Racial intimidation must be fought
by Attica Scott
"The most dangerous creation of any society is that man who has nothing to lose."
—James Baldwin, 1963
Do we need to exam our community's response to racism? Do we need to explore the culture of East Tennessee that makes overt racists think that they can act on their ignorance and hatred through their racist actions? Should we ask ourselves: What does a racist have to lose for speaking racial slurs and making racial threats?
I cannot help but ask these questions when a white male has no problem calling a black male a "nigger" in front of a law enforcement official. And when that same white male verbally threatens the black male and his family and erects what he calls his "nigger fence" to keep out blacks.
This most recent incident occurred in West Knoxville during the second weekend of February. February is supposed to be Black History Month; some more progressive people now call it African American history month. But what difference does a month make, or the name of the month, when there are white people who still see people of African descent as niggers and will call us that to our faces?
In response to this racist incident, numerous community and justice organizations stood in solidarity with the black family that was racially intimidated by a white neighbor. We held a press conference at the City County Building with organizers and speakers from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, the Knoxville Jewish Alliance, the Knoxville Branch of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, the Knoxville Region of The National Conference for Community and Justice, Knoxville Project Change, Sincere Seven, the Urban League, and several other organizations too numerous to list in one column.
What power existed in this group of organizations representing people who have experienced oppression? Or as one speaker noted, people who have experienced the "poisonous gas" of hatred.
The family spoke eloquently and painfully of their experience. Speaking publicly about such evil is not easy. But I hope that having the support of such a diverse group of people at the press conference was helpful.
During the press conference, a statement was read calling for three specific actions. First, that the FBI would investigate this incident as a hate crime. Second, that the city and county would adopt resolutions denouncing this kind of hatred and maybe even incorporate into that resolution the denouncement of the use of the word "nigger." Such statements have been made in other communities with plenty of arguments for and against such action. Third, that the county executive and mayor would jointly create a panel to review overt acts of racism and discrimination that have occurred during the past 10 years.
I hope that this third action will happen, and soon, because we have got to create a community that opposes racism in all of its ugly forms. And these efforts must to be led by our elected and public officials. Our community will not be unified until we are all working together to combat hate. White folks out west must have the courage to denounce this act. If you don't, then your silence will be misconstrued as acceptance.
How powerful it would be to have all Knoxville City Council members and all Knox County Commissioners who represent this district stand tall and say that they do not represent racial hatred or any other form of hatred. How powerful it would be of them to say that they represent a city and county where all people are created equal. How powerful it would be for us all to believe that we are created equal and to treat one another as equals.
February 20, 2003 * Vol. 13, No. 8
© 2003 Metro Pulse
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