Robert MacNeil Christie, Author

It never ceases to amaze me. I have known for at least a couple of decades how deranged the narcissistic sociopath could be, in public so often, no less. I was no fan of ‘The Apprentice,’ or its competitive nastiness. But plenty of public performances and journalistic reports made it clear that no amount of empathy or compassion would be found behind the boss’s façade of pseudo-power.

Nevertheless, the racist diatribe before the National Association of Black Journalists (NABJ) about evil immigrants taking away “black jobs” could not have been a more multi-racist insult if he tried. The reference to “black jobs” clearly took for granted the continuing occupational segregation experienced by many Black Americans so long after the Jim Crow era. The journalists present did not let him get away without insisting that he explain what a ‘black job’ is. He sputtered something about “any job a person has,” without any pretense of having a coherent thought.

Well it took one of the most accomplished humans on the planet to utter the perfect retort.

I Love my Black Job.

Her elocution was as precise and unbeatable as are any of her gymnastic moves that nobody else can even attempt, “I love my
Black job,” Simone Biles succinctly tweeted. That was all she needed to say. Everyone understood the irony, the implicit put down of the racist meme, and the obvious understanding of what did not need to be said. She would not stoop to engage with the racist verbal abuse thrown at her. Nobody can one-up the grace, beauty, or strength of character of the most accomplished gymnast in history. It just does not matter what inane attempt J.D. Vance had made in 2020 to belittle her for the struggle with stress overload that she so gracefully overcame to once again rise to the top of her profession. Simone put the matter to rest with five words.

Strength, Adversity, and So Much More

It is interesting to note that in response to the barrage of white-nationalist and just plain and simple racism hurled at Kamala Harris, not just since Joe Biden anointed her as his successor, but for a long time, Kamala responded in much the same way as Simone did. In response to the Former Fake President’s disturbed characterization of her as having ‘suddenly becoming Black,’ after a life he claimed she had as an East Asian identity, she dismissed the insult with just one sentence and went on with the substance of her campaign speech. Everyone knew that it was the right thing to do and respected her more for having the strength to not be drawn into the psycho-drama of his feeble racist attempts at character assassination.

The meme, ‘the prosecutor and the felon’ has so much meaning packed into it that I dare not get into it here, or I will be up all night scratching the surface. Kamala Harris is coming into her own as presidential material after a real apprenticeship as Vice President to the master of political accomplishment. But it was not just on-the-job training that produced that groundswell of enthusiasm and numerous small donations from all social and economic sectors of the society. Her life story is the only thing that can come close to explaining her clear vision of the underlying conflict as she rose to the occasion. The GOP candidate and his MAGA-morphed pseudo-hillbilly (read Hill Women by Cassie Chambers for a real elegy to the people of Appalachia) are in for a losing fight with a Black Woman who is so much stronger than either of them in ways they just cannot not understand.

I Love My Black Job Too!

Because I taught in an urban university near Watts, South Central Los Angeles, and Compton, California for thirty five years, I came to know quite a few strong Black women who, looking back, remind me of the determination and growth of both Kamala Harris and Simone Biles—two very different women who have that same strength.

There is a certain hand gesture that when deployed in the face of a bully by a strong Black woman, will just stop him in his tracks. I have seen it more than once. The same thing can be done in the deployment of speech. Kamala Harris has it too and has already done it, and will again—a real asset in prosecuting a case against the autocratic attempt of the insurrectionist. I just can’t wait to see the prosecutor take down the felon in a debate that is very unlikely to happen, because he is afraid and certainly should be. We all know how a bully crumbles when stood up to with the power of strong character and determination. Even without a debate, the exchanges (if you can call them that) will have the same character as expressed so subtly by Simone Biles.

My first job ever was as a construction laborer at age fourteen. I already knew that the young Black men who were my construction mentors in the late 1950s, and knew so much more about life than I did, would never have the same life chances as any young white boy, even in Southern California. They were my role models for job performance and personal strength in good humor, even as they sometimes teased me over my inept handling of a shovel. I liked that job, not only did construction labor in 1955 offer a livable union wage; it was very hard work and I learned a great deal about labor, life, and even perseverance. I became quite skilled at digging ditches. Was that a Black Job?

I love my Black Job now too, because any job is always about how a person relates to the work at hand and the meaning it has for her or his life. Every job is a Black Job, except, perhaps, in the minds of some “people who think they are white,” (James Baldwin, The Fire Next Time, 1963) and therefore characterize jobs that they think are ‘below them’ as “black jobs.”

For more cultural context to this and related American predicaments, read Holding IT Together: Social Control in an Age of Great Transformation.