Stop the Madness
By Todd A. Smith
Stop the madness Black America!
Veteran Black actress Stacey Dash has found herself in an explosive landmine of social media hate by tweeting her endorsement of Mitt Romney for president of the United States. While President Barack Obama is the overwhelming favorite in Black America for the Oval Office, what person ever said that the Black vote is a group vote and not an individual selection?
While I do not share Dash’s views on the presidential election, because I believe Obama is the correct choice for me, I totally support her and other Black conservatives for being intelligent enough to formulate their own political opinion despite the vitriol they receive from people who are supposedly their “brothers” and “sisters.”
According to CNN’s Piers Morgan, one Twitter user referred to Dash as an “indoor slave” who was no longer Black.
Another Twitter user who uses the handle Mr. Controversy said, “RACIAL DRAFT: I LIKE TO REQUEST A TRADE TO SEND STACEY DASH TO THE CAUCASIANS TO ACQUIRE BILL CLINTON TO THE BLACKS.”
While Obama’s presidency has been heroic and has gotten more young African Americans engaged in the political process, it has also brought out the worst in some of us during the election season.
Decades ago, White Americans would not allow Black Americans to express themselves with the vote because of racism. Now Black Americans are telling other Black Americans who they can and cannot vote for, essentially stripping Black conservatives of their right to vote. In essence, Black Americans who spew hate over who Black conservatives vote for are just as bad as the White man who once told us we could not vote decades ago.
Taking away someone’s vote and telling them who to vote for are the exact same thing.
Furthermore, Black Americans who have the audacity to question someone’s “blackness” because they think outside of the box and have a brain of their own are also just as bad as the bigoted White man who has attempted to divide us since the days of slavery with the idea of the “house Negro” and the “field Negro.”
Black Americans who participate in the division of Black America are doing the bigot’s dirty work for them and are too blind to see the hurt that this division causes to us.
For years, Black Americans who lived a middle-class to upper middle-class lifestyle were considered by other Blacks as not being Black anymore.
Black Americans who spoke correct English were not considered Black anymore.
Furthermore, Black Americans who dated outside of their race were not considered Black anymore.
Now, Black conservatives are not considered Black anymore because they choose to support Romney for president.
I believe Obama is the best candidate for my community as a whole by far. However, if Romney is elected president we cannot blame him and Black conservatives for being destructive to our community because we are doing a fine job of that ourselves by constantly dividing ourselves.
The GOP does not have to do anything to keep us down because we do the dirty work for them.
One Twitter user said about Dash, “You’re an unemployed Black woman endorsing Mitt Romney. You’re voting against yourself thrice, you poor beautiful idiot.”
Although the new jobless report will show that Obama is doing a superb job improving the economy (7.8 percent unemployment), any “idiot” would understand that if Dash is an unemployed actress, her unemployment came under Obama’s watch and not Romney’s.
Dash is brave for going against the grain and standing tall against her haters.
But it is time for Black America to realize that regardless if one is a Black conservative or Black liberal, rich or poor, we do not have a say-so when it comes to someone’s “blackness” and how someone thinks or votes.
However, we do have a say-so when it comes to the madness and it is time that we finally realize that we are not all the same, and your opinion and arrogance is not that important in the grand scheme of things.
Keep doing your thing Ms. Dash!
Smith is publisher of Regal Magazine, a publication dedicated to the African American community.
