Yet Another Letter to the Defender - Noah African

November 14, 2002

Dear Editor:

I wrote a letter in which I admitted self-hatred. Recently I went to message forum on Blackworld.com and found something that disturbed me. Someone named “Noah African” wrote his feelings about the Black sniper suspects. He does not believe they are guilty, but they were setup. A portion of his message says:

“What about the terrorist notes and phone calls? Does that sound like the language and rhetoric of a black person? How many black people do you know actually believe that they are GOD and say crazy stuff like “I am God”. I will say one thing, when they said they were looking for an old caprice, I knew they were looking for some brothers. Anyway, back to the main point, what would be these brothers motive…10 million dollars…nah..not black people. If you are looking for 10 million dollars, you got some kind of grand plan and most blacks don’t scheme that way. If blacks are robbing banks and stuff like that, it is usually to support some kind of habit or an attempt to get some quick and easy cash because they are busted and disgusted. But scheming up something like this all for 10 million dollars…nah…not black people. Maybe if they had asked for 100 thousand, I could believe it more, but not 10 million, by two po broke brothers.”

As to Black people calling themselves “God,” I went to an African-American bookstore and saw a button that said “The Black Man is God.” There is even a book titled The Black Man is God, authored by Sekou D. Muhammad, “based on the teachings of the Honorable Elijah Muhammad.” I guess it safe to assume that Sekou D. Muhammad is a Black author, isn’t it? So much for Noah’s knowledge of African American literature. Also Noah says, “when they said they were looking for an old caprice, I knew they were looking for some brothers.” OLD CAPRICE = BLACK FOLKS? Are old Caprices the only cars that black men are allowed to drive in America? Talk about stereotyping your own people! I mean I have seen white folks drive old beat-up rusty cars and Black folks drive clean Rolls Royces, Mercedes, and Lexuses. And he said, “what would be these brothers motive…10 million dollars…nah..not black people. If you are looking for 10 million dollars, you got some kind of grand plan and most blacks don’t scheme that way... But scheming up something like this all for 10 million dollars…nah…not black people. Maybe if they had asked for 100 thousand, I could believe it more, but not 10 million, by two po broke brothers.” Why does he think that black people cannot set high goals and and have the brains to plan well? Why does he think that Black people cannot think beyond $100,000? If Noah was a white person, I would have said those were the typical comments of the typical White racist. But Noah is Black, and it seems we have another case of Black self-hatred here. We got to stop hating ourselves, don’t we?

Robert Oliver