Recently, there have been many articles and news reports describing how Russia has and continues to meddle with black activist social media groups. Some reporters even seem surprised that a hostile foreign country would exploit our already existing divisions to destroy us.
Really? It doesn’t seem that difficult to me.
In manipulating American racial divisions, Russian President Vladimir Putin is merely exploiting one of America’s biggest weaknesses. And if you want to destroy America, simply douse an already burning issue with gasoline, sit back, and watch it all burn.
We are already seeing this happening all over the country. The sad thing is that most of us are oblivious to what is happening.
We are supposed to have smart leaders in our government who can look at issues in a holistic way and make decisions that benefit us all. But we do not. Our leaders are too narcissistic and self-serving to realize the damage they are causing this country. The one thing, I hope, the Russian meddling will teach us, is that the continuing oppression of people of color, of any group for that matter, is a national security issue that cannot be fixed with additional laws, policing, or increased military spending.
Russia is pushing us to cannibalize ourselves, and we are willfully helping them. Just recently, the FBI classified black individuals who are proud of their skin color, their heritage and their culture as “Black Identity Extremists” who represent a domestic terrorist threat. We have NFL players being vilified as being unpatriotic simply for exercising their First Amendment rights through peaceful protest as a means to bring awareness to police killings of unarmed black men. And we have a President who recently disrespected a fallen black hero while defending white supremacy.
The only way to remove this threat is to end the systematic oppression of people of color.
We, as people of color, are not in position of power to halt Russia’s plans. We can only continue to remind people with privilege that deliberately ignoring the existence of a skewed system is what will guarantee Putin and his cohorts a complete victory. We need white people to realize this truth regardless of its difficulty. As they say, “When you’re accustomed to privilege, equality feels like oppression.”
We, as a nation, need to unite and realize that we are all in the same vulnerable boat, regardless of the strength of our military, the size of our bank account, or our religious beliefs. This national security issue is in plain sight, and we simply need the courage to face it head on. United we stand, divided we fall.
Dimitry Saint-Pierre is the founder of Yodovo.com.
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