99 Problems: Me Being A Racist Ain’t One, Unless You Believe The White MAGAs On Twitter
“Aren’t you sharp as a tack? You some type of lawyer or something?
“Somebody important or something?” — 99 Problems by Jay-Z
As we storm into the midterms, my presence on Twitter gets louder and sharper. I am the constant target of the Chair of the Arizona GOP, the various statewide candidates self-proclaimed war rooms and all those who do their bidding. Currently, I am shadowed not only by anonymous trolls, but high level GOP operatives respond instantly to every one of my tweets. I am a former Vice-Chair of the Arizona Democratic Party and I was charged with planning a strategy to flip a seat to take control of the Arizona State House for Democrats (which we accomplished, but we lost one of our safe seats in a different part of the state.). In my state all of the elected officials, on both sides, know who I am. Do to my race and stature, most can recognize me at political events. The made men, women, and people in Arizona politics know who I am and know various things about my background.
On the other hand, when the GOP unleashes their goons on me they have no idea of who or what I am. Many of them just see that I am a black man from my profile picture. In their eyes I am a black man who says hurtful and untrue things about their favorite candidates (many of them are delusional). A lot of them try to punch me as hard as they can over their keyboard. They usually land at, let’s call the black man, who is married to a white woman, who has been a named partner in law firms with white people, who has been the best man in weddings for white and Asian people, racist. Do not get me wrong, I am human and I harbor some racial bias. I believe every adult has been infected with some form of racial animus. The difference is some acknowledge it and try to be better, some ignore it and allow it to fester, and some feed it allowing it to consume them.
I am always reminded by the stat that 45% of white people in America have zero black friends. 55% of white people have one black friend and 5% of white people have more than one black friend. The average black person has eight white friends. I bring this stat up, because the majority of white people are not proximate to black people. These MAGA folk think that projecting their own racism onto me makes them feel like they have landed an injurious insult on me. At first, I was shocked by such an outlandish proposition: that the black man married to the white woman, who is business partners with white and Jewish folk, is the racist in this exchange. It was like the first time I got hit with a Baston challenge (this is used when the other side believes you are dismissing jurors for an illegal purpose, such as their race), after Voir Dire. The attorney, sheepishly, made the motion and the Judge heard it, to protect the record, and after I got over my disgust and shock I proceeded to give the rationale behind each of my strikes. That was how it felt, at first, when I would get called a racist by some MAGA supporter.
“I tried to ignore ’em, talk to the Lord
Pray for ’em, but some fools just love to perform
You know the type, loud as a motorbike” — 99 Problems by Jay-Z
Now, I know that these Trump supporters have very few tools in their toolbelts. I also have realized that they are world-class masters of projecting. Many of them are indeed racist, but unaware of their malignant tendencies. Sometimes I can see them feeling with pent-up desire/lust and the release of typing out that the black person is the real racist, is the release they crave. As a result of this cycle and how often I have to deal with trolls I have just send them a gif of a black person acting unbothered. I don’t argue with them, I don’t engage them, I want them to know that their words have no import to my life, thus I am indifferent to their words and to them.
I do think it is telling that the person who has most likely never had a black person in their home to share a meal with, as an adult, is the person they think is racist. Projection is one hell of a drug.
