I love America, but she done me wrong.” These are the words of an acquaintance, someone who compared America to an unfaithful lover. 

I submit that American racism is not the annoying bee circling the imperial crown of Mother Liberty. No, but it is the veritable blood that courses through her veins. It is the manna of her genocidal explorations upon which she sups. Racism is the very ground upon which she built her wealth. 

In that regard, it is no wonder that the struggle for freedom and economic justice in America is ever repressed and distorted under the crushing weight of a capital- engorged behemoth drunk on the spoils of a rapacious beginning. You cannot build a moral arbiter to chastise the world on the crushed bones of an immoral past. And yet, people want to ignore the past. 

America…love it or leave it, you might say. Although I am a woman born from the womb of gang-rape terrorism against African descendants, born amidst the ghosts of lynched innocents in the land of twisted words, I love America. 

But I cannot live in the fast-paced, techno-time-stamped present on my way to win the brass ring, and step over the inconvenient eyesore of history as though it was the stinking corpse of a homeless man who didn’t make it to the shelter on a cold, winter night. I cannot live in the reeking present and sweep America’s criminal filth under my Ikea rug. 

Recently I was at a symposium and it was a White man from North Carolina who reminded me of our awkward roots. He pointed out that we are still on the plantation and that most poor Whites are like the plantation overseer:  barely a cut above a slave, but faithful caretakers of the Massa’s criminal wealth (his dark human “chattel”.) Funny, when he said that, I had a different image of the overseer. Often the cruelest of overseers was the benighted, psychologically engineered Black slave who had been thrown a few extra scraps. 

That brings me to Dr. Ben Carson. Dr. Ben Carson loves America, too. He is a celebrated Black neurosurgeon, who made his people proud when he separated those Siamese twins; he did what even the great White hopefuls couldn’t. His brilliance garnered him international fame that spread from the corridors of Johns Hopkins University, a college right in my neighborhood. And wasn’t I proud. Dr. Ben was actually right up the street from me, striking a blow for the dignity of Black people, weary from the stigma of criminal thuggery, suffering from the violence of billy club justice. Dr. Ben…wow, I might even meet him one day, I thought. That was until I realized that Dr. Carson was just another benighted, grasping overseer who, rather than standing respectfully on the shoulders of those who had bravely paved his way, was trampling their memories on his carousel ride to snatch the brass ring. 

It all started with his speech at the National Prayer Breakfast with the President. This respected icon of medicine criticized Obamacare, presenting some off-the-top-of-his head, lame health savings account program for newborns. It might as well have been a black-on-black, drive-by Obama hit, as far as the “if it bleeds it reads” mainstream press was concerned. The sharks circled and a media feeding frenzy ensued. Dr. Ben Carson’s stock rose and he became the next best thing. Of course, Fox news couldn’t resist this Obama hater in black face spouting some of their political quackery. He was definitely a candidate for Token Negro of the Month. Sean Hannity featured Carson (who is an Independent) on a “Saving America” special, prompting him to run for president. Not to disappoint, Carson, who was invited to speak at the Conservative Political Action Conference (also known as the Crazy People Action Conference,) dropped breadcrumbs leading to the Oval Office in his remarks. “In 106 days I will be retiring,” Dr. Carson teased. “I’d much rather quit when I’m at the top of my game. And there’s so many more things that can be done.” http://articles.baltimoresun.com/2013-03-17/health/bs-md-carson-at-cpac-20130316_1_hints-at-political-future-carson-political-waters

Sorely disappointed at the Fox News sycophancy, I decided to google the rising star to see what he was all about. Dr. Ben Carson had done a 360-degree pivot from being a neurosurgeon, poking in people’s brains, to being a political pundit, blowing people’s minds. This Johns Hopkins scientist actually does not believe in evolution saying that it reflects moral and ethical vacuity. He’s big on religion and unfortunately, like so many conservative Bible thumpers, is constantly bringing God in to, frankly, bless his mess. After reading his views on evolution, I finally conceded that the CPAC event was made for him. He couldn’t be in better company. Sarah Palin with her wacky Russia geography, wing nuts with dinosaurs in the Bible, global warming naysayers, male rape “experts” with a new view of a woman’s fail-safe reproductive organs, he was right at home. 

Of course, Carson, just to be current, also weighed in on the gun debate with media charlatan, Glenn Beck. “It depends on where you live,” he said. Further, if you live “out in the country somewhere by yourself” it’s okay. http://www.mediaite.com/tv/conservative-hero-ben-carson-to-beck-you-have-no-right-to-semi-automatic-weapons-in-large-cities/ In his estimation, assault weapons are fine in areas that are not heavily populated, (like urban areas,) but White Timothy McVeigh rural enclaves should do fine with them. After all, they’re mostly known for murdering their family members, oh, and bombing small children in an Oklahoma daycare center.

When Herman Cain topped Clarence Uncle Thomas tokenism by breaking into song for White people with his minstrel stylings, my jaw literally dropped. But Ben Carson really caught me off guard, too. I guess it’s because I hadn’t read his book, America the Beautiful. This Samuel L. Jackson-Django turncoat with his “American exceptionalism” ideas, is walking on the graves of Harriet Tubman, Frederick Douglass, Sojourner Truth, Fannie Mae Hamer, Dr. King, Malcolm X, and Ida B. Wells, who if she were alive, probably would shoot him with her Winchester.

Dr. Ben Carson is a well-trained plantation fox, guarding the hen house of White supremacy. He is infected with the delusion of individualism and Bill Cosby boot-strapitis. He can be found on his way to the White House, tripping the political, racist land mines set for his demise. Just think, he could live in Baltimore, not far from me. Well, there goes the neighborhood. 

Auset Marian Lewis