Being Black in America today is a lot like being a football: Your identity is thrown around a lot, and you have no control over who is throwing it, or where. Modern politics seems to require one claim to help Black people in order to gain traction. Unfortunately, claiming to help and actually helping are two different things. And what we're seeing on the progressive Left is the use of Black Americans as an experimental lab for what can only be called a communist utopian fever dream.
I call it communist because it's based on the kind of leveling of the playing field that Marx promoted. Much of what passes for "equity" can be traced back to Marx's obsession with class warfare and exploitation. Equity refers to equality of outcome, a focus historically of the Communists who believed you can use the strong arm of the government to force the same life outcome on different individuals. This belief system has caused nothing but hardship and death. And yet, it's on the rise in the U.S.
The Marxist move is to find an unfortunate reality, divide the actors into a dichotomy of oppressor versus oppressed, and then exacerbate the issue by presenting the total destruction of any system that gave rise to the unfortunate reality as the only solution.
And today's progressive Left has been applying this kind of Marxist dichotomy and utopian destroy-and-rebuild to our community. In the name of equity for Black Americans, the far Left has turned against meritocracy and capitalism, which in classic Marxist fashion, represent absolute threats to society. Instead of ensuring a world in which Black Americans can take advantage fully of the fruits of American capitalism, the far Left—in the grip of the communist utopian mindset—has been hard at work advocating for tearing down all of the existing institutions, abolishing standardized testing, defunding police departments and turning against things like private property.
Have you asked yourself why members of Black Lives Matter make excuses for the destruction of private property? It's because communists don't respect private property; they only respect state-controlled property.
The destruction of a private business is not a side effect of "mostly peaceful" protests; it is their objective. The breakdown of law and order is part of the Communist Left's greater plan to demoralize the American public by sowing distrust in all of our institutions, thereby justifying the demand that they be razed and rebuilt.
Similarly, when the BLM movement advocates for defunding or abolishing the police, this, too is part of a larger utopian vision in which property and other civil liberties are abolished—in the name of protecting Black life.
Have Black people been victimized in American history? Absolutely. Have there been Black people killed by the police unjustly? Yes. But the existence of racism and racial injustice is being used by the far Left to drag the American public toward a utopian vision where we are all treated equally in every situation and produce the same outcome regardless of merit (or so they say). And this is not just farcically impossible; it requires the destruction of everything that makes a society function, and makes living in it worth it.
Since the death of George Floyd, organizations like Black Lives Matter have gained a major political voice by claiming to help Black Americans, along with radical university professors who have gained influence by bringing into the lexicon new phrases like "systemic racism," "anti-racism" and "social justice." These self-declared leaders combine words that sound good in a manner that is purposefully confusing, making it difficult to critique their point of view without sounding like you oppose justice.
Moreover, they have a penchant for acting like these phrases have always been in the lexicon, which goes a long way toward disguising the radical nature of what's being proposed; we know what "systemic" means and we know what "racism" is, but what exactly is systemic racism? What system are they referring to? How does this system apply racism?
These particular questions end up distracting us from what they are actually attempting to do to our society, which is to tear down all of our institutions and reorganize society around a warped communist dystopia. And they are making headway because if you can convince good people systemic racism is everywhere, then good people will want to get rid of these systems.
But if you get rid of our current systems, what will they be replaced with? Communism.
You can see this happening on the ground in cities across America. In San Francisco, we are witnessing a city becoming increasingly demoralized due to rampant lawlessness with no adequate repercussions. Theft is a now a common occurrence, even in the middle of the day. Homeless people are allowed free rein throughout the city, setting up tents wherever they choose and defecating wherever they please. Bad policies may have made this a reality, but once again, this is all part of the plan to demoralize our society.
And this lawlessness is a direct result of Marxist-inspired thinking. San Francisco's Mayor, London Breed is fond of words like "equity" and "racial justice," while San Francisco's District Attorney, Chesa Boudin, has said explicitly that he is driven by the desire for "racial equity."
How do you achieve "racial equity" when you're supposed to be pursuing blind justice?
Americans need to be more mindful of the manipulation at play. Making the entirety of America view Black people as the unfortunate victims of consistent white oppression, just like defunding the police or any of our other institutions, doesn't benefit Black Americans but rather Marxist ideologues, who line themselves up as our saviors.
It's time for America to say no to a Marxist vision that's using our community as the training ground for a Utopian fantasy that betrays everything that's good about America—especially the Black Americans.
Adam B. Coleman is the author of "Black Victim To Black Victor" and the Founder of Wrong Speak Publishing. Follow him on Twitter @wrong_speak.
The views in this article are the writer's own.
Uncommon Knowledge
Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
