Sunday, February 19, 2017

The Niggardly Guerilla

By Victor J. Ward

In the book, Losing the Race, John McWhorter opens by describing a situation where three people are in a room discussing the Mayor’s budget. The city is Washington, D.C. There are two White people and one Black person in the meeting.

One of the White people says, “I will have to be niggardly with this fund because it’s not a lot of money.”

The Black person storms out of the meeting.

I assume that the Black person went to the Mayor, because the White person, in a day or two, tendered his resignation.

This incident raises a couple of questions for me:

I know that Black people are supposed to do the following:

A. Eat fried chicken — check
B. Eat watermelon — check
C. Eat chitterlings — heck no
D. Dance — in public? heck no
E. Run fast — maybe after I drop 60 pounds
F. Play basketball — well? heck no
G. Speak Ebonics — your mama speaks Ebonics
H. Vote the Democratic ticket — I’d rather eat chitterlings while dancing in public
I. Be entitled to 40 acres and a mule — still waiting

But, I have never heard that Black people are supposed to be stingy with money.

Granted, we are supposed to be poor and not have much money because of slavery and discrimination and the White Man and the Man (the Man is different from the White Man. The White Man is. . . . White. The Man is anyone who is ahead of Blacks in life but who is not White) and because of all the cop killers and because of gentrification and because of the absence of some Black fathers and because of the government and because of the core, foundational problems with public schools.

Oh, wait. Sorry. It’s never those last three.

I never thought, however, that Black people had been stereotyped as not being generous.

Maybe I am stingy. Maybe Black people, as a whole, are stingy.

Of course, this was not the view of the White person in that room but the Black person.

It’s either that or she was stupid.

I don’t mean that she was stupid in not knowing what the word “niggardly” meant.

I don’t even mean that she was stupid in walking out of the room.

She was stupid because, after she learned what the word meant, she refused to go to the guy and say, “Hey, sorry. I didn’t know that word. I learned something. Yes, we need to be niggardly with that money.”

She refused to stick up for the White guy.

She was niggardly in her support of innocent people.

That happened in 1999.

We have gotten worse since then.

Just recently, there was an ESPN reporter who use the word “guerrilla” or “gorilla” to describe a tactic being used by Venus Williams. The reporter claims that he was using the term “guerrilla.”

ESPN believed that he was using the word “gorilla.” ESPN fired the guy.

Maybe ESPN didn’t realize that Nike used the term in one of it’s ads. I mean, let’s be fair: It’s not like Nike is that involved in sports.

Furthermore, it’s not like the Nike ad, called Guerrilla Tennis, didn’t involve some of the biggest tennis stars ever (Pete Sampras and Andre Agassi). 

What’s ESPN supposed to do? Do research? Ask questions? Give their employee the benefit of the doubt? Not damage a guy’s good name?

It’s much easier to fire someone than risk the wrath of the progressives and Black Lives Matter.

But, here is where it gets even worse: Venus Williams never complained about the term; neither did her sister or her dad or anyone close to her — at least not publicly.

From what I can tell, the person to accuse the ESPN reporter of using the racist term was a White guy named Ben Rothenberg.

At least in the niggardly situation, the “offended” person was Black.

Now, we have one of the most famous and well-accomplished Black athletes in the world being protected by a White man.

So, for all of you White people, here is an introductory list. I am not going to capture everything because I am an Oreo. But, it’s a good starting point.

White People:

You cannot use the word niggardly.
You cannot use the word guerrilla because it sounds like the word gorilla, and, if you are near a Black person, you will be found guilty of racism.
You definitely cannot use the word “nigger,” regardless of the number of times you may hear a Black person use it.
You cannot us the word “nigger” even as a descriptive term. See this clip at the 1:45 mark.
You cannot use the word “nigger,” even if, in context, it is the proper word. For instance, you cannot say, “The word ‘nigger’ is a derogatory word used for Black people.”
If you want to reference the word “nigger,” you must say: the “N word.” You can do this until the phrase “the N word” becomes as offensive as the word “nigger."
You cannot call a Black person: Black.
You can only use the term "African-American."
You can only use the term “African-American” until another term is embraced. In fact, the word “Black” may be back in style. I’m not sure. Good luck on this one.
You can definitely not use the term “Negro.”
You can definitely not use the term “Colored.” (Yes, I know that the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People is still around. Don’t argue with me.) 
Only you can be racist. That is: A Black person can never be racist.
You owe Black people 40 acres a mule.
Your life does not matter.
Black people don’t need your help. (Just your 40 acres. See above.)
You don’t try and help Black people because of your privilege.
You are only wealthy because of your privilege.
You are only wealthy because of your parents or grandparents.
You have more money than Black people because of cultural appropriation. Think Elvis.
Even if you are self-made, you have achieved your success because of your privilege.
The fact that you don’t see your privilege is because of your privilege.
You do better on tests because tests are geared towards you. Don’t you even dare think that some of you do better because you studied harder.
Whenever someone talks about race, you must never, ever, ever raise the issue of Chinese immigrants, or Japanese, or Korean, or Russian, or Indian, or Mexican. You are prohibited from talking about any other race because the success of some people in those races undermines a lot of what Black people are claiming. You must never do this. If you do, you are a hater and a racist.
You must give your full-throated support to affirmative action programs. Otherwise, you are a racist.
If you don’t vote for a political candidate that promises to take from you and give to Black people, you are a racist.

The above is not comprehensive. But, it's a good start.

Victor J. Ward  first came across libertarianism by reading Murray Rothbard's Ronald Reagan: An Autopsy and Walter Block's Defending the Undefendable. He holds a law degree from the University of California, Hastings College of the Law and an MBA from Santa Clara University.

1 comment:

  1. I love Negro spirituals and so does Randye Jones who sings and researches them at Grinnell College, Grinnell, Iowa.

    ReplyDelete