(ThyBlackMan.com) Black history month this year has been one huge ball of confusion, and disrespect. Its far time that we as black people in this country openly allow ourselves, as a whole, to understand racism never ended. We never entered a post racial society, and what we are seeing is the resurgence of open blatant racism. Of course, we know the South is nationally known for its open racism, but it doesn’t bear the burden of this evil alone. This entire country is complicit. There is no place t that our people are safe from racism and the institution(s) it represents. With this in mind we must be careful about the manner in which we deal with our own. I admit I felt like something was missing when the Jussie Smollett story broke, but I was not willing to speak against him because the facts were not out. I was going to stand with him until there was a hard-concrete reason not to do so.
I know it’s an unpopular position as black people have to come to terms with how we deal with our own that are members of the gay community, but when I think about it I had to see him as a black man attacked before anything else. Race determines how our people will be treated in any other area of movement; black women should understand this as the feminist movement reminds us we are 
black…not just women. Now the news is saying the attack was a hoax he orchestrated, he has been charged, and arrested on for filing a false report.
As I look on social media black people are angry. Some are shocked, and others are saying I told you so. However, all the facts in this case are yet to be seen. I admit it looks quite bad, but I still can’t bring myself to condemn the brother until I have all the evidence. There is a part of me that can’t bring myself to believe he is as stupid as the hoax suggests. Honestly, who writes a check when staging this kind of crime. What comes to mind is the OJ Simpson case. Not the details of the case at all, but the public response to the situation in the sense that there are white people that believe OJ is guilty to this day. There was not enough evidence in that courtroom to make them believe otherwise.
In defense of their position they show us that they understand the justice system is flawed in many ways. All I’m saying is Chicago PD isn’t a department that has a record of handling investigations properly, and the court of public opinion is not the court of law. We, as black people, know of our past and present regarding the police and the courts so why is it that we are so quick to condemn one of our own.
I thoroughly agree that if all evidence soundly points to this brother staging this heinous crime then yes, our people ought to be livid. He would have given those that would seek to harm our people gay or not more ammunition. In a time whereby black people, and people of color, are under constant attack he would have given a narrative that WE, yes all of us, are lying about our oppression in this country. However, if we are by chance wrong…it showed that we are willing to sell out our own so why should white people care about us when we clearly don’t care. Again, we would have given our oppressors ammunition. It is very important that we try to hold our peace until ALL the evidence is presented.
We seriously need to see how this will play out. What disturbs me in many cases is that white people will defend their own to a fault…even when they know they are wrong. Not saying we should do such, but we need to be a bit more patient on how we decide to speak on a matter. Innocent until proven guilty is not something we should just remember when dealing with white people in this country, it is something we must be sure to keep in mind when dealing with our own first.
Staff Writer; Chelle’ St James
May also connect with this sister via Twitter; ChelleStJames.
