When the Wolf was Never in Sheep’s Clothing
According to the saying, “A wolf in sheep’s clothing,” people can disguise their true motives and fool others. But, in this story, the wolf did not disguise itself rather it remained walking among the sheep, ready to leap and sink its long teeth into the flesh, ripping and bearing bones. Bearing the bones. Bearing the bones of whiteness requires us to move beyond a deep pain in our subconscious and no longer hide our faces from the horror revealed in the stories of the past and present. Acknowledging whiteness at the conscious level will force us to spew our remains in reaction to this lure of death.
The massacre, the end of that poor flock of sheep, remained but we somehow wanted to believe in the false disguise and become lured by foolishness, disbelief, and the false idea that a wolf could actually be something it is designed to genetically oppose — something it must devour in order to promote its survival. Whiteness survives off the exploitation of non-whites — and this has always been about violence — physical, psychological, cultural, symbolic and structural violence.
Physical violence — murder and devalue black and brown bodies.
sychological violence — socialize society on white dominance and destroy any thinking that counters this.
Cultural violence — write about black and brown death in history books and promote white dominance.
Symbolic violence — give young people white superheroes and construct and erect historical white figures that have contributed to the massive genocide and dehumanization of black and brown people.
Structural violence — created black codes, discriminatory housing criteria, zones, etc. that deny black and brown people access to quality health care, education, and clean food and water.
Whiteness evolved from a dark space, a conscious mind that had no conscience but rather an awareness of cultural domination and control of global capital through violence. Whiteness did not wake up from its slumber after the election of Barack Obama and Donald Trump but remained alive and functioned well in our institutions in America. Whether the criminal justice system or the public education system, it hid in the black robes of judges, district attorneys, and school administrators who handed out sentences that would line failing systems with black and brown bodies.
It granted privileges to those blinded by its false stories of merit and hard work, rather than tell them their societal gains were from the exploitation, dehumanization, and complete eradication of indigenous and African people. It weaved false images of beauty and success by constructing identities that forced colored girls to stop loving their authenticity, their bodies, faces, and hair. It granted certain passes to those who adopted whiteness, allowing them to be models for their group — sitting them on false pedestals as symbols of racial diversity and inclusion. Whiteness hovered in the darkness, the wolf licking his lips while the sheep remained disillusioned by the idea of progress and post civil rights.
Whiteness became the new liberals who forged their way into newsrooms and “best seller” markets as commenters of racial oppression, allowing them to return home to their gentrified neighborhoods and “eat their cake.” It simmered around the water cooler, eased down the throats, mixed into the early morning coffee and donut runs of local police officers. It soothed its way into “standard” traffic stops and the practice shots of the “right-to-carry” citizens who used Black male bodies as a testing ground for their racial war.
No, this wolf did not disguise itself as a sheep. It devoured, left the blood of protesters, children, young boys, and mothers lying across the pastures of America. Their blood falling into the same rivers filled with those lynched in the name of a false idea of white supremacy, raped and murdered for their land. This wolf emerged from its cave long ago and never returned. Yes, it sat back on its paws, maybe a bit defeated by this “browning” of America, but it never died.
Our awareness of whiteness over the past few months in the white hoods, Nazi regalia, and shaved heads reflect its underbelly. The groups who come from the bottom of the pit, unshackled hoodlums doing the dirty work of this system, have always been the goons and henchmen of white supremacy. They are the baby cubs, who know no better, who release their hunger for survival in the most primitive ways. They rip shots through churches, run down people in their cars, drag folks down dirt roads to release terror among the flock — but the worst terror has already been carried out and continues.
We are not moving backward, we have not digressed, no we have been standing still for some time. We did not move from the grip of white supremacy by electing a Black President, or CEO, or through millionaires — these have cloaked the truth. Whiteness is deeply entrenched into every fabric of this country — the removal of Confederate statues will not eradicate institutional violence nor usurp the strangled hold. The more we focus on these individual acts — the easier it becomes to point fingers to individuals rather than the system, rather than America. We will see the wolf as a sheep rather than a wolf and keep our attention on the individual rather than the institution that breeds them.
