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"[When] one lives in a country where racism is held valid and practiced in all ways of life, eventually, no matter whether one is a racist or a victim, one comes to feel the absurdity of life." — Chester Himes from My Life of Absurdity. A lone white woman steps cautiously onto an elevator on which a lone black man is riding. Driven by the pervasive media-generated fear of all African-American males, she immediately feels the need to clutch her purse just a little bit tighter. At the next floor, a white man steps aboard; the door slides shut and the socially strained threesome ascend the office tower. The woman hopes in guarded silence that the white man does not get off before she does — his presence, between her and the black man, is comforting. The mobile cubicle, so small that the three passengers are within an arm's reach of each other, briefly hesitates before continuing. The whites never once chance a glance in the direction of the black man, but smile amicably at one another. It is as if they silently agree to ignore him. Dressed smartly in a suit and tie, the expression on his face is friendly (as is his demeanour), yet, for them, he is a necessarily endured threat. I created this scenario for the purpose of exposing a fact of US life that media giants all over the world seem hell-bent on concealing. Turn on a television, pick up a newspaper or magazine, and for the most part what you will see are images of black men being led away by police. Yes, there is the occasional white man in handcuffs, but that image (for its rarity) is a token one at best. The unstated, but clearly understood message in this deliberate defamation process is that endemic crime is personified in a black man. That is the reason the woman felt the need to hold her purse tighter when, alone, she encountered the black man. We have all seen the media images that she is driven by. It is not hard to understand her fears. However, in the US one is far more likely to be the victim of a crime that is perpetuated by a white man. I sense an eyebrow or two rising in disbelief and/or surprise, so let me run that by you one more time: In ‘the US, you are far more likely to be the victim of a crime that is perpetrated by a white, rather than a black man. You only have to check the most recent crime statistics for proof. Let me enlarge the scenario. The white woman reaches her floor and enters the office where she and several other women work. She will soon have lunch with one of them, a woman who happens to be black. They are not only co-workers but good friends as well. I would like the reader to consider the scenario, keeping in mind that the white woman is intellectually, socially and politically aware — to the extent that most citizens are in a society that is largely controlled by media images. Do you think this woman is a racist? The answer may not be as simple as it appears. Write me a brief letter containing your thoughts and your answer to the question. I will share with other readers a portion of the letter that throws the most light on this subject in a future column. I am sure we will learn a lot from each other.
[The writer is a prisoner on death row in the United States. He is happy to receive letters commenting on his columns. He can be written to at: Brandon Astor Jones, EF-122216, G2-51, GD&CC, PO Box 3877, Jackson, GA 30233, USA.]