Revenge

  This essay  is about retribution and revenge. Retribution is punishment inflicted on someone as vengeance for a wrong criminal act– vengeance or revenge.  Revenge is  the action of inflicting hurt or harm  on someone for an injury or wrong  suffered at their hands. With retaliation  lies a significant emotional component which is a reaction to a perceived narcissistic injury.  Perception is reality and based on the eye of the beholder.  Retribution is a major motivational dynamic for asocial animal behavior.  It's a past history, as the perceived harm or injustice had already happened.  Retribution also been used politically and socially for scapegoating, discriminating by placing blame on others. 

 Historically, 6,000 years ago in Exodus 21:24 we find "an eye for an eye."  Another example, from past times was the biblical tale Sampson got his revenge after Delilah cut his hair.  He destroyed the Philistine temple and killed himself in the process. In this example we have revenge and suicide.   In the New Testament, the apostle Paul says in Romans Chapter 12, "bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse.  Do not repay anyone evil for evil.  Do not take revenge, my dear friends, but leave room for God's wrath, for it is written: "it is mine to avenge; I will repay," says the Lord.  In essence, the idea of retribution is one of man's tools that has been used to inflict pain upon others. Does that mean forget about the 10 Commandments?  Centuries later, pogroms in Russia were justified , in part, because” Jews were Christ killers. “ Yes, Judas was paid by the Romans; Romans held the trial; and the Romans crucified Jesus.

Back in the 50s, I attended  an all white elementary, junior high and senior high school on the eastside of Detroit. I received a football scholarship to play for the University of Detroit. There were no black skinned recruits that accompanied me on the football field. Also, The city of Detroit was run by white politicians.  Also in the 50s, Republican Joe McCarthy went after supposed communists in our country.  People were fired from their government jobs and others blacklisted.  It was guilt by association.  Dalton Trumbo , a blacklisted screenwriter, later made  award winning films that included Roman Holiday,  Exodus, Spartacus and 30 Seconds over Tokyo.

In the 60s, black athletes began to be represented in professional and college sports.  By the 70s, the exceptionalism with black athletes was more noticeable.  I relocated to the Bay Area in 1974.In that year, the Golden State Warriors won the NBA championship.  Rick Barry was the star with All-Star support from Clifford Ray, Phil Smith, Jamaal Wilkes, etc. ; the Oakland A's won the World Series : with Star Rollie Fingers, Catfish Hunter,  with supporting team that included Mr. October Reggie Jackson, Vida  Blue, Bill North and others; and the Oakland Raiders came in first in their division with star Ken Stabler . Stabler was surrounded with Cliff Branch, Art Shell, Gene Upshaw, Bubba Smith ,Willie Brown ,Jack Tatum and so forth.This year, the Golden State Warriors, won the NBA championship with the likes of Steph Curry, Draymond Green, Klay Thompson with coach Steve Kerr.  The Las Vegas Raiders have Derek Carr, Max Crosby surrounded by Darren Waller, Jonathan Abram, Davante Adams ,Josh Jacobs and others.  Professional sports are dominated by black athletes.  White athletes are now the token representatives.   By the way, the John Birch Society the American right wing political advocacy group surfaced as anti-Communist, supported social conservatism and remains associated with the ultraconservative radical  far right politics -go GOP .

These melanin skin  pigmented individuals are just a few of the many people that entertain us, educate us and whom we admire for their skill and contributions made to our country. When we think about the Summer Olympics, our gold medals come from you know whom. When we think about sports records being broken, you know from whom . All these records were once held by white skinned individuals. Turn on the TV  and more of  the same holds true. Yes ,changes have been made and some have profited greatly. 

 I argue that the change from white to black  superstars resulted in envy, jealousy and revenge with a loss of esteem with retribution.  Historically, the Civil War decimated the southern way of living  and the carpetbaggers added to their humiliation. Then, southern state legislatures enacted laws  of retribution with harsh penalties for black skinned individuals.  In the early 1960’s, freedom riders  Chaney, Goodman and Schwerner  were killed in Mississippi. Shortly after, the racist southern Democrats  or Dixiecrats angry with Johnson’s Great Society changed parties for their revenge. In the 1980’s , Ronald Reagan supported racist policies with war on drugs,black incarceration, falsifying history ,and appointing to the Supreme Court  Rehnquist that allowed the police to kill blacks without penalty. Newt Gingrich and The Tea Party followed with their draconian  policies to weaken the federal government while legislating white power.

Last year there were roadblocks for legislation that would benefit  us all. We also witnessed  a riot on January 6 to overturn an election. Building a wall to keep out the rapists and murderer's is an example of political retribution and scapegoating  as  well as justifying the riot on January 6 because the election was stolen.  Stolen by?  Recently, Trump and  his  people claim that if he's indicted, his followers will take to the street. He's about revenge. Victimization, scapegoating, and violence are components in revenge.  The  party of Trump called this a protest by patriots.Currently, the Republicans hope to gain control of Congress so they can impeach Joe Biden ,Dr. Fauchi and hold hearings for their revenge.  Do not forget that the irrational, paranoid ideas found on social media, incorrectly called conspiracy theories, are other illustrations of scapegoating, discrimination and retribution.

We’ve had racial progress since the 60s. We’ve also had revenge and policies designed to continue the exploitation of individuals who  have a darker pigment skin. The rise of hate crimes  has increased. However,  the presidential election of Barack Obama was the straw that broke the camel's back. That resulted in the  overt emergence of the sociopath and criminal Trump . He is the revenge king who always gets even with  the so-called non loyalists. His despicable  behavior reinforced  and brought to the surface the degrading, reprehensible, disgraceful and loathsome behavior of those wanting to cling to power regardless. Those inadequate, limited intellectually, with asocial  moral ethics and values faithfully follow him. Forget about democracy. Democracy is only for the white minority. Long live revenge.