Danielle Axson, the mother of Rodney Axson Jr., the black Brunswick High School quarterback that’s catching pure hell over his decision to follow his conscience and kneel (rather than stand and salute) during the playing of the National Anthem at a recent football game, stated, “We made a conscious choice to move him into this community for obvious reasons, so to see those words in writing it’s disheartening.”
By “those words” I’m assuming she means “nigger, nigger, nigger …” what her son has repeatedly been called by white members of the community she and her husband “consciously” moved him into.
While the civil rights battles of the 60s — some of which are still being fought today — were engaged in primarily to secure voting rights, equal pay for equal work and the right to live anywhere one could afford was also on the agenda. However, just because we blacks now have the “right” to do something, does it always follow that we should actually do it?
Integration is a case in point. While I’m a firm believer in a racially integrated society, why does it exclusively fall to blacks to achieve this goal? Why do we have to debase ourselves by moving into white neighborhoods where we’re not wanted, only to see whites move out in the middle of the night? Mark my words — integration will not occur to any substantial degree in America until both races buy into the notion, and let’s face it, one race clearly isn’t ready to make that purchase.
Nonetheless, some blacks have such low self-esteem that they derive a sense of worth by living in proximity to whites — and away from other blacks. Indeed, I once overheard a well-to-do black woman, whose home is about 30 miles east of Cleveland in a virtually all-white community, remark to another black woman that she was considering moving out because two other black families had recently moved into the neighborhood. This woman is steeped in self-hatred since she detests members of her own race.
Obviously any parent wants their child to be raised in a safe environment; that goes without saying. But there are many such safe environs around greater Cleveland that are not 99.9 percent white — and racist to boot.
Granted, black families live all over northeast Ohio, which is their right. But here’s what some parents are evidently too dense to realize: A set of black parents in a virtually all-white community doesn’t have to deal with their neighbors or anyone else. They can go to work and go home and not even speak to anyone in the community if they so choose. But their children, who have to go to school with other children from the neighborhood, don’t have that luxury, as Rodney Axson Jr. just found out.
His parents knowingly put him in a situation where an ugly racial incident could happen at any time. Teenagers can be racially and stupidly brutal.
When Rodney heard his football teammates referring to members of the opposing team they were about to play as “niggers” he objected. The white youths explained that they weren’t talking about him, just those “other niggers.”
The young black man, bless his courageous heart, explained that since he too was black, their derogatory words indeed had to reference him also. That’s when he decided to kneel during the playing of the National Anthem.
And the white reaction to this young brother standing up for his race — he’s gotten death threats and calls for him to be lynched, and not all from high school kids — perhaps has opened up his parent’s eyes to the fact they can’t outrun their blackness, no matter how far away they move from people who look like them.
The part I don’t get is this: Why are the Axsons (or anyone else) so surprised?
From Cool Cleveland correspondent Mansfield B. Frazier mansfieldfATgmail.com. Frazier’s From Behind The Wall: Commentary on Crime, Punishment, Race and the Underclass by a Prison Inmate is available again in hardback. Snag your copy and have it signed by the author by visiting http://NeighborhoodSolutionsInc.com
One Response to “MANSFIELD: For Obvious Reasons”
NEO Mom
Congratulations to Rodney for setting boundaries with his teammates and calling out unacceptable, racist language! I applaud his courage to take a public stand demanding the dignity and respect he deserves as a human being.