Angry: We are Not Noble

We applaud nobility in black people.

• The forgiveness offered to Amber Guyger the off duty police officer who killed Botham Jean in his own home.

• The forgiveness of offered by the families of those slain at the massacre at the Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston, South Carolina.

• This man, who attends KKK meetings and converts white supremacists away from racism.

• The dignity of the pianist Don Shirley in Green Book, enduring the racism around him with pained grace.

• The patience, love, and appropriate fire of the women in The Help. "You is kind. You is smart. You is important," the noble maid reminds the troubled white child in the film.

• The taciturn leadership  of a Colin Powell, the charismatic grace of a Denzel Washington, the charming wisdom of Oprah Winfrey. Even Barack Obama, other then the crime of being a Democrat (and a smoker as one friend of mine--reaching, I suppose, for some moral failing--pointed out), is an example of impeccable moral rectitude.

• The magical Negro*. The Strong Black Woman (check out this article or if you have 20 minutes this really good video on YouTube). The Black best friend.

• And of course the matchless hero, Martin Luther King Jr, with his words of unity, love and peace.

But the here's the thing: We are not noble. None of us. No, not even Martin Luther King, Jr.  And we shouldn't have to be.  

We are impatient, cruel, generous, depressed, kind, entitled, self-sacrificing, faithful, deceptive, funny, quiet, loud, emotional, stoic, supportive, selfish, friendly, aggravating, humble, power-hungry, loving, hateful, honest, motivated, short-sighted, goal-oriented, planners, impulsive, decent, horrible, understanding, brilliant, not the sharpest knife in the drawer, ordinary, exceptional.  We are human.

I find that black people in our culture are either expected to be  dangerous thugs or exemplary representatives of humanity.  We see this whenever an unarmed black person is killed.  His or her history is exhaustively exhumed, and if any stain is found (uh-oh, he's had a history of drugs, oops prior arrest record, oh man look at these thuggish photos of him) then that excuses their death.  To me this has never made sense.  Why does a black person have to be completely virtuous in order for us to condemn their killing? Why does a checkered past or even a failure to act exactly right in the moment with law enforcement justify their execution?  The person could be an out-and-out criminal but that doesn't make killing them okay.  We are a nation of laws; if someone has committed a crime there is a process that needs to be followed for justice to be served.  It's worth noting that we've had a long history of dealing out vigilante justice to black people; the argument that he was a "bad dude" so he deserved it is right in line with that historical precedent.

What we need is to stop attaching attributes whether positive or negative to blackness. Nobility should not be a prerequisite to advocating for a black life.  We are not noble. But the cause is.

*I just had to throw in this Key & Peele sketch which I discovered exploring the world of black nobility and magical Negroes.