October 31, 2019

How does White Supremacist Christianity ideology interpret Blackness?

White supremacy values Black people having a specific relationship with Christianity, and even more so a very specific alignment with one manifestation of Jesus. White supremacy encourages Black people to see themselves in the long-suffering Jesus; the persecuted Jesus; the jailed, beaten and bloodied Jesus; the Jesus crucified next to criminals; the Jesus who died. White supremacy does not have any interest in Black people aligning themselves with any semblance of godliness. Only the manifestation of sacrifice. White Supremacist Christianity sells Black people on the prospect of joy in the after-life. White Supremacy Christianity is not invested in the joy or equity or peace of Black people in the physical realm, because to invest in those things is to disrupt the order that has been established by Black people subscribing to White Supremacist Christian ideals. The construction of America as we know it was the creation of enslaved Black people ruled by the whip and the bible. The rule by whip eventually was outlawed. The rule by bible was one of calculated indoctrination. There are scores of text that center liberated Black theology, but that information has long been suppressed, ignored and dismissed as radicalized myth. White Supremacist Christianity relies on Black people identifying godliness as unattainable, benevolent whiteness. One that we can be of great servitude to, but can never be.

How does White Supremacist Christian ideology interpret whiteness?

White Supremacist Christian ideology associates anything majestic about Jesus with whiteness. Jesus as a manifestation of whiteness is a resurrected Jesus; a miracle working Jesus; a Jesus that multiplied fish and loaves of bread; a healing Jesus; a redeemed Jesus. White Supremacist Christian ideology has supplied the world with images of a non-melanin, blue eyed deity who arose from persecution. A Jesus who may have died dirty, unworthy and north African, but who came back white as the driven snow with omnipotent powers. White Supremacist Christian ideology is a theory that gives kinship to the idea of whiteness and salvation. It was the purview given to enslaved Blacks and reinforced throughout the generations. Jesus, when purposed as a representation of white identity, is a very specific tool of socialization/supremacy. Simply put, when the benevolence of Jesus aligns with the apex of humanity, and when that peak humanity wears a white face emblazoned across houses of worship, than those “cursed” outside of whiteness can never reach absolute benevolence. They can only remain in service to “the most high”.

The Kanye Effect

Take one of the biggest Black celebrities on the planet. Align him with the ideals of a white nationalist presidential administration. Give him a renewed faith in God that comes with no regard or apologies for damaging rhetoric he has espoused about the subjugation of Black Americans. Then combine all of the aforementioned with a Black belief system heavily indoctrinated into White Supremacist Christian ideology. What do you get? Kanye West of 2019. The son of an educator and Black revolutionary who always professed a love for Jesus, but who now recognizes Jesus as an in-road back into the forgiving arms of Black folks who recently rejected him. White Supremacist Christian ideology had no use for “Jesus Walks” era Kanye nor “George Bush doesn’t care about black people” Kanye. The Kanye of yesteryear was also public about his Christianity. That Kanye also offered critique of American racism and capitalism. That Kanye showed an image of a brown skinned man wearing a crown of thorns in one of three videos filmed for “Jesus Walks”. That Kanye was a follower of Jesus who existed on the dead side of crucifixion and Kanye of 2019 actively worships the Jesus resurrected in benevolent whiteness. The Jesus as slave driver. The Jesus he boasts freed him from enslavement, but is actually more attuned with the one forcibly imposed onto our ancestors. The Jesus of MAGA country and Trumpism. It is that embodiment of Christ that Kanye has baptized his sensibilities in and wants to reconnect with a Black audience through. He knows that Black people have been socialized to ignore whatever godly manifestation we possess so that we can walk in step with the god of our oppressor. He is banking on it. He has banked from it. And only we can decide if we want to follow a destructive path led by the presumption of good intent. Navigated by someone who lost their self a long time ago.