Whitey's on the Moon
By Akhilleus
Black people? I don' see no black people. Don't hear me none neither. And don't want to.
Today we're seeing the wondrous results of John Roberts' decision that race is no longer a problem in America. There'll probably be several million Americans who won't be able to vote today because race is no longer a problem in America. All those southern states the Voting Rights Act was designed to keep from sticking it to black citizens are now free from the shackles of unfair bondage because race is no longer a problem in America. Little Johnny and the dwarfs done set them free, hallelujah. And to show how much they've reformed their ways, they set right to making sure the roadblocks to the ballot box in place for generations in the south were immediately reinstated with extra prevention mechanisms, just to make sure them darkies stayed away. It's all good. Because race is no longer a problem in America.
This is a big part of what Reagan meant by morning in America again. White picket fences, Brillcream billboards, sunny, happy, shining white faces on the way to vote for Confederate politicians, and black people off to the side of the road. Invisible and silenced, in their places, happy to steppinfetchit and catch the occasional crumb falling out off the white tables, eatin' watermelon and keepin' out of the way. Invisible and silenced. Because...
Today those southern states get to unveil how much they learned from the Voting Rights Act. The moral? "Time to teach those niggers a lesson once again. They thought those fucking liberals were gonna help them vote? Fuck that. Now here's a few dozen hoops for them to jump through. Let 'em try this shit on for size. And this time, it's all nice and legal like. The Supreme Court says so. And we'll have our open carry boys at the polling places just to make sure they get the message: they ain't Americans and they ain't welcome to vote."
And that was the message Confederates on the court sent out.
Message received.
The other day I read that Nikki Haley was getting all bent out of shape that some people thought SC's voter ID bullshit was out of control. She sniffed that you had to show an ID to buy Sudafed (this hoary citation is right out of the Winger Playbook; they all trot out this one) or to get on a plane. Okay, Nikki. First, Sudafed can be used to make meth which has decimated large swaths of rural America, so there's a good reason for the ID check. Second, plane travel has become a dangerous business. Voting is only dangerous if you're a Republican thinking about Democrats being allowed to vote and voter ID regulations are designed to fix a non-existent problem. Oh, and since we're up in arms about all those important things you need an ID for, you don't need an ID in 30 states (30!) to purchase deadly weapons. How 'bout that asshole? Huh? Sorry, can't hear you....What'd ya say? Never mind. Scumbag.
The movement to make black Americans even more invisible than they already are is in high gear as is the effort to shut them up. Black Lives Matter is a "hate group", a "murder movement", they're for killing all police. Organized right wing efforts to silence black voices run the gamut from self-appointed "journalists" in the deep south, to presidential candidates (apart from Trump) to a TV network and its favorite political party.
Yesterday, I posted a link to a song written and performed by a politically astute Trinidadian musician back in the thirties, Growling Tiger, who sang about the differences between rich and poor, differences that are no better today. The poor are invisible to most white Americans. But poor and black? Those people don't even exist. Or at least an enormous number of white Americans try not to think about them. And they're encouraged in that effort by an entire political party for whom black America is seen as a dangerous swarm that needs to be exterminated. It really is that bad. So, you might hear about "those people" but they're criminals and murderers and rapists, so don't bother worrying about them.
In response to the Growling Tiger song, Whyte Owen replied with a pertinent and timely link of his own to a song by the great Gil Scott-Heron, "Whitey on the Moon":
I can't pay no doctor bills
But Whitey's on the moon
Ten years from now I'll be paying still
While whitey's on the moon
You know, the man just upped my rent last night
Cause whitey's on the moon
No hot water, no toilets, no lights
But whitey's on the moon
It's become a common expression: We put a man on the moon so we ought to be able to do X. But the X is never "fix race relations in this country" or "make it easier for all Americans to vote" or "find a way to keep so many black men out of jail for minor offenses."
And to prove the point, yesterday, a little known 'bagger pol, Ben Sasse, came out against Donald Trump. He's not upset because of the unchanging problems of race relations, despite his use of the David Duke endorsement; that's just a handy cudgel. I mean, seriously, a 'bagger concerned about black people?? No. He's pissed because Trump isn't a "true Conservative" (the No True Scotsman thing).
Here is Sasse's problem in a nutshell: "The American people deserve better than two fundamentally dishonest New York liberals. This is a country that put a man on the moon."
Whitey is still on the moon.
And it's pretty fucking hard to see Ferguson from there.
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Reader Comments (6)
"The Revolution Will Not Be Televised"
(or will it?)
As a wee teen, we'd bus (or hitch-hike) into "The Village" where, (unbeknownst to me back then) I would end up as an undergrad and - eventually - live) to experience the (late) great Gil Scott Heron. And again, many times over, during my university years.
Thank you, Akhilleus, for your "Whitey On The Moon" narrative-merge.
Cheers -
To paraphrase that great intellectual (!!!) James Carville, "...it's the Supreme Court, stupid!"
Ophelia,
During my time in grad school I spent a lot of time hanging around Washington Square Park listening to street musicians and getting my ass kicked by those crazy chess guys, but I did get to see Scott-Heron. I got a tip from a friend who worked at the Vanguard that he would be making an unscheduled appearance one night to try out some new material. A lucky break, because it was the only time I got to see him live.
I have no doubt that artists like Scott-Heron, especially those with a political message, never show up on right-wing radars, or if they do, as with Chris Rock's hosting of the Oscars the other night, are either dismissed out of hand or treated as if a plague carrier had just been dropped into the middle of a gathering of poor, unsuspecting, honest 'mericans. The day after Rock spent time poking fun at the black-less nominations for film awards, the Daily Caller's headline screamed "Rock Makes Fun of Whites!!" Oh no. How dare he! Wire congress!
Other winger sites were far less calm.
Yeah...and like that.
Akhilleus,
What a magnificent & enviable coup! -
'. . . an *unscheduled* appearance one night to *try out some new material* . . .' (my emphases). Well done!
Chess guys still there - even when it's Tundra-like outside. (I had my very first lesson from my 11 year-young "godchild" last Friday: Quite literally, I've come late to the game.)
We may have crossed paths at Washington Square which - BTW - almost became a *gated* park (as in Lock & Key) for NYU students and other chosen "elites". (Even my status as an "alum" (?) would not have sufficed) . . . NOT that I favored this project: We denizens loudly protested and, fortunately, won-out.
"Income Inequality" has become epidemic here: You might not recognize your old haunting grounds were you to visit. I can frequently walk long-familiar blocks & become disoriented cuz the venues/restaurants/housing are gone! Thankfully, many of my friends & I - those low-wage earning folk "in the arts" - fortuitously squeezed-in at the tail end of rent stabilization. Blahblahblah . . .
Your scribing always nails it - and entertains.
Keep On Keepin' On -
Just saw Michael Moore's new documentary last night: "Where to Invade Next? A definite must see! However, this AM I read Barbara Ehrenreich's review of "Evicted: Poverty and Profit in the American City," by Matthew Desmond (in NYT Book Review). Talk about "out-of sync-shock!" America is so pitifully out of sync with European industrialized nations that I cannot even work up a cynical fury! Only lie back on my depression pillow and get ready to watch Super Tuesday, while I sink further back into my completely useless hopelessness.
Sorry to say, Akhilleus, your brilliant essay, "Whitey's on the Moon" could not prompt a laugh from me--only a weary smile. If I were not so old--and getting a bit dotty--I would take up our lovely neighbor, Justin Trudeau's invitation to move meself to Canada. Hate the weather, but it would be a relief to live in country that mostly cares!
Thanks as always AK. Brilliant weaving of old and new to find out that old is still new.
I watched "Spotlight" the night before last, and a couple of things stood out. First, even "respectable responsible adults" can be less than willing to accept truly inconvenient truth. At the onset of the film, those who represent the victims are described in a variety of insulting ways. The man who started the victims rights group is a "nut," and the lawyer who is going up against the monolith that is the Catholic Church has been ostracized. Even the members of the Globe reporting team who want to research and write a good story are held back by the influence of the ubiquitous Church.
The second thought that connects with yours is that the victims of the priests and ultimately of the Church itself were those invisible kids about whom no one really cares, some of whom might never have been born at all had not their parents belonged to a medieval institution that apparently is still repopulating the world after the Black Plague. Kids who were more a burden than a joy to their mothers, most with absent fathers, were picked on by members of a sad fraternity who themselves were shunted from place to place, allowing them to work their magic on the unaware.
To this day, the criminal conspiracy that condemned these kids to lives of depression, drug addiction, and suicide attempts has never been addressed. The Church still exists, and Bernard Cardinal Law, who oversaw the Church's malfeasance in New England (the abuse plague was worldwide) now has a sinecure in the Vatican.