Is America ‘A Black and Tan Fantasy’?

Duke Ellington’s song about racism rings true today.

Illustration from the Cotton Club, in Harlem, N.Y. 1930s — New York Historical Society (Public Domain)

The struggle

I am an optimistic person much of the time. (An ‘Afro Optimist’ I like to say).

But after over 400 years into the American experiment and over 150 years after the end of chattel slavery, Black Americans still get shot down like dogs. Sometimes, you have to say — this is a mess. Forget it. Let it rot.

Jacksonville.

Buffalo.

Charleston.

That’s just a small sample involving hate-filled white supremacist shooters who think they are drawing blood for the sake of the white race. It is not old; it is absurd. And right now, we have some Republican presidential candidate, Vivek Ramaswamy (he is Indian-American), saying, among other things, that some Black people are more racist than the actual racists who maim, kill, and try to destroy lives. Ramaswamy, who is very rich, blames some African Americans for the racist acts wielded against African Americans.

I understand why he’s popular now in some circles. He speaks for many with bigoted and hateful views in America.

Black people and caste warfare