Keila Banks represents the hidden and generally ignored in the media
This morning I was watching Melissa Harris-Perry and was completely enthralled in her subject, a young black girl who programs computers,who likes to cook, and who just likes doing fun stuff. Her story was fascinating to me not because of what she does but because she appeared on TV.
What do I mean? Keila excels in something other than sports or entertainment. The media tend to feature blacks who are entertainers, athletes, or criminals. Watch Keila Banks’ story. Then note that she represents many.
Keila Banks represents my daughter and all of her black friends that are in mainstream media non-stereotypical rolls. This summer my daughter and many of her Jack and Jill friends got together. Jack and Jill is a predominantly Black service and civic organization. Most of her friends have finished their undergraduate degrees. Some are working in professional fields, some are working on masters, some are in law or med school. The same can be said of her friends and acquaintances in her church. The same can be said for her white and other friends.
I bring this subject up because of a piece DailyKOS’ Shaun King wrote. It included an apology from The Oklahoma Federation of Republican Women for posting the following image on their Facebook page.
My take is that I feel sorry for these women. I believe they are loyal Republicans. There is nothing wrong with that. I also believe that they wanted the graphic to be impactful. Many will castigate me for stating that I do not think this was necessarily an act of racism. I believe these people are ignorant and so misinformed that they really cannot understand why black folks would be aligned with the party that supported Jim Crow. They genuinely believe that being black means being dependent and since the Democratic Party has become the humane party, the party that redistributes, that they are enslaving blacks in a cycle of dependency. In other words they want ‘black loyalty’ returned. ‘Theoretically blacks should be with us’, they likely believe. After-all it was the Republicans that freed the slaves.
I have spoken to many of these white people in my own community who genuinely believe this. They do not all have bad ‘hearts’. That is the reality that has been presented to them. They have been taught this by Fox News, the Right Wing Media Misinformation Machine, and their churches. Most convincingly they have embraced enough black self-hating tokens (Shelby Steele, Ben Carson, etc.) to validate that message.
I forgive their ignorance. I forgive them for not realizing that the largest recipients of standard welfare are white in absolute terms if not percentage-wise. I forgive them for not knowing that in the aggregate they are being financially raped by a plutocracy that is extracting all of our wealth and treasure at orders of magnitude that surpasses welfare of all forms. I explained that in my book “As I See It: Class Warfare The Only Resort To Right Wing Doom.” I forgive them for not being cognizant that the racist Democrats all became many of the Republicans of today, a party content switch. I forgive them.
I do not forgive the media and the politicians who are in the know. They are pawns of the Plutocracy. They have manipulated a narrative to create socio-economic divisions that is useful for the Plutocracy to maintain power. How? If we are busy fighting those we believe are lazy and taking away our hard earned income, then we cannot be focused on those really harming us. Ask who is really importing and profiting from cheap labor. Who is responsible for manufacturing most of our products overseas? Who is responsible for slave wages?
If there were more Keila Banks stories featured it would be more difficult for folks to be fooled about many racial and socio-economic dynamics. Folks wouldn’t fall so easily for stereotypes. Americans must start educating themselves and forming the right allies lest we are all screwed by the puppeteers.