(Todd A. Smith)
When Public Enemy named their 1989 album “Fear of a Black Planet,” the title spoke the absolute truth about how America viewed Black upward mobility and political progress.
Every time Black Americans looked like they were on the verge of reaching the promised land, the White American power structure did something demonic to thwart Black progress.
When President Barack Obama shattered a glass ceiling by ascending to the Oval Office in 2009, the White backlash grew to such a fevered peak that it has led to two election victories for President Donald Trump, who is now using his powers to target organizations on the political left that he dislikes.
That effort puts Black organizations and movements like Black Lives Matter in danger like the FBI’s COINTELPRO efforts led to the infiltration of Black groups in the 1960s like the Nation of Islam and Black Panther Party, leading to the assassinations of Malcolm X and Fred Hampton.
Reporting on Trump’s directive to target terroristic organizations, Lawrence Ware of The Root wrote, “On the surface, it is simply a directive from the president to counter domestic terrorism. But when you look at the language used, the memorandum signals a shift in how authorities will respond to dissent in America.
“While no organization is named, the language indicates that Trump is targeting people on the ideological left. He is directing federal agencies, including the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to investigate people and organizations that are ‘anti-capitalism, ‘anti-Christianity’ and ‘anti-fascist.’”
Before I get into this demonstration, to paraphrase YouTuber Hood Educated, I hope the Trump administration investigates itself because the way President Trump wants people to worship him, the way he lies religiously, the way his policies adversely impact the poor and the marginalized, and his violence against alleged drug dealers from Argentina are definitely the opposite of Christian.
Secondly, the fact that he is against organizations that are anti-fascist confirms the fact that he is fascist or sympathizes with fascism.
And most importantly, he needs to consort with the First Amendment of the Constitution, which protects people, businesses and organizations even if Trump does not like their political, racial or religious ideology.
But that is neither here nor there.
What should trouble Black Americans, especially the many Black men who voted for Trump, is the fact the is determined to return America to a time in which White ideology ruled the land and anyone adversely impacted by the White power structure was scared to voice their dissent for fear of reprisal.
When the Civil Rights Movement and the Black Power Movement began changing the power dynamic in America, former FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover made it his personal mission to destroy and discredit Black organizations and Black leadership.
His Counterintelligence Program, abbreviated to COINTELPRO, used surveillance technology to dig up dirt on Black leaders and to sow division amongst members of groups like the Black Panthers.
Hoover feared a Black messiah who would rise out of the Black community and finally lead his or her people to the land of milk and honey, which would eventually diminish White power and White wealth.
And even before COINTELPRO, Black Americans who spoke up on political and racial issues found themselves under the watchful eye of the government for allegedly being Communist or Communist sympathizers.
In the book Black Americans: The FBI Files, Kenneth O’Reilly wrote, “From the time he entered the Justice Department in 1917 until his death on the job fifty-five years later, Hoover carried the vision his childhood fostered—a vision of a White Christian America where all knew their place. Black men were ‘boys’ and Black women ‘Negresses,’ and they were there to serve him as he served the nation.
Trump is the modern-day Hoover, drunk with power and having a cult of followers who are hellbent on preserving White supremacy.
Although their motto is “Make America Great Again,” it is really to make America White again.
It is bad enough that the country is getting browner by the day.
But Trump represents a large number of White people who could not stomach a Black family living in the White House for eight years.
Those bigots did not have a problem with the fact that former Black slaves physically built the White House, worked as butlers in the Whiter House and worked as maids in the people’s house.
But they could not handle a Black man leading the people and being the most powerful man on the planet, while calling that house their home.
Many of those same people could not stand the coming to Jesus moment that the murder of George Floyd caused in 2020.
After his murder, and the murder of many other unarmed Black people by regular citizens and cops, many White people began reaching out to their Black friends and colleagues to truly understand the Black experience and Black plight.
It finally seemed like America was finally making progress racially, much like it did during Reconstruction and the Civil Rights Movement.
But like the Civil Rights Movement and moments in history like Black Wall Street, racial progress led to racist White backlash.
With Trump’s two presidential elections and his desire to squash dissent based on race, religion or economics, history is just painfully repeating itself.
Back in the day, the government was able to cause extensive damage to the Black community.
The question is will the Black community succumb to fear and allow the same to happen in the 21st century?
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