Opinion| A vaccine to fight the racism virus has finally been developed

When one doesn’t know about the other one’s history and culture, ignorance swoops down like a vulture.
KRS-ONE (Knowledge Reigns Supreme – Over Nearly Everyone)

As our nation begins its annual Black History Month (BHM) celebrations, I worry that this once inspiring event has lost much of its power. For most Americans, BHM has declined into American school teachers stapling up cardboard pictures of Black heroes and sheroes prior to delivering antiquated presentations that invariably revolve around the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and Rosa Parks. The predictable activities of Black churches and historic civil rights organizations are not much better. Long ago, these once respected pillars of Black America began the unfortunate tradition of calling the community together to hear a charismatic speaker prior to the consumption of soul food. Unfortunately for Black America, the emotionalism expressed over a chorus of “Amen” and “Yes, Lord” amounts to little more than an entertaining experience that dissipates just as quickly as the obligatory meal. My inner circle of professors and activist friends generally agree that BHM has become an ineffectual tradition that reeks of duty and ceremony, not power and change. We all agree that the present state of BHM is not what the father of BHM Carter G. Woodson envisioned.

Considering the current state of Race relations in America, it is obvious that this year’s BHM celebration is the most important one in our nation’s history. The rising anger among those that cultural critic James Baldwin characterized as our White countrymen regarding the following matters is, in a word, disconcerting. Our White countrymen have busied themselves doing the following evil deeds.

• Constructing obstacles to prevent Blacks from accessing the vote.
• Working to erase the Black presence from K-12 school curriculums.
• Using the catch-all phrase Critical Race Theory as a means of eroding any progress toward racial equality and civility between the races made since President Lyndon Baines Johnson signed the 1964 Civil Rights Act and the 1965 Voting Rights Act.

It does not take much in-depth study to comprehend that this nation remains divided over the color line that W.E.B. DuBois commented on in The Souls of Black Folk (1903).

Within a nation stricken by a global pandemic, it is no stretch to attribute the behaviors and mindset of our White countrymen to a viral infection best characterized as a racism virus. The alluded viral infection has been a fixture on the North American continent since the British attempted to settle Roanoke Island and then Jamestown. British settlers’ failure to peacefully coexist with indigenous people, a conflict that predates the arrival of stolen Africans, is a clear sign that the racism virus was alive and well during the 16^th Century. Similar to the way that British colonists settlers were afflicted by the racism virus, Founding Fathers such as Thomas Jefferson, Patrick Henry, and George Washington were afflicted by a variant of the viral infection nearly 200 years later. It is no exaggeration to assert that the racism virus predates American staples such as baseball, hot dogs, and mom’s apple pie.

The present tone and tenor of unbridled anger and intolerance convinces me that this year’s BHM celebration is America’s most important one ever for the following reason. This year’s celebration possesses the potential to kickstart an overdue process of providing an effective antidote against the racism virus that has historically ravaged this nation. If I did not know any better, I could be convinced that one being infected by the racism virus is akin to a rite of passage for many Whites. The absence of an antidote has allowed the racism virus to spread like wildfire among my White countrymen. As with other viral infections, we must be realistic regarding the reversal of this viral scourge, particularly as it has shown a desire to live by altering and reinventing itself.

The racism virus has continually mutated since its trans-Atlantic voyage to Roanoke and Jamestown from 17^th Century chattel slavery to 19^th Century Sharecropping and Convict Lease System economic exploitation to 20^th Century prejudice, discrimination, bigotry, and institutionalized racism. This social cancer has metastasized throughout our national body with nearly no organized resistance from our White countrymen. The recording of human existence and conflict around the globe indicates that only exposure and education lessens the racism virus’ impact on the soul.

Although a reliable vaccine for the racism virus has yet to be developed, studies indicate that education, exposure, and immersion in the Black experience lessens its impact on our White countrymen. Unfortunately, this process of curtailing the racism virus cannot begin until our White countrymen willingly engage in BHM-like celebrations with an open mind and willing spirit. Receptiveness to new information is crucial to this process because much of what our White countrymen think that they know about Black America has been forged in an echo chamber that silences the dissenting opinions of others.

As a freedom-loving American, I cringe when my White countrymen issue unwise and ill-informed protests that they do not understand are actually attacks on the U.S. Constitution. One of the clearest examples of such embarrassing behavior are attacks against the American educational system via the thin thread-bare lie that they are preventing the teaching of critical race theory in American schools. Those issuing these brazen attacks on local school boards in the name of critical race theory, the latest undefined shapeshifting boogeyman created to scare my common White countrymen, never realize that their actions are McCarthyite as they fail to recognize that the Black experience is an indispensable portion of American history. Unbeknownst to so many of my White countrymen, it is impossible to understand American history without including the Black experience. Although I am certain it is painful for many of my White countrymen to accept the reality that Blacks and Whites are inextricably linked by a shared, yet often contentious, history filled with sharp pains when politico-economic interests conflicted.

Engagement with BHM-like celebrations and programming holds the potential to serve as an initial vaccine dose against the racism virus for my countrymen who are besieged by an astounding lack of illiteracy regarding Race. The referenced unknowing leads them all down a muddled path where logic and patriotism are trumped by phrase-mongering and emotionally charged insults. The ignorance afflicting many, not all, of my White countrymen is analogous to a contagious virus spreading in their midst; even the smallest of children can be infected. In fact, it could be argued that the earlier a child is infected, the more difficult it is to remove the racial virus from their soul.

After years of studying Race in America, it has become obvious that the only promising antidote to the racism virus is a relevant education revolving around American racial matters. As previously mentioned, this viral infection wants to live and urges those it infects to avoid engagement with anything that threatens its existence. It is in the interest of longevity that the racism virus convinces our White countrymen that educational events such as BHM are the sole purview of African-Americans. The racist virus understands better than any of us that the most likely consequence of my White countrymen emerging from their echo chamber and illuminating their minds by engaging others is a gradual escape from the mental constraints that have enslaved my White countrymen for centuries. Make no mistake about it, failure to engage the educational opportunities presented by BHM-like programs leaves all of my countrymen blind to a significant portion of a shared American heritage.

So, in the interest of beginning the process of defeating the racism virus, I encourage my White countrymen to emerge from their echo chambers and participate in BHM programming. Such a courageous act is the only promising vaccine for the virus that has afflicted their kind for centuries. Now, do not get me wrong; I am in no way insinuating that mere participation in one or two BHM programs will permanently remove the racism virus from the psyche’ of my White countrymen and prevent future outbreaks of racial bigotry, discrimination, prejudice, and general hatred; such a thought is preposterous. We have learned from the recent global pandemic that it is necessary for all of us to periodically return for a booster to protect us against variants of the original virus.

Without the vaccine, one never knows how the racism virus will mutate and reappear in a desperate attempt to extend its life. And as the old adage goes, it is better to be safe than sorry. So, I encourage my White countrymen to come forward and receive their initial dose of the anti-racism vaccine. Rest assured that my people, the same folk that your past is inextricably entangled with, would love to have you join them in celebrations marking the achievements of notable Americans who happen to be descended from enslaved Africans. Once again, these celebrations are a portion of your legacy as an American citizen.

We hope to see you soon!!!!!!

James Thomas Jones III, Ph.D., M.A., M.A., M.A., is an Associate Professor of African-American Studies at Prairie View A&M University and the creator of Manhood, Race, and Culture.