was the correct one, since the prosecution botched their case, but it was also pretty obvious that Simpson, and no one else, had wielded the knife.

What stunned me then was the absolutely breathtaking reaction of America's black population when the verdict was announced. Across the country, Black America was positively jubilant. Yes, long ago, all-white juries sometimes ignored the evidence of white violence against blacks, but White America as a whole has never, in my 50-year memory, collectively cheered such events. I would like you to engage in a little exercise here with me. I would like you to imagine the O.J. Simpson case with the races reversed. Imagine a white Hall of Fame footballer turned actor/pitchman/commentator, like Howie Long. Imagine Howie had a moderately hot-looking black ex-wife with a high school education and breast implants. (To my knowledge Mr. Long is not so encumbered, but bear with me.) Imagine that there was overwhelming forensic, DNA, and other evidence that Howie had butchered this black ex-wife and a black male acquaintance of hers. Imagine the Howie Long Trial being televised for months, as the Trial of the Century. Imagine Greta Van Susteren catapulted into stardom, her TV career launched by her televised legal commentary on the Howie Long Trial. Imagine the tabloids printing hundreds of flattering glamour shots of Howie's black ex-wife in happier times: in a bikini on the beach, in an evening gown with Howie at a formal event, or in casual clothes playing with their kids. Imagine that during The Howie Long Trial,it came out that one of the black cops involved with Howie's arrest disliked whites and had used the terms white devil, honky, and cracker in the past. Imagine Howie's defense team running with this, and arguing that this officer tampered with evidence and persuaded all the city's other black officers to engage in a huge conspiracy to frame Howie for the two murders. Finally, imagine a largely non-black jury saying they had weighed the evidence, decided the prosecution had not proved its case, and rendered a verdict of Not Guilty. Can you, in your most reckless imaginings, see non-black America having a mass celebration over this verdict, and repeating the mantra the black ***** (and her friend, presumably) deserved it? Can you even imagine non-blacks (before the verdict) being upset at all about the possibility that Howie might get life in prison for murdering two black people? The concept is ludicrous. And yet non-blacks in America have come to accept this extreme racial solidarity from blacks as normal, without thinking until now of its implications. We hit the snooze button when the alarm went off on October 3, 1995, but the timer has hit zero and the alarm is blaring again. There's no hitting the snooze button this time, as the Internet now makes sure the alarm isn't silenced. The alarm went off again with the Zimmerman trial, so let's do the same exercise. Imagine a black Neighborhood Watch participant observing a guy skulking around his neighborhood, looking in windows. The resident calls the police. The police ask the suspect's race, and the resident says he looks white or Hispanic. Then the suspect doubles back and sucker punches the black resident, breaks his nose, knocks him to the ground, piles on top of him, and starts slamming his head on the pavement. The black resident, screaming for help and now in fear of being killed, draws his legally-carried pistol and shoots his attacker once. The police say the shooting was justified self-defense. Subsequent investigation reveals that the dead white/Hispanic guy had a history of starting fights, been expelled from school for multiple crimes, and bragged of his exploits in phone texts and online. Can you imagine white and Hispanic politicos claiming the black resident profiled and hunted the thug, and maneuvering to get the black resident charged with murder, after the police said it was a self-defense shooting? Do you know any person that would be upset at all that this white/Hispanic thug got shot and killed while he was slamming the black resident's head on the pavement? Can you imagine a President Carter, Reagan, Bush I, Clinton, Bush II, (or Senator Marco Rubio) identifying with the slain thug, saying "If I had a son, he'd look like..."? Can you imagine people all over the country buying hoodies identifying themselves with the slain thug, and entertainers refusing to perform in the state where this self-defense shooting happened? We're not done with our thought exercise yet. Shortly after the murder trial and acquittal of the black self-defense shooter, a white/Hispanic teenage thug who is angry about the acquittal brags on the Internet about beating up five [plural N-word], and says he's now ready to kill one. He goes out with two of his bored thug buddies and back-shoots a black guy (here from Mozambique on a basketball scholarship) who was out jogging, killing him. What would be the typical reaction to this? Fry the bastard! is what I'd expect from 99+% of the people I know. Then a few days later, two non-black teenage thugs, also angry about the acquittal, find an 88-year-old black veteran headed to the Lodge to play pool, and they beat him to death with flashlights. The near-unanimous reaction would again be Fry the bastards!, don't you think? In real life, where the jogger and the veteran were white and the teenage murderers black, all we hear from the black community is... crickets. Attorney General Eric Holder is the highest-ranking law enforcement officer in America, and he complains that drug laws disproportionately punish blacks. President Obama complains that school suspensions disproportionately punish blacks. Can you imagine a white, Hispanic, Asian, Jewish, or Indian AG and president whining like this? Non-blacks frequently point to Thomas Sowell as an especially perceptive critical thinker with tremendous insight. What these people don't realize is that Mr. Sowell is widely hated in the black community for his refusal to excuse or condone black criminality. White, Hispanic, Asian, Jewish, and other non-black citizens don't identify at all with the violent criminals that share their ethnicity. The fact that blacks in America seem to sympathize with black thugs and don't publicly condemn them for their crimes leads non-blacks to one conclusion: for blacks, being black trumps all other legal, moral, and ethical considerations. If you aren't black, Black America sees you as its oppressor, and, by extension, its enemy. That's out in the bright sunlight now, and everyone is beginning to see it. John Ross is a self-defense instructor and author of the bestselling novel Unintended Consequences. His website is http://www.john-ross.net/.