*Chris Rock has a bit in one of his comedy specials about how it’s okay if fat women talk about skinny women, or how short men can talk about tall men. But the reverse is not acceptable; it’s just mean.
The underlying concept is that it is understood that society values skinny women and tall men more. There have been studies that show attractive people gain advantages over those considered ugly and our society finds skinny women and tall men more attractive, thus their higher value.
Of course Rock was pointing this out for laughs but the idea is valid. Certain groups in society have been put in a better position to succeed historically, and even today some of the remnants of racial, sexual, and religious prejudices remain. There is a reason Mitt Romney had to address his Mormonism and reassure everyone that his faith was not going to be an issue if he were elected president.
The difference between white supremacists and black supremacists is illustrative of this idea. Anyone who professes that society should privilege one racial group over another should be monitored. And anyone who professes a willingness to perpetrate violence to forward their ideology should be prevented from doing so. But it is worth noting that black supremacists usually do not fall into the second of those categories.
Black supremacists grew out of the Civil Rights Movement and efforts to establish the racial equality of black people. Eventually some people went further and affirmed their preference of things related to black people and black culture and asserted the superiority of those things over the things related to European-Americans and their culture. To be clear – black supremacy started as a small percentage of African-Americans and grew to a slightly less small percentage.
White supremacy on the other hand was a foundational belief of the United States. The country was set up to benefit white people based on the labor of other racial groups when possible. White supremacy had been the dominant perspective throughout the history of the United States until the Civil Rights Movment. To be clear – white supremacy started as a large percentage and then got smaller.
This doesn’t mean that black supremacy can’t be a threat to people. On some level it is refreshing that people see it as a viable threat.
But it is also worth noticing that there is very little evidence of black supremacist violence against white people. The mass murder perpetrated in Charleston last week does not allow us to say the same of white supremacists. Furthermore white supremacists target not only black people but also those of any race of advocate for racial equality, thus making them more dangerous.
It is possible to regard the increased frequency of reports on police violence against black people as a sign that the reality of living as a black person in this country having changed, or as simply an increase in the reporting of something that has been happening all along. What is not possible is to deny that race continues to be a factor for some people and some institutions.
When short men make fun of tall men, it is seen as the undervalued group puffing up its chest. When tall men make fun of short men, it is seen as more mean spirited because the tall men don’t need to assert their primacy in our society. The same goes for black supremacy. When they complain it is an effort to be taken seriously. White people have always been taken seriously so there is no need to complain about how things are stacked against them.
And when they react as if they do, black people lose.
Trevor Brookins is a free lance writer in Rockland County, New York. He is currently working on a book about American culture during the Cold War. His writing has appeared in The Journal News. You can reach him at [email protected] or follow him on Twitter @historictrev.
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