Understanding African Americans in America society
Researchers analyze Jim Crow and the Civil Rights Movement to illustrate how African Americans’ social and political environment play a role in contemporary times. The frame of reference for studies about Jim Crow defines how Black Americans responded to a racially hostile American society (Dawson,1994). In the Civil Rights Movement, the physical acts of resistance are expressed, but bad actors expropriate the philosophy behind the actions. The anti- intellectual structure of white society habitually represses black Americans’ contribution to political discourse. The most distinguishable systemic barriers that are imposed on African Americans are ingrained in education.
Historically, education was withheld from the African American system until HBCUs were created and the eventual desegregation of American schools. Due to the financial underfunding of these institutions and their function as an extension of the state, there are ongoing problems with race and reaching the Black consciousness. Punishment, misunderstanding of higher education, and social determinants are moving parts that conceive and conflate anti-intellectualism in the Black community. The misunderstanding of higher education was motivated by the increase in experts. Anti-intellectuals despised experts’ ability to analyze aspects of American life critically. They were ignorant of or did not control (Hofstafer,1963). The suspicion of African Americans’ intellectual thought arose because “intellect is always on the move against something: some oppression, fraud, illusion, dogma, or interest is constantly falling under the scrutiny of the intellectual class and becoming the object of exposure, indignation, or ridicule” (Hofstafer, 1963). Through education, African Americans could adequately explain how the existence of institutional racism undermines intellect.
Anti-intellectualism is practiced mostly upon the improvised and unprotected classes of citizens. Richard Hofstafer’s view of the educational system describes his own distrust for those responsible for its upkeep,” I believe ours is the only educational system in the world, vital segments of which have fallen into the hands of people who joyfully and militantly proclaim their hostility to intellect and their eagerness to identify with children who show the least intellectual promise.” (Hofstafer, 1963) Educational resources are treated as a scarce option depending on race and class. The discrediting of black intellectuals originated from anti-black beliefs that Black people were inferior beings and incapable of comprehension.
What is Anti-intellectualism?
At the base of the unsubstantiated claims of white supremacy lies the framework of anti- intellectualism. In his seminal work, “Anti-intellectualism in American Life,” Richard Hofstadter wrote of how intellectuals could be a driving force in American society. Hofstadter acknowledged that this concept has existed for decades and is not “very readily to definition.” (Hofstafer, 1963). He instead generalizes individuals with this mindset as anti-intellectual. The formulation of these ideas reflects the “resentment and suspicion of the life of the mind and of those who are considered to represent; and a disposition constantly to minimize the value of that life” (Hofstafer, 1963).
Anti-intellectualism is integrated into the framework of white supremacy through the prejudiced attitudes constructed by American society. In his analysis of anti-intellectualism, he argues it is most pervasive in American life’s business, religious, political, and educational sectors. He argues that the decline of democratic values is due to the culture of cynicism imposed by anti-intellectualists who sought to preserve the sanctity of these institutions. This group largely clings to a heightened period of trust in white interests to be foremost in the racial hierarchy. On a social and political scale, anti-intellectualism manifests itself in the same manner as white supremacy.
One of the main components of anti-intellectualism is a “revolt from modernity.” In both paradigms, anti-intellectualism reinforces colonial practices that are antithetical to the sovereignty of Black Americans. A power struggle between the ideological beliefs of White supremacy in White Americans unfailingly conflicts with the conscious mind of the Black identity. The intellectual evolution of the philosophy of Black consciousness posed a legitimate question about the actual “freedom” of American democracy. African Americans’ subsequent exposure to the brunt of anti-intellectualism is the reason for their steadfast resolve to abolitionism. The intellectual movement of African Americans ushered in periods of modern change, resulting in unsound concerns for anti-intellectuals and supremacists.
In the attitudes and ideas of anti-intellectuals, the fear of change and assumption of retaliation are unique to their borrowed characteristics from supremacists. As an oppositional force to Black intellectuals, an anti-intellectual’s job is to create or express distrust in the philosophy used to understand the Black identity. In the context of Anti-intellectuals, “in other words, they do not necessarily look at things that are done by Blacks logically.” (Biko, 1978). Black intellectual thought is established as a counternarrative to the continued subjugation of Black Americans based on intelligence.
When studied in Hofstafer’s time, anti-intellectualism overlaps with the nostalgic tenets of fascism rooted in American society. In the passage, he describes how the fundamentalist panic of the Klu Klux Klan stems from a rejection of modernism. Racism, at its core, is an outlet of anti- intellectualism due to the irrational fear of minorities, which makes Black unity harder to achieve. An Anti-intellectual movement such as the KKK intervened in institutions to maintain the oppression of African Americans. Hofstafer delineates their unwillingness to separate religious teachings from intellectual thought. Intellectuals pursuing higher education were regarded as sinners for following the word of man instead of god.
The crusades of violence committed by this “authentic folk movement” are a direct example of the attitudes used to justify the subjugation of Black people. It has been hypothesized that much of right-wing ideologies’ rigid opposition to change is rooted in the institution of religion. Materially, “the issues of the actual world are hence transformed into a spiritual armageddon, an ultimate reality, in which any reference to day-by-day actualities has the character of an allegorical illustration, and not of the empirical evidence that ordinary men offer for ordinary conclusions” (Hofstafer,1963).
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In American society, a significant component of the Black identity has been oppressed through the structural implementation of white supremacy in institutional systems. In the African American community, the formation of one’s consciousness is influenced mainly by their social or class status. Black intellectual movements evolved to resist conforming to the racial inequality in American society. The philosophy of Black consciousness analyzes how liberation can be achieved through rejecting the notions of inferiority and embracing one’s Black identity to overcome oppression. Intellectual movements in contemporary times have advanced theories about race consciousness theories and African Americans’ trust in governmental institutions. The politicization and commercialization of the Black identity fostered an anti-intellectual view of the role of Black intellectuals.
Furthermore, the observable climate surrounding anti-intellectualism has grown within American society and has had a tremendous impact on the development of Black intellectuals. Anti-intellectualism and Black consciousness are interconnected through the distrust of institutions, which can be distinguished through the contributions of Black intellectuals in the modern age. The conflation of these two variables results in a polarizing relationship between critical race consciousness and the minimization of the Black intellectual. In this analysis, I seek to explain how heightened levels of African American distrust in government disrupt the ideological foundation of Black consciousness.
I will also explain how black anti-intellectualism in America presents a unique challenge to intersectional black identities such as women, children, disabled, or members of the LGBTQ. This paper assesses how African American ideas and attitudes towards the Black Lives Matter Movement changed with the general public’s access to information.
A look into Distrust: Race and Class
The framework of anti-intellectualism in White American society has shaped critical Black perceptions of the legitimacy of government institutions. As a self-proclaimed leader of democracy, America’s disenfranchisement of African Americans perpetuates the distrust of such values. Black intellectuals throughout American history resisted racial oppression through organized coalitions. Their philosophical understanding of race and the Black identity then formulated resistance to structural oppression. These concepts drew from the intimate experiences Black Americans faced fighting socio-political or economic exclusion as citizens. In this examination of Black intellectuals, it is paramount to understand the philosophy of Black consciousness and contemporary themes of race consciousness.
As in anti-intellectualism, the philosophy of Black Consciousness focuses on the mind of the intellectual. Philosopher Steve Biko notably used Black consciousness to assess the apartheid regime in South Africa. In his book, The Testimony Of Steve Biko: Black Consciousness in South Africa Biko used his involvement in the South African intellectual movement to explore the extent of freedom in Black thought (Biko,1978). To him, Black consciousness “represented a liberation movement of the mind. A psychological revolution aimed at forging Black thought and feeling into an amalgam of Black pride and ultimately Black unity.” (Biko,1978). In this period, the “few” intellectuals in the movement were able to illustrate their distrust of apartheid as an institution. Simultaneously, Black revolutionaries in America cultivated their revolution of the mind to liberate themselves from the system of Jim Crow. In this context, the distrust in government is rooted in the racial structures and attitudes that constrain the liberation of the Black identity. Modern approaches to this philosophy of Black consciousness abridged early intellectual thought to simplify the evident impact of race in America.
Post Civil Rights Movement, the philosophy of Black consciousness in a supposedly color-blind America posed many questions about the Black identity. The civil rights of Black people were constantly violated by post-Reagan institutional policies, leading to an increase in police brutality. Mass incarceration, an increase in surveillance, and the AIDS/HIV epidemic tore millions of African American families apart. Black intellectuals emphasized race consciousness ideologies like critical race theory (CRT) as a critique of legal systems. CRT asserts that there is an implicit racial bias in legal institutions that occurs due to the social construct of race. (Sawchuk,2021). Researchers during this time studied the role of race and its significance in Black people’s internal and external relationships.
In the early nineties, Michael C. Dawson proposed a race consciousness theory that discussed the attitudes of Black people navigating the race and class binary. He assesses here how class consciousness in the Black community grew in response to exclusion from economic growth. While the Black middle class experienced a large influx in economically diverse labor, lower-class Black people were not as fortunate (Dawson,1994). Class through the lens of race consciousness is integral because “class will supersede race as the most politically salient factor for African Americans.” (Dawson,1994). When race appears to matter less, the capital gain of individuals and institutions is deemed as more important interests. Dawson states that the division in race and class to “the salience of one’s racial identity, or any other group identity, is a function of the cognitive accessibility of information pertinent to that identity, and the fit of that identity with social reality.” (Dawson,1994).
In the absence of race consciousness, intellectual ideas on class consciousness are dictated mainly by the Black “mainstream bourgeoisie.” The structural economic control by White Americans led to responsibility unfairly falling on African Americans to work harder than racial barriers. For Biko, the philosophy of Black consciousness advised against accepting defeat by systemic circumstances and embracing Black unity (Biko,1978). In Dawson’s theory, unity functions in a similar manner to the “linked fate” of African Americans. Race consciousness dictates that most systems are indifferent to the Black plight, so it is essential that they “believe that their own self-interests are linked to the interests of the race.” (Dawson,1994). Black people’s trust in themselves as a racial group and non-black people are measured by their unique racial experiences (Nunnally,2012). African Americans hold the least amount of trust among any group due to their historical backgrounds as American citizens. The deliberate actions taken by institutions and political representatives granted permission to anti-intellectuals to commit violence against them. Intellectuals were frustrated with the apathy of their democratic society to end domestic terror toward them (Dawson,1994). External trust could not improve due to the habitual infringement on African Americans’ freedom. To reiterate, this created a binary that would lead to the formation of race consciousness or dissociation from racial actualities. Social interactions determine a substantial component of African Americans’ trust. Discrimination on the basis of skin color is a divisive tool created by white supremacy. However, Whites are not the only ones to propagate these ideas. The reactionary adoption of white dominant societies’ attitudes and ideas by Black people causes intraracial distrust. Intellectuals, regardless of political affiliation or racial experiences, are likely to become lax on the interests of their race once class mobility is accessible.
Three years before Dawson’s study, an 89-second video disturbed the Los Angeles African American community. A bystander recorded LAPD officers striking Rodney G. King close to 56 times with their batons. This is one of the first instances of police brutality being captured by technological means. The justice system failed to protect citizens’ civil rights, which was a decision that cost them 1 billion in damages after riots ensued (History.com editors,2010). This pattern of police violence would needlessly end thousands of more lives and face resistance from the intellectuals of the 2000s. The race consciousness call to damage these institutions physically brought consequences for class control in white and Black communities.
Shayla C. Nunnally’s “Trust in Black America: Race, Discrimination, and Politics” researched why disregarding race for economic prosperity does not protect against discrimination (Nunnally,2012). From an economic standpoint, the higher an African American’s income is, the less likely they are to hold negative views of white people. Conversely, “Black Americans with higher levels of black consciousness are more likely to attribute racial discrimination to whites than they are to blacks” (Caldwell and Jefferson 2002). In the case of discrimination, whites are least trusted due to their intimate role and attitude towards race in America. White supremacist and anti-intellectuals both prioritize the assimilation of their ideas into institutions. Dominance over such systems results in heightened distrust in intellectuals. (Nunnally,2012).
Political Martyrdom
The fear that race-conscious African Americans will dismantle exclusive white institutions establishes the challenge for intellectuals. Black Consciousness in the present is not concerned with the logical reasonings of racial discrimination. Intellectuals know that whites frequently interact with this power dynamic consciously and subconsciously. This pre-existing paradigm suffocates social and political spheres for Black citizens who try to partake in them. Trust in relation to racial consciousness is vested in other members of the Black community. As a racially disadvantaged group, Black people trust Black leadership to represent their interests in politics effectively. This is partly due to our linked fate and distrust of white actors in most capacities. However, this results in a positive view of Black people (Nunnally,2012). Nunnally and Dawson’s review of race rationalizes the behavior of Black people in the socio-political Black Lives Matter Movement presently unfolding in the 2020s.
Months before Nunnally published her theory of how race discrimination and politics affected trust, racial tensions, and consciousness were raised in February. National headlines delivered generationally defining news of the political martyrdom of Trayvon Martin. This was the first interaction with race consciousness for many young Black Americans. Older millennials and preteen Gen Z were old enough to coherently identify the racial bias exhibited by George Zimmerman firsthand. For them, social media provided access to information and expanded learning about the historical context of the Black identity, which also shaped their distrust in interactions with non-blacks (Nunnally,2012), especially in a case where a young Black child much like themselves was harmed due to the societal consequences of racial profiling.
In Zimmerman’s defense of his own racial paranoia, he fatally shot Trayvon Martin because boys like him “always get away.” Zimmerman and bigots alike served a crucial role in the formation of distrust in Black youth when he was acquitted in 2013. The verdict saddened Black citizens across the nation, clarifying there is no protection from white terror (Nunnally,2012). Unarmed victims were then subjected to insensitivity and racism to justify racial sacrifices made by African Americans. Trayvon became the backbone of the modern generation’s conviction for distrusting Democratic values. The trust Zimmerman had in himself as a form of authority to commit violence is a reflection of how the state condones African Americans’ suffering. Black Americans were offered no recourse, even under the control of a Black president. During the first year of his second historic term as the first black president of America, Obama reinforced the intention of institutions. He changed the landscape of political representation for black American interests, yet the material conditions worsened for lower-class African Americans.
2012 was some of millennials’ first time casting a ballot and picking an African American president, which was presented as a historically progressive decision. Trust in Black politicians on a local, state, and federal level is standard (Nunnally,2012). However, Obama’s liberal politics did not satisfy the needs of Black consciousness. For Trayvon, he offered “thoughts and prayers” in return for peace and understanding that the justice system is not perfect. He acknowledges Trayvon’s story is relatable to him as an African American, but race in America is obsolete, but not “post-racial.” He embraced the complex livelihoods of law enforcement officers and suggested they take racial bias training, which they initially refused (“Remarks by the President on Trayvon Martin,” 2013). Obama’s Hands-off approach to a reoccurring race-conscious problem caused a heightened distrust in intellectuals of the Black Lives Matter Movement. Obama was a political win for most African Americans but a loss for intellectuals wanting authentic promotion of Black interests. Conversely, a win for African Americans was regarded as a challenge to White political interests (Hooker,2016).
The Black Lives Matter Movement aligned with the intellectual foundation of asserting the value of Black life. From a political standpoint, younger millennials and Gen Z members absorbed their predecessors’ intellectual contributions (Nunnally,2012). Which systems of distrust have been thoroughly embedded into the intergenerational socialization of Black Americans. Information in the Black Lives Matter movement is connected to how much or how little we understand black political thought (Hooker,2016). Children’s lies were claimed by the racial terror brought by law enforcement, regardless of their parent’s efforts to protect them from the frontline (Hooker,2016). The forefront of loss in African-Americans is pardoned through a commitment to the revisionist utility of institutions is the focal point of the Black Lives Matter movement, which is the sacrifice democracy has used to preserve the institutional self-interests (Hooker,2016).
There was widespread backlash to the presidency of Obama for his questionable and destructive proliferation of foreign and domestic policies that oppressed Black people. Throughout Obama’s presidency, young minds of the Black Lives Matter Movement witnessed the lack of protection against police brutality. Policing permeates itself in the intimate relationships of Black people at the request of the state. The institutional extension of law enforcement normalizes the patrolling and surveillance of Black bodies. Whether overtly or subtly, White people propagate their paranoia of being victimized by Blackness(Combs,2018). Preemptive measures taken by police are used to forcefully and legally sanction racial discrimination. Their presence and coddling of white fears conflict with Black people’s trust in institutions. Crime, in the case of the Black intellectual, is a conspiracy to challenge authority. Furthermore, “any resistance to authority only heightens the presumption of criminality justify carceral response” (Combs,2018).
Foundation of The Black Lives Matter movement
In 2013, the #BlackLivesMatter Movement officially organized and gained traction online, where martyrs were humanized in these spaces. 1,180 Black people, including Trayvon, were unjustly murdered due to police violence under the Obama administration from 2012 to 2016 (“Mapping Police Violence,” 2022). Intellectuals during this time sought to re-introduce intersectional approaches to include all black identities. Civil rights were at the forefront of this framework to scrutinize racial discrimination in the American legal system (Chase,2018). To understand the complex nature of how anti-blackness operates in the present, black intellectuals, such as Patrisse Cullors, Alicia Garza, and Opal Tometi, constructed an inclusive race-conscious framework (Combs,2018). Combs bodies out theory provides pivotal observations of how the need to police Black bodies is the basis for White resistance to social equality. Her theory explains that violence reminds Black People to stay in their place (Combs,2018). This is comparable to the way non-blacks and Blacks with internalized racism engage in vigilantism to control the Black identity socially.
Whether police were alerted or stationed in spaces with large gatherings of Black bodies, intellectuals still found a way to spread critical race theory. #BlackLivesMatter attracted an intergenerational domestic following as the intellectual collective shared race consciousness theories among the community. The Black Lives Matter movement became its civil rights movement when social media transformed the possibilities of cultivating Black consciousness for the digital masses. Using hashtags and coordinated posts meant that Black people could freely engage in social or political discourse for their shared interests. One could follow their intellectuals and share their thoughts on the intimate inconveniences of state-sanctioned violence (Combs,2018).
On a micro level, intellectuals could gauge trust or distrust of race consciousness and participate on a macro level through demonstrations. Black people across the nation could now communicate faster and organically to build intellectual communities (Nunnally,2012). The campaign for this assertion of the modern Black conscious identity incited the rise of a new white terror organization. In conjunction with Trumpism, the Proud Boys rose in 2016 to promote the Western values of patriotism in America (Kriner and Lewis,2021). The oppositional groups, Black consciousness, seek to dissolve trust and spread fear, which is no different in today’s climate. Technological advances in the Black Lives Matter Movement brought a new fight against Ku Klux Klan-adjacent rhetoric in digital spaces.
Another crucial period of racial reckoning emerged seven years into the Black Lives Matter Movement. May 25, 2020, Black citizens in-person and in digital spaces were exposed to the final moments of George Floyd’s life. News stations and social media accounts insistently shared the 9-minute 9-minute video of Officer Dereck Chauvin criminalizing and brutalizing George. In real-time, the depravity of racial oppression was immortalized in front of young teens and adults—Floyd’s martyrdom, similar to Trayvon’s, amassed millions of supporters in an era of isolation. Intellectuals began to spout the truisms of “defund the police” alongside the literal meaning of “Black Lives Matter,” simplistically centering critical race theory. The Black working class came together despite the rise in Black fatalities from the COVID-19 pandemic. Unintentionally, the Black Lives Matter Movement fostered distrust in Black political authority. Expectantly, Whites distrusted the rise of another intellectual movement, and self-identified Black independent thinkers did as well. Post George Floyd, the rejection of modernity Hofstadter details can be examined in the rise of Black anti-intellectualism.
What drives Black anti-intellectualism
On the Macro level, Black anti-intellectuals took inspiration from the neoliberal interests of the Black bourgeois. The working class applauds the elevation of their class status as examples of “Black excellence.” Black elites of the celebrity class and entrepreneurial middle class are revered for their economic prosperity. Their entertainment or services to the masses temporarily diminished the reality of their lower-class counterparts. Those of the neoliberal race consciousness wield their class to benefit from institutions that do not benefit the general interests of Black people. Black elites are intimately connected to the Black struggle through the exploitation of their racial identity. In the Black capitalist domain, the philosophy of Black consciousness is transmuted into capital.
Capital is earned in exchange for the promotion of pseudo-intellectual individualism and anti- intellectualism in replacement of Black consciousness. A staple of Black consciousness in the Black Lives Matter Movement to center intersectional Black identities. These identities include women, LGBTQA+, disabled, and children, which have all been historically neglected in discussions about Black interests. Racism, as stated, is a form of anti-intellectualism. Therefore, the belief in gendered or eugenicist constructs that suppress Black consciousness is congruous. The exclusion of these identities by other Black people is rooted in the fundamental tenets of White supremacy. Internalizing negative stereotypes of one’s racial group alienates and complicates intercommunal relationships (Nunnally,2012).
Discrimination, such as colorism or futurism, causes further distrust between intellectuals and anti-intellectuals (Nunnally,2012). In deciding how to interact with race, anti-intellectuals will project their Black identity by denying the interference of institutions and the construct of race in the modern day. This is observable in the destruction of physical spaces and the inaccessibility of information about Black consciousness (Dawson,1994). Anti-intellectualism is capable of believing in a linked fate for the elite or hetero-Black identity. A Black anti- intellectual foundation is a devotion to pseudo-Black nationalism. This ideology is not restricted to conservatives or Republicans since anti-intellectualism is contingent on attitudes and ideas (Hofstafer,1963). Black anti-intellectuals are suspicious of individuals who want to hold them accountable for rejecting or misrepresenting historical and present philosophies of Black consciousness.
In the context of the Black Lives Matter Movement, anti-intellectuals declared “All Lives Matter” as a reactionary statement against asserting Black Lives Matter. A distasteful, counterproductive argument that overlooks the sacrifices the Martyr has given for their freedom. Anti-intellectuals can also participate in violence against intersectional identities to exert social control. Power over a marginalized group means control of the Black identity and body. Appropriation of “Black Power” ideology is counterproductive towards Black unity if all Black people are not included. Intellectuals need to be cognizant of relaying information about the Black identity.
Disinformation and Anti-intellectualism
Information in the digital age can lack critical assessment since such complex theories can be accessed to artificially or practically apply critical race theory. Casual engagement with Black identity’s ideas and attitudes can lead followers to cherry-pick particular messages to incorporate their own. Intellectuals expect to replicate the intellectual complexity of the civil rights movement in the Black Lives Matter movement without refinement. Distrust becomes a cycle in which the empty promises of liberals disenchant anti-intellectuals. In general, intellectuals are aware of the social implications of race consciousness and accept the theory of linked fate. These two beliefs are corollary in trust deficiency when intellectuals and anti-intellectuals interact.
Black anti-intellectualism is a counterproductive rejection of the widespread inclusion of intersectional Black identities within the Black community. Black Americans form communities online and in the physical world through subgroups that best represent their identity. The rise of the #BlackLivesMatter Movement on social media increased its visibility; however, Black anti- intellectuals massively distorted the meaning of the core message. The worrisome reality is that anyone can assume an identity on the internet or express their contempt for Black people. Digital subgroups for anti-intellectuals pride themselves on restoring respectability to Black interests. This individualized approach primarily benefits and attracts Black men who want to lead and dictate community interests. The Black Lives Matter movement, decentering cis-gendered Black men and uplifting women, children, disabled, and LGBTQ, created distrust in Black political authority. Masculine dominance in the Civil Rights Movement is the control over Black interests men in the Black Manosphere are trying to achieve.
Anti-intellectualism can thrive in the Black manosphere since it is a space exclusively for Black men. To cope with the racial actualities of the Black identity, Black men in this space will scornfully place the burden on Black women (Young,2022). Misogynistic, homophobic, and transphobic ideas and attitudes are allowed to exist in a vacuum to appeal to all age demographics of men. They are resentful of Black women who argue for social equality through the framework of Black feminism. Black men share their grievances about the deterioration of Black relationships and families by reinforcing negative stereotypes about Black women (Young,2022). Anti-intellectuals in the “Red Pill” Black manosphere space align themselves closely with right-wing ideology while ignoring the exclusion they face in similar white subgroups. Rejecting the Black intersectionality complicates anti-intellectuals’ ability to positively interact with movements such as Black Lives Matter and, to a degree, Black women.
The Black manosphere is a point of contention in developing new Black intellectual movements. Anti-intellectuals obtain power and influence to sacrifice intersectional identities and blame them for causing division in the Black community. On the other hand, anti- intellectuals disregard their role in contributing to the harm of marginalized Black identities. For Black women, this can be fatal because “nonsensical perspectives on Black women are widely accepted as factual information which causes health issues and public safety consequences” (Onuoha,2022). Accounts with millions of followers share memes, tweets, or videos that punch down on the Black community. Anti-intellectuals utilize these social media tools on their platforms to spread disinformation.
Exhibit A: “Claimin’ I’m a Criminal”
Disagreements about how Black movements should operate are not a new phenomenon, but false information about the Black identity is digestible by anti-intellectuals. Public media platforms such as YouTube and anti-intellectual ideas can go unchallenged. For instance, DJ Vlad is a YouTube host who interviews rappers and personalities. His channel has around five million subscribers that are primarily Black. In a 2016 interview with rapper Lord Jamar, when asked about the Black Lives Matter Movement, they gave important insight into the attitude of Black anti-intellectuals. In the interview, Dj Vlad asks Lord Jamar about the movement he refers to as “socially engineered” while denying the presence of race. The movement came off as “inorganic” due to its lack of leadership, which he believes is the fault of the “two Black lesbians.” Jamar scoffs at the presumed legitimacy of the Black Lives Matter movement because of the absence of strong male figures such as “Marcus Garvey, who was the founder of this all” (YouTube, 2016).
The interesting part about this interview is not Lord Jamar’s disdain for the movement but how disinformation for intersectional identities is not contested. Jamar applauds Garvey for his economic policies of circulating the Black dollar and, in the same breath, reiterates a white supremacist talking point about George Soros. Soros is a Jewish philanthropist who has given millions to the cause of the Black Lives Matter Movement, which spurred antisemitic conspiracies from right-wingers. Jamar’s gripe with the Black Lives Matter movement is reflective of pseudo-Black nationalism that relies on toxic masculinity and homophobia (Jim,2021).
He does not mention the role of race in the movement because disinformation is “never channeled into anger at systems like racism, colorism, classism, or fatphobia” (Young,2022). In his profession, rappers’ Black identity is consistently targeted by institutions such as the police, which is why they rap about their distrust of them. Race is foundational to Lord Jamar’s perception of institutional distrust, as revealed in his 1994 song, “Claimin’ I’m a Criminal.” The song details the criminal justice system. I am helpless in law enforcement interactions. He wants to stand up to the police, but he knows this will be used as an excuse to harm or revoke his freedoms as a citizen. He has to comply in order not to be another victim of police brutality since “they put the Glock to my chest” (Nubian, 1994). Jamar expresses the inconvenience of the assault on his black identity in private and public are distinctive because “It’s the whole black race that they are fuckin with.” (Nubian, 1994). In this lyrical context, he understands his linked fate with other Black people and how the police criminalize African Americans as a whole.
I use Lord Jamar in my analysis of Black anti-intellectualism because the integration of white supremacy language into mainstream Black consciousness has dire effects on marginalized identities. Anti-intellectual attitudes and ideas from critics like Lord Jamar convey how disinformation about the intersectional Black identity is favorable. African Americans’ relationship with racial inequality is directly tied to the anti-intellectualism in our society. Institutional distrust is the core of Black consciousness, but anti-intellectualism corrodes intraracial trust in the Black community. This form of anti-intellectualism is blanketed by the typical assumption that these are just common conservative or republican ideas and attitudes. Though they are closely related in attitude, the ideological reasoning of Black anti-intellectuals is fundamentally different. Black anti-intellectualism arises from the division of class, the weaponization of one’s own Black identity, and the romanticization of vintage Black consciousness ideas.
Steps towards Consciousness
The aftermath is the misrepresentation of Black consciousness ideology that leads to pseudo-Black nationalism that does not represent all Black interests. The newfangled intersectional and inclusive framework in the Black Lives Matter Movement is a modern example of how anti-intellectualism works against race consciousness. The Black identity in American society has been significantly impacted by the projection of the Black identity in conjunction with white supremacy. The conflation of anti-intellectualism and Black consciousness has resulted in a polarizing relationship between critical race consciousness and the minimization of Black interests.
I propose funding and research should be allocated to physical spaces in African American communities to educate on Black consciousness. Black consciousness is often misrepresented because the educational resources related to the ideology are inaccessible. In physical spaces such as freedom schools or public libraries, Black intellectuals can facilitate conversation about social or political interests. I recommend Francine L. Allens’s “The Bible Didn’t Say So: Ferguson, Charleston, and the Public Library’s Role in Critical Literacy and Social Justice” to understand public libraries’ role in critical literacy. Public libraries are spaces where all Black identities can convene inside and outside to learn how to engage the rhetoric and language of Black consciousness.
Tyrone C. Howard’s research in “Why Black Lives (and Minds) Matter: Race, Freedom Schools & the Quest for Educational Equity” can be used to address race consciousness practically and eliminate anti-intellectualism. This framework for educators would center on stimulating the “intellectual minds” of Black children through reducing racial punishment in schools. Howard’s proposal to examine and teach students how to approach race can lead to a decline in anti-intellectual ideas and attitudes for the youth of the Black Lives Matter Movement era.
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