This is a question asked in W.E.B. Dubois’ treatise The Souls of Black Folk. The question doesn’t ask how does it feel to have problems or have the kinds of problems that some people can’t or won’t understand. The question directly asks how does it feel like to actually be a problem. This question is also the title of a book by Moustafa Bayoumi who gives an indepth look as to what it’s like to live in a time where being a young Arab or Muslim American is often judged as being the enemy. A threat. A terrorist.

Being a member of the “other”, especially if you’re black, you are not granted the privilege of being individuals, especially if a crime occurs. When a black person is so much as suspected of any crime, the whole race is suspect. If a black person was the suspect and there are white victims, the whole race is looked upon with disdain and mistrust, seen as the potential enemy of white folks who will seek another innocent white person to get back at them for slavery. It seems like it’s always slavery that’s the underlying reason white people believe is the reason for any black-on-white crime. But I digress.

I remember a few years ago back in 2008. A UNC Student named Eve Carson who had a potentially bright future ahead of her was robbed and murdered by two young black males. It was a major news story. A white woman was killed by not one, but two black men. I also remembered two words in one article I read. Racial tension. I hear and see those words often whenever there’s a story about an interracial crime. Usually when it’s black-on-white, that’s when a feeling of dread hits me, because I fear of repercussions for that area against the black community. When a black person commits a crime against white people, black people, not just those responsible, must be held accountable.

Most people still can’t, or won’t, grasp the racism that reeks whenever black people are seen as a collective problem that must always pay whenever a few of their own fuck up. A lot of people avoid being called the r-word by excusing it with statistics, so-called “facts” that they’ve found most likely at a racist conservative website that exaggerates numbers to prove their point. After all is said and done Whiteness is nuanced, blackness is not

On the other hand, white people are granted the privilege of individuality no matter how often or how heinous a crime is. Whether it’s a school shooting, a bombing, serial rape or even mass shootings, white people are given the third degree and had their culture questioned, nor are they given stern lectures to “do better” by those who unofficially appoint themselves as guidance counselors for the whole race.

It has been a few days since the Biker shootout in Waco Texas that claimed nine lives, injured over a dozen more and led to the arrest of over a hundred bikers. The media treated the bloodbath with kid gloves, turning it into a singular incident where it was an isolated tragedy and not part of a string of white-on-white crime where more than a few lives are usually taken.

However, the same media treated the protests in Baltimore and Ferguson as if it was a warzone. Protests themselves became riots. Protestors became looters. Animals. Thugs. The peaceful anger and uprising vanished within the news media’s sensationalism and racism and became an outbreak of black pathology unfolding before America’s eyes.

No matter what, black people are constantly seen as the problem in America. It’s safe to say that no matter what we do, our faults end up overshadowing our accomplishments as well as overall humanity and individuality though the eyes of the white racist mindframe that continuously sees itself as innocent and normal while it sees blackness as criminal, pathologic and something to be feared and taken care of mostly by imprisonment or brute force.

Speaking of the Newt, these days you can’t turn on the TV machine without hearing some bullshit nonsense about the upcoming Iowa presidential caucuses and a lot of speculation about the “king maker” Iowa caucuses being so important.

From a historical perspective, the Iowa caucuses are meaningless for both sides of the political fence. Though the Iowa caucuses have been making front page newspaper headlines across the nation since 1972 (The winning Democrat that year was Maine Sen. Edmund Muskie and he wasn’t nominated), they are a poor predictor of who becomes the nominee, let alone the president.

In 1976, Jimmy Carter won Iowa in January and in November nationwide. In 1984 the winner was former Vice President Walter Mondale. Remember him? He was nominated but was humiliated in the general election.

In 1988, Missouri Rep. Richard Gephardt won but wasn’t nominated. Ditto Iowa Sen. Tom Harkin in 1992.

As for 1980 and 1996, both Democratic winners of the caucus in those years were presidential incumbents, Mr. Carter and Bill Clinton. Mr. Clinton won the presidency; Mr. Carter lost in November to Ronald Reagan.

In 2000, Vice President Al Gore won there and was nominated but lost in November. In 2004, the same happened to Massachusetts Sen. John Kerry. In 2008, Obama, on his way to the presidency, won the Iowa caucus.

On the Republican side, only one Iowa caucus winner out of five since 1976 (excluding incumbents) went on to win the presidency: George W. Bush in 2000.

So, based on the historical evidence (and leaving aside elections where there was an incumbent president), on Jan. 4 the front page headline on the story should read: “Wins Iowa Democratic Caucus/ Means Less Than Shit.”

Clearly, there’s less to victory in Iowa than many politicians and pundits would have us believe. And the big states — with many more delegates in the national conventions and many more electoral votes than Iowa — are fed up with the state’s inflated role in the electoral process.

Caucuses are rapidly becoming a leftover of obsolete politics anyway. Almost all states have switched to primaries, which get more ink. Twice as many states today will have primaries as in 1972, when Iowa first put its caucus on some front pages. And many of those states that used to pick delegates in March, April, even June, have scheduled much earlier selections. When Maryland votes Feb. 12, Republicans in 29 states and Democrats in 32 will have already voted.

Nevertheless, if Newtie wins the Iowa caucus this election cycle you can be sure the 24/ 7 corporate-owned news cycle will devote more ink and airtime to it than ever before.

The Iowa caucuses, like much in contemporary American elections, don’t make much sense. They never did. But, like much of what is wrong with American elections, it won’t go away nicely.

My name is Eddie and I’m in recovery from civilization…