Trump, Racism and the Resurgence of Miss Ann!

While recently watching the viral video of a woman ranting about being discriminated against by two African American employees while shopping at a Michaels store in Chicago, a multitude of thoughts flooded my mind. However, for reasons that I may never know, the one thought that surfaced above all the others was one that immediately took me back to thinking about how black people were treated back in the days when slavery, Jim Crow, and the rants of “Miss Ann” were as common as the cellphones now used to combat the vestiges of those days.

As I reflected back on what I’ve learned about those days I couldn’t help but think about the unfortunate number of black lives that were negatively impacted, and in some cases lost, simply as a result of one of “Miss Ann’s” rants. Rants that occurred whenever “Miss Ann” didn’t get her way or didn’t get what she wanted when she wanted it. During those times when “Miss Ann” didn’t get her way, the lives of every black person (and anyone who supported black folks at the time) were susceptible to having to pay a very steep price for Miss Ann’s fragility, displeasure, and/or any inconvenience she experienced. Think Miss Millie from The Color Purple. She’s the white woman who didn’t get her way with Sophia (who was played by Oprah Winfrey). Not getting her way resulted in 12 years of jail for Sophia and afterward a life of servitude. In the end, Miss Millie got what she wanted because back then this was par for the course.