Digging Deeper Alternative Journalism Fall 2020: White Rage

The date was November 25, 2014, in Ferguson, Missouri. The grand jury announces they decided not to indict Ferguson police officer Darren Wilson in the shooting death of the unarmed Black teenager, Michael Brown. Moments later, chaos ensues. Dana Ford reports in her CNN article, Fires and Chaos Erupts After Grand Jury Doesn’t Indict in Michael Brown Case, “Several businesses and a row of cars at a car dealership have been set ablaze in the nearby city of Dellwood.” And “CNN’s Sara Sidner was struck in the head with a rock as more rocks flew around her. Amid the looting and arson across Ferguson, some protesters demanded the media stop reporting on the events.” Every news network around the country followed the unrest occurring in Ferguson. MSNBC, CNN, NBC, ABC, CBS, and FOX, it didn’t matter. They all invoked the same message: “Look at Black folks burning up where they live.” “Did you know Black folks were burning up where they live?” “What is wrong with Black people?” Carol Anderson argues in her novel, White Rage, that this exact narrative is what America needs, the narrative of Black pathology.

“Everything would be fine if only Black folks would value education. If only they would not be thugs,” Anderson writes as she creates examples reinforcing her concept of Black pathology. This type of “Black rage” isn’t only being talked about on networks like Fox, but on networks across the entire political spectrum. For example, after the death of George Floyd on May 25, 2020, the riots occurring across the country were not only condemned by conservative networks, but networks like CNN covered these riots without context at times. Anderson uses the reverse card and claims that this isn’t Black rage, but it’s actually white rage. Living in Missouri for over thirteen years, Anderson saw how policy systematically undermined African Americans’ access to citizenship rights. But as a nation, we are so focused on the flames that we miss the kindling. But what exactly is the “kindling”?

Sixty-seven percent of Ferguson’s population is African American. In the 2013 municipal election, the Black voter turnout rate in Ferguson was only six percent. How and why does this happen? That voter turnout rate is reminiscent of the Jim Crow era in the deep south. Anderson writes, “This is a reflection of how African Americans don’t feel like they have a say in who gets elected and creates policies.” Missouri rates their school systems on a 140 point scale, which is accumulated by graduation rate, matriculation rate, test scores, etc. For Michael Brown, his K-12 school system received a rating of 10 points for the previous fifteen years. 10 points out of 140 points. What this means is that the public policy leadership was comfortable with pulling an entire generation of Black children through a school system that could not garner more than ten points. Kindling.

Policing. The purpose of the police is to protect and serve. In the article, Who Was Amadou Diallo and Why is the Story of His Death Still Relevant, Jorge Solis recounts the death of Amadou Diallo in 1999 and the eerie similarities between this series of events and the tragedies of Michael Brown and George Floyd. On February 4, 1999, Diallo, a 23-year-old aspiring computer programmer was returning to his apartment after grabbing a meal in New York City. Four officers, who were driving in their unmarked vehicle while wearing plain-clothes, identified Diallo as having a similar description of a serial rapist reported a year earlier. Two of the officers stepped out of the unmarked car and ordered Diallo to show them his hands. Diallo, confused and terrified since he didn’t know they were police officers, ran towards his apartment building and reached into his pockets for his wallet. But the officers thought he was reaching for something else. The officers shot Diallo 41 times with semi-automatic pistols, 19 of the bullets hit him. The investigation found no weapons on Diallo but ruled that the officers had acted within policy. Months later, the four officers were indicted for second-degree murder but were acquitted of all charges. In the aftermath, protests and a search for justice occurred across the country. Then president, Bill Clinton, stated, “I don’t pretend for a moment to second-guess the jury. But I know most people in America of all races believe that if it had been a young white man in an all-white neighborhood, it probably wouldn’t have happened.” Rudy Giuliani, the mayor of New York City, accused Clinton of trying to drive Diallo’s death as a political issue. Sounds familiar to the aftermath of George Floyd? This is the retaliation of White Rage.

Bill Clinton’s comments were a race-issue. But the media and the mayor were blaming activists and protestors for trying to make it political. This tactic of deflection after a race-driven tragedy is the recurring pattern of White Rage Anderson continues to point out.

In the CNN article previously mentioned, none of these stories were told. The only stories were details of the riots. “This is crazy. I mean, this doesn’t do anything,” one resident told CNN. “An entire row of businesses are now on fire on West Florissant Avenue.” A protestor outside of the city police department, Bryan Conley states, “We’re just ready for it to be over with. Let’s get on with our lives.” Although these are factual statements from residents and reporters, this rhetoric reinforces the White Rage Anderson speaks upon. When someone reads this article, they think of how awful the violence and rioting is, and it is awful. But the mainstream media doesn’t portray this chaos as a rational reaction to years of oppression of Black people, more as an animalistic reaction to a single tragedy. The viewers don’t get to see the full picture, the reminder that this isn’t the first time an unarmed Black man was killed by police, the story of Amadou Diallo, Emmett Till, Atatiana Jefferson, Aura Rosser, Eric Garner, Trayvon Martin, Stephon Clark, and the list goes on and on. The viewers only get to see the retaliation of protestors who are illustrated as a group of angry and dehumanized rioters who seek only for the destruction of the city they live in.

We often think of violence and racism as these visible ideas. But white rage is not about visible violence. White rage is subtle and corrosive. It operates through the state legislators, through congress, through the judiciary, and through the school boards. It cloaks itself in legalities. For example, many politicians run their campaigns to put an end to rioting and violence, but not for the root cause; it’s putting a bandaid on a bullet wound. Black people aren’t the cause of white rage. But the cause of white rage is Black people with ambition. The presence of Black people with drive and aspirations. The presence of Black people who refuse to accept their subjugation. The presence of Black people who demand their rights.

The stories of Michael Brown and Amadou Diallo are the tip of a deep iceberg that continues to grow without the attention it deserves. It’s the same story; an unarmed Black person killed by police officers who are acquitted of their crimes. Protestors race into the streets only to be blamed by media members and politicians for making this a political issue when it simply is not. These stories haven’t stopped. This year, we saw the protesting and rioting on full display in response to the death of George Floyd and many others. What is the white rage that followed? It’s conspiring right in front of our eyes. Donald Trump’s entire election campaign currently is to defend the police with zero affirmation of the pain Black Americans feel.