White Conservative’s Racial Gaze.

A thought on this nagging feeling I get as a “black conservative”.

Throughout my whole Black life in political America, there’s been this thing nagging that I could never get my finger around. Perhaps you feel it too. Maybe you see and sense it yourself as a less conservative white person, looking in from the outside. Being that I have been a conservative before I will have to say that this thing I’m now calling the conservative racial gaze.

A Black Conservative Past

I most certainly have been a “conservative” before. I practically spent my whole 20’s as a conservative. I was in the Army at the time, which is built to reinforce a conservative outlook on life. I was a “Bush conservative”, I suppose. I was an anti-LGBT pro-gun, pro-torture conservative thought my Army life was an extension of Jack Bauer.

I know what it’s like to be the lone Black guy in a sea of white people. I remember the rewarding feeling of being the “enforcer” Black dude for my white friends at the time. I remember protecting them from being jumped by other white hoodlums in clubs and bars. There’s a particular measure of usefulness you feel as a Black conservative; you validate any or all notions they have about Black people and race by not challenging them to think on the matter and overall have a good time. Perhaps you’re there to change their minds concerning what they think of Black people by being one of the good ones. But the problem is with this one-of-the-good-ones shit is the fact that it doesn’t come from challenging them; it comes from a performance for them.

Black conservatives as pundits function as white supremacy ventriloquy; they perform as Black bodies that the more racially white ignorant people can live vicariously through.

One thing I never thought of, was this white conservative racial gaze. I never was aware of how I was looked at. Being that the world wasn’t all about politics back then for me, it didn’t happen the way it does now. I didn’t really notice this conservative racial gaze until the Obama era (2008–2016) and beyond.

The Obama Era

This is where a lot of Black conservatives really caught air. Allen West, a military guy who caught a forced retirement for torturing an Iraqi (something that I agreed with back then) came into prominence. Others which I never agreed with or respected did as well, such as Tommy Sotomayor, Alfonzo Rachel, David Clarke and more. Even children like C.J. Pearson, came out of nowhere.

This was around when I personally began to tap out. This was when I began to really notice that conservative racial gaze, and I wasn’t comfortable with it.

As a Soldier in the U.S. Army I noticed the support of a highly flawed Bush by way of a very conservative “respect the president” premise totally disappear, seemingly overnight, when Obama was elected. It was one of those things I kept on seeing: conservative principles disappear, change and shift depending on who is in charge. In the advent of a moderate-liberal president, it seemed like conservatives needed a surplus of Black bodies as some sort of opposing force.

It was just… weird.

Black military conservative heroes (at the time) like Allen West seemed to gain political traction only because he was an angry, loud voice aimed at President Obama. Many other Black conservatives began to parrot flawed talking points and outright lies. The more they exaggerated their anger towards liberal Black icons like Obama or Black people as a whole, the more traction they got. The more platform they were afforded.

I remember getting emailed links of Black conservatives saying their white supremacist-adjacent rhetoric, always given to me from white men. I remember these Black conservatives being brought up in discussions and arguments, as if they validate a position of some sort.

As an epistemological type of guy, I as a person couldn’t honestly get behind it all. The exaggerated personalities. The lies. And they were given bigger and greater platform for it. By the time the Trump era arrived, the Black conservative pundit had another job: defend the most explicitly racist President we will have ever seen in our lives — Donald Trump. This is where the Black bodies of conservative media became more exaggeratingly buffoonish. Jesse Lee Peterson and Diamond and Silk comes to mind.

The conservative racial gaze was in full swing.

Progressives don’t do this stuff

I think it’s important to point out that progressives don’t do this. Progressives don’t have a racial gaze as conservatives do. It’s just different; progressives simply don’t utilize Black bodies the same way as conservatives do. I think it stems from the fact that liberals don’t need to use Black people against Black people, or against a criticism of overwhelmingly racist platform. This why you’re not going to find a progressive Candace Owens-like Black counterpart. You’re not going to find a progressive Black David Clarke Black counterpart. White progressives don’t need Black progressives to be exaggerated buffoons.

A progressive Diamond and Silk? Good luck on that.

In my assessment, the #1 reason why buffoonish Black progressives don’t exist is because when progressive Blacks speak, they are speaking to a diverse audience. When conservative Blacks speak they speak explicitly aimed at a white audience.

Black conservatives as pundits function as white supremacy ventriloquy; they perform as Black bodies that the more racially ignorant white people can live vicariously through. Progressives and liberals don’t need Black bodies to validate their stance or say what they want to say. This is also why white progressives/liberals tend to colonize intellectual Black space; They rather literally displace us in the conversation versus let us speak, which is a whole other problem to expand on another time.

They don’t just speak, they perform

Many Black conservatives don’t actually debate; they perform.

If you understand this, then all the buffoonery and exaggerated loud personalities makes sense. Being that the performance is for white people, there will be a disconnect between Black conservatives and regular, non-affiliated Blacks. If you are Black then the Black conservative isn’t talking to you. They will talk at you, but not to you. There is a difference.

Even when Black conservatives opt to vocalize admonishment to the Black Community for whatever reason (e.g., bootstrap rhetoric, “plantation” rhetoric) they aren’t exactly speaking to Black people as they are speaking at Black people. It is an act; a performance for conservative whites.

And this performance — from parroting conservative rhetoric to white audiences to talking down at progressive Blacks for white audiences — only intensifies this conservative racial gaze.

So What do this mean?

Sometimes I appear in conservative crowds and rallies as a documentarian. Doing political street photography it makes sense to put people at ease, so what I normally do is slide back into my conservative disposition in order to ingratiate. As a military vet I understand the power I have with conservatives, Black or not.

The conservative racial gaze as a Black conservative now… I can only describe it as the same feeling of being useful to a group in a strange way. There’s utility in being a Black conservative that simply doesn’t exist for white conservatives. It’s similar to the “college years” when I was the token Black for a set of white friends, but different. Back then, the token Black provides warm fuzzies for being fun and protective. Now, politically, it feels like the warm fuzzies come from the utility of being a living weapon. Being a vocal, visible Black conservative nets this conservative racial gaze that can only be described as the same look conservative whites have in their eye at a gun store. Black conservatives, are weaponized.

This is why Mrs. Ruckus traveled with a bunch of conservative whites 113 miles from Phoenix to Tucson, to perform on cue. This is why Candace Owens exist. This is why Jesse Lee Peterson exist. This is why Daniel Cameron, the Kentucky Attorney General (as time of this publishing) exist. Weapons.

Weapons.

Weapons. The conservative racial gaze is a warm assuring look of being a weapon that a white conservative can NEVER be. This is the utility: weaponization. Black conservatives, like a spiked shield, are weaponized Black bodies aimed at not only attacking Black and white progressives, but to also deflect from valid criticism of racism. Because of this specialized position within the conservative white supremacist milieu, the Black conservative would actually feel more powerful than their white counterparts. This is significant, because there’s a sense of power involved with being and doing something better than whites even with a white supremacist power structure. Because this is something a white person can never do so effectively, the Black conservative gets great satisfaction out of being the token.

“I can’t be racist. I have a Black friend.”

Yeah. And I have a screwdriver.

No white conservative can fill this void, therefore there’s sociological currency for Black bodies to take position.

In my studies, there’s three things white people care about no matter what. It’s not the economy. It’s not their mother.

Dogs, flags and guns.

No particular order. Just dogs, flags and guns. The reticent Black conservative is like the dog; a loyal pet that will certainly be put down if barking up the wrong tree. The flag is the Black uniformed service member: the military vet, the police officer… those. The gun? That’s the loud conservative pundit, commentator, social media entity. I think that the various types of Black conservatives remind racist white people of one of those three things they love no matter what. Dogs, flags and guns.

Conclusion

I want more people to pay attention to this conservative racial gaze. I want more progressives to observe, analyze and assess this phenomenon. We talk a lot about how white liberals center themselves in regards to Black spaces. Isn’t strange that white conservatives don’t do the exact same thing when a Black conservative has the floor? White liberals interrupt Black liberals and progressives all the time, even when they are in agreement. White conservatives never interrupt Black conservatives unless they are engaged in their own critical thinking and analyses which leads to ideas and beliefs incongruent with their white supremacist ideology.

Let’s observe and critically analyze this “Ooh ooh, let’s take a picture with this Black boy at this Trump rally!” thing. The next time you’re at one of these or maybe its on television and the camera pans around, look at the sea of whites looking at the Black body parroting, performing for them. Look at their faces, their eyes as the Black conservative is talking. Observe how they act when the event is over, getting pictures like trophies. We need more analytical eyes on this phenomenon, the conservative racial gaze.