House Negroes And Racial Stockholm Syndrome

It takes a herculean effort to survive under white supremacy, House Negroes are doing their part.

Gage Skidmore from Surprise, AZ, United States of America, CC BY-SA 2.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0>, via Wikimedia Commons

Welcome to Let’s Not Be Trash, this essay is a part of a larger series titled, “Our Ancestors Hands Do Work” it’s a series of essay’s and conversations that highlight leaders, ideas, movements, and moments from the rich history of Blackness that inspire us. You can keep track of all of the essay’s here.

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On August 17, 2017, writer Keith A. Owens of the Michigan Chronicle wrote an essay calling former Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Secretary, Ben Carson, a “House Negro.”  In the piece, he awarded Carson the “House Negro of the Year” award for his continued advocacy of Donald Trump. Carson famously came to the defense of Trump after the White Supremacist in Chief attempted to defend the actions of Neo Nazi’s in Charlottesville, Virginia. While Uncle Ben decided not to respond to Owen’s claim, another House Negro, Herman Cain (Rest in Peace) took it as a moment to stand with his fellow “sunken place negro,” and write a response titled, “House Negro’s Stand Up.” 

In his response, Cain attempted to retake the title of “House Negro” saying that it is “one of the names you are called when you are a success at something, and do not buy into Black Groupthink.” His declaration was mostly received with eye rolls, but Cain and Carson are not alone in their political alignment. Trump's ascension into power saw an opening of doors for other Black people looking to gain status by aligning with the empowerment of aggressive racist. Unfortunately, the Trump era has created a safe space for problematic negro’s like Ben Carson, Candace Owens, Kanye West, Herman Cain, Paris Denard, and Tim Scott.

But what is a House Negro, and why is it considered such a personal stain? According to Malcolm X, a “House Negro” in it’s simplest form was a Black person who is committed to and identifies with their master (a white person). They saw no issues with the conditions that Black people existed through under slavery and white supremacy. But the House Negro wasn’t just happy in their conditions, they would actively undermine other Black peoples attempt at freedom in an effort to curry favor with their white owners.

 Now that slavery is mostly over, that definition doesn’t quite work. In modern times, “House Negroes” are those who support people, policies, and ideas that actively undermine the liberation, freedom, safety and well-being of Black people. Another popular term for them is “Uncle Tom”, but if you have read the text, you know that Sambo was the real villain in that story.  When confronted with their decision, or political stance, they will attempt to deflect with arguments about “wanting to empower communities,” or filibuster with empty words about the “benefits of being a free thinker.” Their action’s aren’t just shameful to see, they legitimize dangerous people, ideas and policies. While there are many Black people who take on the role of House Negroes to build their bank accounts and brands on the coattails of racism, I believe that more of them are people navigating a system so embedded into our lives, it might as well be the air we breathe and the water we drink.

It’s important to remember, the ultimate goal of the House Negro is to survive through a system driven by white supremacy. White supremacy is the belief that white people are superior to others because of their race, this belief is a vital part of America’s identity, and drives financial, housing, and policy decisions. These idea’s don’t just impact Black and Brown people, they also color the experiences of white people in deeply negative ways (I’ll try to write about this one day). This is all happening under a system that has prioritized the whims of the ultra rich, over everyone else. As income inequality increases the anger towards Black Brown, and LGBTQIA people increases. The direction of that anger can vary, but Black people are always at the top of the receiving line.

Whether it was the nightmare of slavery, apartheid Jim Crow era,  the war on crime, dispossession,  colonialism in Africa,  the latest attempts to erase history, or the current rise in white supremacist groups, we have been forced to be in a perpetual state of “coping.” While everyone deals with this constant conflict in different ways, House Negroes chose to buy into whiteness. Creating something I like to call Racial Stockholm Syndrome. 

Stockholm syndrome is a condition that causes hostages to develop a psychological alliance with their captors as a survival strategy during captivity. In Racial Stockholm Syndrome,  a person grows a psychological alliance with racist ideas or people, as a mechanism to protect themselves from the institutions of white supremacy. In this iteration, the United States of America is the place of captivity, and House Negroes are the victims protecting themselves by aligning with the same people and ideas built to destroy them. This behavior branches out into other components of trauma, including victim blaming, self hate and resentment. 

So yes, there should be no honor in siding with or supporting your oppressor, but it’s important to understand the conditions that lead to these decisions. Everyone in this country, but especially Black people are trying to survive in a system that needs  someone to suffer for it to thrive. The best way to break the cycle would be a cross class multi-racial movement, but that’s easier said than done. Instead, people like Ben Carson, Herschel Walker, and Tim Scott dishonor our communities with their behavior, but they are merely trying to function within a system aimed at killing them.