"I Am Not Your Negro"

A Black History Month Manifesto

Soapbox

“I AM NOT YOUR NEGRO”

A Black History Month Manifesto

Brandy Shufutinsky

Imagine being a highly-degreed, liberal Black Jewish American woman, born and raised in Southern California alongside two older brothers, and parented by a single mother, after your father absconded before you finished elementary school. This is my childhood, and it wasn’t an easy one. It was riddled with violence, hunger, gang activity, neglect, and child abuse. Nevertheless, I persevered, earning multiple degrees, and building my own healthy and happy family, and a fulfilling career. My lived experience has provided me with credentials held in more esteem in progressive circles than my three master’s degrees and my doctorate. At least, that’s what one would assume. However, because I refuse to kowtow to the ideology permeating the far-left, I’m a bit of an anomaly, difficult to fit neatly into an identity box. And it is just this that makes so many uncomfortable. Unwilling to lean into discomfort, they simply try to silence me, cancel me, shut me up. 

I’m used to having disagreements, sometimes with people I don’t really like personally, but most often with those who are closest to me. I expect that because we are different with diverse experiences and knowledge, we’ll have different opinions on many subjects. I’ve never seen this as a reason to try to silence someone. I truly don’t understand those who are so offended that someone dares to disagree that they seek vengeance in the form of slander and libel. There’s a strong sense that disagreement means if you’re not with me you’re against me instead of simply, we’re different, so we see things differently. What idiocy. 

I’ve often wondered what James Baldwin would think if he were with us today, seeing that self-described progressives demand from Black Americans a self-loathing similar to what racists of centuries past required. What would Mr. Baldwin say to those who demand Black people wear victimhood like a perverse badge of honor, just as racists long ago tried to force us to accept that we were not worthy of full human status, instead relegating us to 3/5ths of a person. I imagine that the Black-girl-magic exhibited by giants like Ida B. Wells and Shirley Chisholm would now be referred to as “assimilation into Whiteness” by those who peddle racial injustice by claiming that “ascending the social hierarchy,” or the economic one, can only be attributed to participating in Whiteness. Celebration of Madam C.J. Walker making herself the first female millionaire, canceled. Edward A. Bouchet becoming the first Black American to earn a PhD from a US university, dismissed for assimilating into Whiteness.

I wonder how those born into self-described privilege dare try to sweep aside those of us who were not. Could it be that the very perseverance and fortitude that we exhibit flies in the face of what they’re peddling at the sum of billions of dollars per year?  Perhaps. Or maybe it’s something more sinister than greed. Maybe, just maybe, they’re bigots themselves. Do you know what a progressive bigot needs? She needs someone to save to alleviate her feelings of guilt. Progressive bigotry relies on victimhood, otherwise it fails. If there is no victim to save, no one to center, then the progressive bigot has nothing left to do—no work to “do” and no one to rant against for their privilege. 

To self-defined progressives, I say NO! I will not bow down to an ideology that demands I denigrate my forebears. I refuse to make myself small, to ignore the fact that I stand on the shoulders of giants who bled so that I can be free. Free to not pander to requirements for compelled speech. Most of all, I will not go quietly into the night. I’m not your negro.

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Brandy Shufutinsky is a social worker, writer, researcher, and advocate. She holds a Doctorate in Education from the University of San Francisco in International and Multicultural Education and her MSW from the University of Southern California. Brandy has worked towards advancing the rights of victims and survivors of domestic violence and sexual assault within the military community through practice, education, and research. Currently, she is working towards developing intercultural and academic opportunities to enhance liberal democratic ideals. Follow her on Twitter.