Black Blackaphobia

By Walter L. Hilliard III

There’s an element of an age-old phenomenon, Blacko- or Blackaphobia, that has evolved beyond being primarily associated with Whites and other groups fearing “all things Black.”   And lets just say that self-hate, of course, is at the heart of all Black-related phobias, and Black self-hate has been around for 500 years.  However, Black self-hate has never been worse, yet trickier, to identify.

Put quite simply, I call it  “Black Blackaphobia,” defined as a fear of all or most things Black by Black people, especially those things associated with Black’s own culture, their “Blackness.”

THINK about how so many Black people hate or could care less about Black history, much less have learned Black history or teach it to their kids.  THINK about how many Black women read or indulge in magazines that obviously target White women and have few or no Black models or storylines.  THINK about how many Black people hate Black people, kill Black people, don’t like to befriend Black people, or don’t want to help Black people.  THINK about how true, in terms of what most Black people believe, what Fred Sandford, the TV junkman on “Sandford & Son” played by comedian Red Foxx, said to his son Lamont and his friends all the time is:  “Getchu a Black lawyer and getchu some time in jail.”

President Barack Obama has a bad case of Black Blackaphobia, too.  He ignores Black people for an entire term, after duping about 93 percent of Black voters into voting for him, and then went into the annual Congressional Black Caucus Foundation awards dinner and told Black folks to stop whining, stop crying and take off their bedroom slippers (you would think that the least Uncle Obama Tom could have done was be original while pandering to White’s stereotypes of Blacks being lazy).  He really insulted himself, his Black wife and daughters.

In grade schools and on college campuses, many to most of the Black kids cringe when any type of Black history is taught.  However, much of the embarrassment is because most schools teach a derogatory, superficial form of Black history that usually only mentions the peace-loving Martin Luther King, and with all due respect, Black’s begging for Civil Rights, and slavery.  They don’t like to teach kids about so called radical Blacks or groups like Marcus Garvey, Malcolm X, the Black Panther Party and others.  They don’t talk about how the Black Panthers would march with guns.  American history likes to focus on police dogs biting Black people, the cops hitting them with billy clubs, and Black people falling down while being sprayed by fire hoses.  You’ll even find many to most Black kids making fun of Black people when Black history is taught – and joke about it with their White friends.

Yes, many Black men, women, and children have Black Blackaphobia.  And now that Black women are getting more degrees and professional jobs than Black men, many are taking on a new “no Black men allowed” attitude with their new found success.  Yes, some have even started blogs and advertised and glamorized their Black Blackaphobia as it pertains to Black men.  These Black women have gone “swirling,” as they call it, and many only date White men.  I always found it funny to see or hear a Black woman say she only dates White men.  How silly is that?  You mean, your oppressor, your White man, awakened one morning, left the house, met you and had an epiphany that included being touched by a magic “racism be gone” wand and yaw lived happily ever after?  Well, maybe he slept with you, met Becky, dumped you, and married Becky?  Maybe he married you, but that doesn’t mean he’s not racist.

Additionally, you cannot watch one of the scores of Black reality shows starring Black women — including the “Love and Hip Hop” and “Basketball Wives” series based in NY, Atlanta, and L.A. — and not hear all the Black women foaming at the mouth, talking about how they want or gonna gits ‘em a White man.

Hmmmm, I’m wondering if the Black slave women did this, too?????

Yeah . . . maybe, just maybe, that’s where these hussys got this “swirling” behavior from, on the plantation . . . ?