Raphael Warnock, the Georgia Runoff & the Self-Castration of Black Identity

We don’t talk about castration enough…

But castration is a big part of the Black American identity. It’s why Rev. Jesse Jackson fantasized about cutting off Obama’s nuts. (His words…not mine… #NeverForget)

Don’t believe me? The scholars in our midst can read Prof. Dianne Miller Somerville’s work on “Rape, Race, and Castration in Slave Law in the Colonial and Early South.”

The same fear of Black men that led to the rise of the KKK also encouraged the practice of castration. During the Nadir of American Race Relations, Black men and women were lynched and mutilated so their body parts could serve as souvenirs…relics of White Conquest. It was the anatomy of a lynching…

The castration occurred to bear witness to the virility of the White Male and the undergirding of White Power.

We tend to think that we’ve moved away from castration, as a society. We’ve evolved and we are beyond that.

Now, we engage in self-castration.

Now, Black men don’t have to be lynched in order to be castrated. The Society has been designed to compel Black men to castrate themselves. The Black community watches on, as a man castrates himself, and remains silent. We encourage the self-castration and then wonder why that man is ineffective.

When will we stop allowing the self-mutilation of blackness?

I think it takes an intentional effort by the Black Church for us to begin undoing our penchant for self-castration. That’s why I think the Senate race of Rev. Raphael Warnock is critical – especially in these times…

The Georgia Runoff is happening immediately after President Trump was defeated…

I know I don’t have to tell you that…

I also don’t have to tell you that Trump has been by far the most vitriolic and offensive President of recent memory. There was a constant, open and explicit assault on Black Identity.

In Western Civilization, who is supposed to defend the integrity and honor of a people that have been offended?

Hence the purpose of castration…

Immediately after the Trump Era, we need a Black Man to do what Barack Obama could not do.

We need a Black Man to demonstrate the righteous indignation of a people that have been offended by another.

Obama had it early on…in his candidacy. But when sermons from Rev. Dr. Jeremiah Wright popped up, White Power handed Barack the knife. He castrated himself, denied his faith and became President.

He didn’t have much choice…

It’s not like the Black Community was (proudly) standing back and standing by, making it clear that the establishment had no right to question his faith – nor the faith of Black people, shaped by our American sojourn.

It’s not like Black Clergy mounted a defense of Black Faith, like “evangelicals” launched for Justice Amy Coney Barrett.

So without cover…without guidance, Barack Obama didn’t have a choice. He took the knife…

After that, it became impossible for him to ever take the stands we have wanted him to take on behalf of Black America. He had been forever rendered powerless in the arena set up by the White Man.