Donald Trump has emboldened extremist white voices

Hundreds of protesters gather in Manhattan following the death of George Floyd
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Lynn Nottage1 June 2020
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Last week, utterly exasperated I tweeted, “I have been connecting with my breath as a form of resistance. With every inhale and exhalation, I’m considering the emotional and physical tax that has been leveled against our community for indulging in something as basic and beautiful as breathing while Black.” African Americans are slowly suffocating under the tightening grip of systemic racism in America, and it is no surprise that the rage, sorrow and despair finally reached a breaking point over this past weekend.

The brutal murder of George Floyd by police officers, the gunning down of jogger Ahmaud Arbery, the killing of Tony McDade and the ambush of Breonna Taylor in her own home, are just the most recent in a string of extrajudicial executions of African Americans. The persistent devaluation of Black lives has created an atmosphere in which law enforcement, and those acting as if the law, believe they can brutalise and violate the African American community with impunity. The large vocal demonstrations across America are a response to the fact that Black bodies are under siege on multiple fronts. African Americans are disproportionately dying from Covid-19, suffering from staggering poverty and higher rates of unemployment during the pandemic; and this has led to a perfect storm of discontent. The question remains, why has white America been so woefully ineffective and downright resistant to addressing its long legacy of state-sanctioned violence against African Americans?

Two years ago, my company, Market Road Films with producers Taylor Hom and Neil Shea, began production on a 10-part podcast called Unfinished: Deep South (streaming June 29), that investigates the 1954 lynching of a wealthy African American man named Isadore Banks. He was kidnapped, chained to a tree and set on fire in Marion, Arkansas, for the audacity of being a successful Black farmer. After his death, his wealth vanished, his legacy was nearly erased, and the land he owned disappeared—a small piece in the millions of acres stolen from African Americans during this period. At the time, the county sheriff claimed Banks’ killing was not about race, though in a town of just a few hundred people he never made any arrests, never named a single suspect, and he sat idle while surviving members of Banks family - and other African Americans - were silenced or driven out of town by threats of further violence.

The uncomfortable truth is that the white community looted Banks’ life. They short-circuited his potential, terrorized his family and profited from his murder. A conspiracy of silence still surrounds his death. This willful silence sheds light on the painful legacy of lynching, and how it has come to be a defining feature of America culture. Between roughly 1890 and 1950, some 4,000 men, women, and children were lynched during what some scholars call The Age of Lynching. Often, these killings were well-orchestrated public events attended by hundreds or thousands of white spectators. They gathered and watched, they did not protest. Today, the lynch crowds have largely vanished, but that same acceptance of violence against Black bodies continues.

Isadore Banks was murdered 66 years ago this month, and his murder is a blatant example of the role white silence and inaction play in fostering the toxic atmosphere that has allowed racism to flourish. The reticence of the white community in Banks’ hometown also reflects more widely how America has weaponized complacency, and profited from disenfranchisement of Black people. African Americans remain tremendously vulnerable, and true social justice is one of the many casualties of a white indifference.

The lynch crowds are largely gone, but the acceptance of violence against black bodies continues

The murder of George Floyd has exposed a nerve that has been raw for generations. Unfortunately, the man in the White house is not interested in repairing the existing fractures in the culture nor dismantling racism on an institutional level. His inaction has only served to widen the racial divide and embolden extremist white voices. It is no wonder, that people out of fatigue and frustration have taken to the streets to demand change.

Acknowledging the problem is not enough. We need the muscle of collective action. It is time on a global level to treat White supremacy and racism as what it is - a form of terrorism.

American playwright Lynn Nottage’s Sweat was winner of best play at the 2019 Evening Standard Theatre Awards

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