Perspectives

Black on Black Killing: A tool of White Supremacy

By Deric Muhammad
—Guest Columnist— | Last updated: Apr 18, 2009 - 3:10:18 PM

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“Howdy ya'll. This is Bernie Crosshouse, yours truly of the KKK. I would like to express our deepest gratitude at the destruction of the inferior Negro race. And I'm especially pleased to report that it is destroyin' itself without our help. To all you gangs, hoodlums, drug pushers and users and other worthless ni**ers killin' each other, we'd like to thank ya'll for savin' us the time, trouble and legality for the final chapter of riddin' ya'll off the face of the Earth. Your solution to our problem is greatly appreciated, so keep sellin' us your soul. Thank ya!!!”

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-An excerpt from Public Enemy's “Apocalypse '91 ... The Enemy Strikes Black”

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(FinalCall.com) - Imagine approaching a man in a Ku Klux Klan uniform from behind. You can clearly see the white sheeted uniform, but you can't quite make out his face. The very sight of such a symbol of the idea of White supremacy is enough to anger any Black man. But what happens when he turns around and you realize that the Klan member is a Black man?

The very thought of seeing a Black man in a KKK uniform sends a sane mind into a state of confusion. What self-respecting human being would subscribe to an ideology that seeks his very extermination? Wouldn't the law of self-preservation prevent a Black man from joining such an outfit? Think about it. What worm joins a bird gang?

No sane Black man would physically volunteer to join the KKK, Skinheads or any neo-Nazi movement. I am sure the Grand Wizard wouldn't allow it. But with Black on Black murder hitting record numbers in inner-cities across the country, I am raising the question... “have some of us already joined up and don't even know it?”

White supremacy is rooted in the belief that Whites are superior to non-Whites. Black people historically have suffered more than any other people under this philosophy.

The Honorable Elijah Muhammad, in his illuminating book “Message to the Blackman” taught that the White race came to be through a systematic, scientific formula called grafting. The rule was to kill the darker people and save the lighter people. To this day, that formula is the means by which the preservation of the White race is attempted.

If the elimination of Black people is a key component of the maintenance of the ideology of White Supremacy, have we become secret agents of the Ku Klux Klan and other White Supremacists groups? Could a Black man who kills another Black man be considered one of Hitler's children? In the past, these groups have predicted a “race war” in which they would kill Blacks wholesale. But is that even necessary today if we are already killing one another wholesale?

There has been a reported rise in the number of those joining White Supremacist groups operating in the United States. The meteoric rise to power of President Barack Obama has been cited as the probable cause and number one catalyst for recruitment. While this uprising of racial hate could be considered a threat to Black people, the biggest threat to our survival is self-annihilation via Black on Black murder.

The great comedian Dave Chapelle once performed a hilarious parody where he portrayed a blind Black man named Clayton Bigsby who was a leader in the Ku Klux Klan. This fictitious brother was born blind, taught White supremacy and sought the annihilation of his own people. It was not until he was coerced into taking off his head covering at a Klan rally that he found out who he was. It was a very funny show, but it was filled with symbolism.

Any man who seeks the annihilation of his own people is as blind as Clayton Bigsby. He does not know who he is and must be coerced into taking off the head covering of self-hatred and falsehood. Most of us who saw Dave Chapelle's parody laughed until our stomach muscles contracted, because the mere thought of a brother in the KKK was ludicrous! But I ask the sobering question, what's worse; wearing a white sheet or killing a Black man?

I think that the sociopolitical ideology of White supremacy is dying a natural death. But every time a Black man or woman commits fratricide we give it mouth-to-mouth resuscitation. The Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan has taught us that our unity and the display of Black excellence is the death knell of White supremacy. We can only be unified when we are able to resolve conflict among ourselves in a civilized and productive fashion without resulting to this nonproductive shedding of blood. As the Minister told us, “We Must Settle Our Differences.”

I would say that perpetrators of Black on Black violence and murder may not have joined the KKK, but they have certainly unwittingly joined their cause. We must work tirelessly to stop the violence in our communities. We must protest the brutality that we inflict on each other just as strongly as we protested racial injustice in Jena, Louisiana and the recent killing of Oscar Grant in Oakland.

We can no longer afford to act as co-conspirators with White supremacy. Every funeral of ours is cause for celebration for the White supremacist. But every time we teach a Black brother or sister the knowledge of self and others we facilitate the funeral for White world supremacy. We must make a conscious decision to never join the cause of those who lynched and burned our forefathers. “Use your mind instead of your nine. Stop the killing, now!!!”