Squires: Black 'male feminists' are the white liberals of black people

Kanye West has generated so much controversy over the past two weeks that he has forced other people to apologize for even being associated with him. But a recent Huffington Post column makes the argument that there is another rapper who is even more “dangerous” politically than the self-proclaimed richest black man in history.

According to Stephen Crockett, Killer Mike (née Michael Render) is a politically savvy and socially conscious artist who has squandered his cultural capital by becoming a Republican shill. Crockett, a former writer at the Root, based his argument on the fact that the rapper chose to meet with Governor Brian Kemp in 2020, interviewed Herschel Walker during his current Senate run, and provided constructive feedback to the Stacey Abrams campaign.

In the world of black liberation political discourse, simply speaking to a conservative – and allowing one to speak to your audience – is an act of racial treason. To Stephen Crockett, conservatives are so evil and anti-black that there is no reason for black voters to listen to anything they have to say – especially when a black woman in the South has a chance to become governor.

This is an unsophisticated way to approach politics, but this hit piece is the logical byproduct of a worldview best described by another writer from the Root.

Damon Young, author and co-founder of the site Very Smart Brothas, wrote a controversial opinion piece in 2017 entitled, “Straight Black Men Are the White People of Black People.” Young argued that black men benefit from male privilege and use it to center their concerns regarding racial injustice, while dismissing the concerns of black women (e.g., sexism, domestic violence) in the same way white people downplay and disregard racism and white supremacy.

The essay lacked substance, but the provocative thesis provides a useful framework for understanding the role men like Young and Crockett play in the larger political ecosystem.

Put simply, black male feminists are the white liberals of black people.

The primary political purpose of white liberals today is to atone for the “sin” of whiteness and the actions of their historical doppelgangers. The BLM flags, black squares on social media, and “racial justice” activism are all attempts to receive absolution for the transgressions of white people past, present, and future.

The high priests of racial politics, from Rev. Al Sharpton to Dr. Ibram X. Kendi, demand a sacrifice, and white liberals are always ready and willing to offer up their conservative counterparts as an act of atonement. This is one reason they eagerly share stories about the 53% of white women who voted for Donald Trump in 2016 or the “Karens” destroying America. They want black people to know that they know and agree that white people are terrible and need to give up power and privilege for black people to thrive.

Black male feminists play a similar role within the black community. They see themselves as beneficiaries of male privilege in a systemically sexist culture and want to show black women that they are committed to black female liberation. The trick is doing so in a way that won’t be seen as black men playing dark knights in shining armor swooping in to save black women. That would only reinforce the worst aspects of “toxic masculinity.”

The goal of the black male feminist is to signal to the women who run things (as well as black LGBT allies) that they are not those kinds of black guys – the “hoteps” who listen to Kevin Samuels and Dr. Umar Johnson. They have no issue periodically acknowledging the ways in which hip-hop culture objectifies and degrades black women, but they wouldn’t be caught dead criticizing similar imagery from Cardi B and Megan Thee Stallion.

These are the pastors who declare “I’m with her” and comedians who wear “I WILL AID AND ABET ABORTION” shirts to show women that they too are committed to keeping as many black children from being born as possible.

The black male feminist doesn’t just share similarities with white liberals in political purpose. They share a similar outlook and disposition. They are often neurotic and anxious, two qualities that will always warp a person’s ability to assess threats and prioritize resources.

These men are the ones who think white domestic terrorism and genocidal police officers are the biggest threats to black lives in America’s largest cities. Their white liberal comrades, similarly, believe upwards of 1,000 unarmed black men are shot and killed by police each year. It’s easy for both groups to come to those conclusions when you completely ignore street crime and actual homicide data for fear of spreading “conservative talking points” about “black-on-black crime.”

White liberals think systemic racism and white supremacy – terms they rarely define – are the biggest impediments to the success of black people. Black male feminists think whiteness and masculinity are the biggest threats to black women. And increasing numbers of black women in the media think that whiteness, traditional notions of masculinity, and the gender binary itself are existential threats to trans women. In the Oppression Olympics, black men take the bronze, black women get the silver, and black trans women own the gold.

Zerlina Maxwell, a political analyst and MSNBC host, complained about sexism among Democrats after Sen. Elizabeth Warren ended her presidential campaign in 2020. Maxwell didn’t explain why Warren, the first female senator in the history of Massachusetts, came in third among women in the state, because she didn’t need to. Instead, she jumped straight to charges of sexism and demanded more men publicly support women in leadership roles.

Craig Melvin, the man moderating the discussion, sheepishly obliged: “Um … OK … uh … for the record, I want to see women in positions of power.”

The other option for black male feminists in media is to sit silently when the women are doing the hard work of leadership. Tiffany Cross felt comfortable saying black men in Georgia should “get in line” behind black women and vote for Stacey Abrams because she knew none of the male panelists – including Roland Martin – would challenge her.

Part of the reason people reacted so strongly to Stephen A. Smith telling Malika Andrews that she couldn’t silence him on ESPN’s First Take is because we have all become accustomed to seeing men like him roll over and show their bellies when a woman encroaches on their territory.

This is why the criticisms of Killer Mike will only get louder if he continues to withhold an endorsement in the Georgia gubernatorial race. He can expect to be the subject of numerous think pieces and drive-by tweets if an Abrams loss is due to black males who don’t vote or who cast ballots for her opponent.

But ultimately, these critiques say more about men like Stephen Crockett, Damon Young, and the legion of black feminists eager to separate themselves from the black men who have unapproved thoughts and speak their minds freely.

There was a time when men with their platforms challenged the status quo. Not any more. Now they harangue professional athletes for not taking experimental drugs. These men are toothless guard dogs – they have plenty of bark, but their words have no bite. They recite predictable liberal pablum that boils every social problem down to a tidy list of “-isms” and “phobias.” More importantly, they completely misunderstand the “power” to whom they claim to be speaking truth.

There is absolutely no risk in being a black liberal accusing President Trump or Governor DeSantis of racism on MSNBC. But it takes actual courage to sit in between BLM’s co-founders and ask, “Why is an organization that claims to care about black people committed to destroying the nuclear family?”

The same goes for an artist who takes the stage at the BET Awards and says, “I appreciate this award, but I will not return to this awards show until this network stops platforming artists who degrade black women and sell murder music to our children.”

Black male feminists don’t have that in them. Men who mimic the language of personal therapy that is so common on the left today aren’t built for the type of culture war playing out within black America.

If being mistaken for an Uber Eats driver in your luxury condo is a harmful, triggering microaggression that requires an extra hour of therapy, you’re not the type of man who can stand firm when the black leadership class points its rhetorical guns at you or tries to make you an outcast within the culture. It’s much easier to submit and obey.

The revolution won’t be televised. But the revolutionaries have been domesticated.