There are people in every corner of society who are willing to sell their very souls for personal gain, for wealth and fame, or for nothing at all.

Amongst African Americans, we often see soul-selling in exchange for acceptance by the dominant group.

And, since these are typically Negroes who hate themselves, they go so much farther than White racists that their extremity is nearly insane.

They look silly and peculiar to many of us, because they allow the real racists to seem innocuous unless they are overt and extreme themselves.

That’s why we see racists today delivering covert racism and then pretending that they didn’t know or understand that their comments or actions were racist.

Simultaneously, we see Negroes taking the baton and going to the next level.

Take Bob Johnson of BET infamy, for example.

Not only did he create an entertainment venue which continues to provide demeaning images long after he sold it, but in his support of Hillary Clinton, Johnson attacked Barack Obama in a way that Whites only danced around.

It’s one thing to support a White candidate. Not every Black person has to stand behind every Black candidate. However, Johnson’s attack on Obama was a glaring example of self-hatred and selling out.

Johnson went to the extreme with his soul-selling.

But such high-tech soul-selling can only occur in an environment where our very identity is in question.

We are at such a loss of cultural identity, that nearly anything can be celebrated as beautiful, even if it really isn’t.

This includes things that harm us.

We see this with rap music and comedy that pokes fun at us in an ignorant and image-damaging manner, yet, many of us not only support it, but vehemently defend it.

For proof, say anything against Tyler Perry and watch throngs of souled out Negroes come to his defense, even though the antics of his show House of Payne are indefensible to any Black person with self-pride.

Published in : Op-Ed, The Bridge