While reading through my Twitter stream this morning, I came across a conversation between Dee (@DAbitty), whom I follow, and Jimmy Simpson (@informedblackmn). Referring to it as a conversation isn’t quite accurate. It was more of a brief, insult laden, mostly one way shouting match.
The back and forth was about politics, as it usually is on Twitter, so I barely paid it much mind until I noticed his handle. I was curious to see who this informed black man was, so I visited Mr. Simpson’s profile page. Obviously, anyone who would choose such a handle was someone to be reckoned with, right? His profile description was revealing:
“One of the few blacks who is not a leftwing mascot. Escaped abortion mills in my hood, bad public schools, and never used affirmative action.”
I was stunned that anyone could fit so much nonsense into two sentences totaling only 25 words. I started to type a tweet to him, but recognized that it would take a lot more than 140 characters to convey my reaction. I’ll let him know when I upload this post, of course, although I won’t be surprised if it is not well received.
Jimmy begins by placing himself above “other blacks”. Not a good start.
His phrasing “One of the few blacks” denotes a scarcity of similar convictions among others within his demographic. I’d suggest that scarcity, in and of itself, is not something from which one should derive a feeling of superiority. For example, one can be “one of the few people who ever drowned in a bathtub.” That would be a rare achievement, for certain, but one could scarcely garner an air of superiority because of it.
While African Americans tend to favor the Democratic Party, 95% in the 2008 Presidential Election, I don’t believe that they did so because they are “leftwing mascots”. Given that African Americans voted for the Democratic presidential candidate in 2000 and 2004 as well, (90% and 88% respectively), the more likely reason probably has to do with the Democratic Party being more diverse and inclusive than their Republican counterparts. Look no further than the recently released GOP Pledge to America. It contains lots of photos of the GOPs vision of America, yet no people of color are evident in their publication.
That’s change I can’t believe in.
Jimmy’s mascot reference indicates that he devalues those “other blacks” who have somehow been hoodwinked by the Left Wing.
mas•cot – noun
an animal, person, or thing adopted by a group as its representative symbol and supposed to bring good luck.
It’s interesting to note how he appears to view his racial demographic so unfavorably as to consign all but a few of them to this mockish status.
Abortion mills in the hood?
Let me guess, you’re anti-choice right? You are, of course, entitled to be against a woman’s right to choose, but I find it curious that you would select abortion and bad schools as the two things that you escaped from. I grew up in “The Hood” too, but I’ve never phrased my upward mobility as you have. Were I to make such a statement, which is unlikely, I would have chosen crime, violence, drugs, gangs, noise, or some other more direct consequence of urban living, but that’s just me. Your bias against women is showing.
Never used affirmative action?
Okay, I admit it; this is the part that really caught my attention. Please explain to me exactly how one “uses” affirmative action. The inference that I draw from this comment is that you believe that “other blacks” have “used affirmative action”, but you – you know, the superior you – have refrained from employing this tool.
I can’t believe that I have to explain this to you after all of these years but here goes. In short, affirmative action is: a policy designed to redress past discrimination against women and minority groups through measures to improve their economic and educational opportunities.
Whether you believe that this is an appropriate policy or not is irrelevant in terms of your “never used affirmative action” assertion. The opportunities presented to you during your life may well have been rooted in affirmative action – you have no way of knowing.
To hold this up as some kind of badge of courage is false vanity, nothing more.
I don’t know you Jimmy, and after reading through a number of your tweets, it’s unlikely that I ever will. However, I do know that many have come before us and no one goes through life alone. The wheels of progress have been greased by others who did the difficult work of bringing society this far in terms of the opportunities that are available to us all. Unlike the political bluster that passes by my ears like so many gusts of wind, your view of progress, which is built upon self-loathing, is a bad example indeed.
Based on some of your other tweets, you appear to have a bootstrapping outlook on life – working hard to make your own way in the world – that’s great, we can agree on that. But remember:
Someone made the bootstraps.
So Jimmy, relax. You’re making life much more difficult than it needs to be. Embrace who you are and promote your agenda in a positive way.
If you feel that you must disparage yourself, your people, your past, and others in order to be accepted by the GOP, perhaps you shouldn’t be trying so hard to fit in with that particular club.
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