What malady do you suffer from? I’d like to discuss two conditions that have afflicted many people in this great country of ours and have been the cause of many divisions in the nation. Now, you may not have heard of these maladies because I’ve come up with the terms myself. However, these abnormalities are just as real as ADD/ADHD (which I don’t think are actual medical conditions) or any other condition that affects one’s mentality.

First, there is AWRS, or what I like to call Acquired White Racism Syndrome. This condition affects black people exclusively and is responsible for how most black people think about their white contemporaries. Many in the black communities have been fed a steady stream of false rhetoric that seeks to mark every white person with the stamp of racism. They have been so inundated with information about slavery and Jim Crow, white people are viewed somewhat side-eyed as if they’re going to break out their hoods and robes and burn crosses in front of them. I refer to these folks as the Apostles of Blackness.

Every incident involving a white person interacting negatively with a black person is viewed through the lens of race and the white person is deemed a racist. These incidents also cause many of us to jump to conclusions before the verdict ever comes out about them. Breonna Taylor, Trevon Martin, George Floyd, Michael Brown, etc. are all said to have met their untimely ends due to the element of racism. In the minds of the Apostles of Blackness, blacks and whites are treated differently in similar situations. If a white person were to be involved in a mass shooting, the police will talk him down, apprehend him without incident, and take him to Burger King! Or, at least, that’s how they handled Dylan Roof. A black person in the same situation wouldn’t be as fortunate as the police will light him up like the Rockefeller Center at Christmastime, indiscriminately (which begs the question of why so many black people are in prison; you can’t be imprisoned unless you’re alive, but I digress).

In 2006, in the city of Durham, NC (the place of my residence as of this writing), an incident occurred that proved white folks get off easier than blacks. A black female college student falsely accused the white members of Duke University’s lacrosse team of taking their liberties with her, if you know what I mean. The black community went in an uproar, because they felt that had the players been black and the young lady had been white, the team would have faced immediate incarceration, no questions asked. Forget that they couldn’t come up with proof of that happening recently, they felt like it would have happened. There were even some who felt that whether innocent or guilty, those white boys should have been convicted so they would know how it felt to be a black person who was falsely convicted of a crime. Even Durham’s district attorney at the time, Michael Nifong, in an effort to gain favor with the black community and win some votes, got in on the act, withholding evidence that would have exonerated the accused, among other charges (we’ll talk about his condition a little later on in this post). I can remember watching this case unfold on a television in my job’s breakroom and one of my coworkers (who was black) remarking “Those boys look guilty.”

The accuser’s story unraveled and the lacrosse players were found not guilty. Nifong (having gotten his votes later that year to win an election) was later charged with various crimes, jailed, and disbarred. That didn’t discourage the Apostles of Blackness, as some state that “something happened.”

This is but one example of the effects of AWRS. Those afflicted with it believe all white people are inherently racist, that the US was founded on racism and white supremacy, and that black people will never achieve a high rate of success due to “systemic racism.”

Then, there’s the condition that I have christened AWGS, or Acquired White Guilt Syndrome. This mentality exclusively affects white folks in such a way that in proving they aren’t racists, they tend to go overboard in their anti-racism. These are the folks who have been bludgeoned so much by the racist stereotype, they have convinced themselves that maybe they are racists simply because of the color of their skin. This results in white people attempting to patronize their dark-skinned contemporaries by condemning themselves for that which they are not even guilty of.

Now, we have too many white folks (who haven’t committed one act of racism) chomping at the bit to apologize to random black folks for “what their white grandfolks did to their black grandfolks.” They even apologize for the hardships black people faced during Jim Crow and slavery as if they committed these acts directly. Further still, they serve penance for the difficulties their black comrades face presently, as if black people at present suffer WAY more than anyone else (NEWSFLASH: They don’t). Personally, these types of folks boil my potatoes as much as the Apostles of Blackness.

In June of 2021, 20th Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and US Military general, Mark Milley, made an interesting statement while being questioned about the role of teaching CRT in the military at a House Armed Services Committee budget hearing.

I want to understand White rage. And I’m White… So, what is it that caused thousands of people to assault this building and try to overturn the Constitution of the United States of America? What caused that? I want to find that out.

Gen. Milley made this statement referring to the so-called “insurrection” at the US Capitol Building on January 6, 2021. Many critics pointed out that the “riot” was proof of the perpetual white supremacy that continues to infect this country. How anyone came to that conclusion is beyond me, but I digress. My point is that Gen. Milley’s statement is evidence of a white person who has been infected by AWGS.

Terms like white rage, white privilege, and white supremacy have beaten whites over the head for so long, they seek to make restitution by bowing down and kissing the boots of their fellow black folks. The moniker “racism” carries such a negative stigma with it, whites will do anything to separate themselves from it. However, guess who doesn’t cater to all the false accusations? Actual white supremacists. Imagine that.

As I’ve mentioned before, these folks get on my nerves as much black radicalists. I try to make it very clear that I don’t want (or, need) any white person to approach me, apologizing for slavery or Jim Crow (I’m sorry for what my grandfather did to your grandfather). The reason for my attitude is that I’ve come to two conclusions:

1. No black person currently living in the US has ever been enslaved in this country.
2. No white person currently living in the US has ever been a slave master.

Sometimes, a person’s frame of mind succeeds in boggling my own. I find it hard to understand why someone, who isn’t racist, would not only feel guilty of something which they had no part in, but also seeks to offer penance for the sins of all white people. Those with AWGS seek to assuage the guilt that has been forcefully injected into their mentality and is seemingly incurable.

Yet, herein lies the problem – white folks could continue to give penance to their black contemporaries and it wouldn’t amount to a layer of dust. In the eyes of the Apostles of Blackness, no measure of repentance can destroy the sins of the past, so why offer it up in the first place! To them, you are still a racist white person who needs to bear the sins of your ancestors. My message to those suffering with AWGS is to get a spine, dig your heels into the ground, and push back hard against any black person who calls you a racist when you know you aren’t one.

We will never break the cycle of racism as long as black folks keep playing victim, throwing down their race cards, and when white folks end their penchant for self-degradation in an effort to cater to racist (yeah, I said it! Sue me!) blacks who refuse to show mercy to their white penitents.

You all have a good day and I’ll see you on the rebound.