As we move further into 2016, I am sure many of us made New Year’s resolutions and wished friends, loved ones and others a happy, blessed and prosperous year. Lord knows, after last year, it is safe to say that America, Black America in particular, is ready for more tranquil times. To put it bluntly, 2015 was a year that left its brash, brutal, ugly stain of racism on America.
To be sure, Black America has seen worse times, given our often collective and tumultuous history. Nonetheless, 2015 may very well become a year for the racial record books. In fact, not since 1994, can I remember a year that has been this racially unsettling.
From student unrest on college campuses, to politicians openly espousing racist, sexist, xenophobic rhetoric, attacks on affirmative action, racial fraudulence, to the ongoing murders of unarmed Black people, Black America has witnessed a year that has been anything but tranquil. It seemed as if we were knocked to the ground by a pack of grizzly bears, being mauled and unable to escape. To refresh your memory, (although most of these events are likely to be firmly etched in your minds) here are just some of people and events that greeted us and made headlines in 2015:
· Donald Trump has confounded the pundits, critics and many others with his unexpectedly successful presidential campaign. Along the way, however, he has stoked the fires of jingoism, regressive populism, xenophobia, hatred, and other sorts of division with his irresponsible and racially coded language.
· Rachel Dolezal, a former NAACP chapter president, caused much of the nation, particularly Black America, to gawk with disbelief once it was discovered that she was a biological White woman who passed herself off as Black for reasons that no one could quite understand. She had her supporters, many more detractors and dominated the news for several days.
· Dylann Roof. Consumed by fear, personal insecurities and racial hatred, a 21-year-old White supremacist, Dylann Roof, betrayed the trust of bible study members at the Emanuel AME Church in Charleston, South Carolina, as he opened fire on them, killing nine parishioners. This horrific incident became known as the Charleston massacre. This senseless tragedy resulted in intense debates about the Confederate flag and culminated in the removal of the flag from the South Carolina State House.
· Black Lives Matter protesters made their cause known as they disrupted the rallies of presidential candidates such as Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, Hillary Clinton, Jeb Bush and Donald Trump. With their bold, brash, without-apology and fierce determination to shed light on the ongoing police violence that confronts far too many Black individuals and communities, the movement has managed to become a key player in the 2016 presidential campaign.
