The Real Cause Of Racial Conflict: White Communists only pretended to be allies to Blacks

Alfrieda Baldwin, JD
Jun 3
8 min read

Updated: Jun 17

By Alfrieda Baldwin, JD

According to the left, our country has made no progress toward improving how Blacks are treated under the law and in society. It is as if we were still living in our grandparents’ or great-grandparents’ America. We don’t have a chance because of an oppressive system that undermines Black people, the narrative goes.

Like cancer, this worldview has metastasized into every important institution in

this country. You can see evidence of it in the diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives described on the websites of government agencies, educational institutions, foundations, corporations, media outlets, and even some church denominations. Leftists have convinced a sizable portion of the population that Blacks are everywhere and always victims of racism. Presumably, that is why fabulously wealthy Black athletes and A-list celebrities insist they are below the poorest whites regarding rights and opportunities. With seemingly total sincerity, they claim that being Black in America threatens

their existence.

Joseph Stalin had concocted a scheme to “use Negroes as expendables.”

For a long time, I was baffled by how such a false narrative had taken root. But then a friend insisted I read a book by a Black man named Manning Johnson. Born in 1908, Johnson joined the Communist Party in 1930. He became a

high-ranking party member and, in 1935, was the party’s candidate for a seat in the United States House of Representatives. Johnson said he was drawn into the party because he was an idealist and believed overthrowing capitalism would result in a communist utopia. But in 1939, Johnson left the party. He left, he said, because “I saw communism in all its naked cruelty, ruthlessness and utter contempt of Christian attributes and passions. And, too, I saw the low value placed upon human life, the total lack of respect for the dignity of man, the betrayal of trust….”

Johnson came to the recognition that the Communists were using Black people.

He said that in 1928, Joseph Stalin had concocted a scheme to “use Negroes as

expendables” and that Communists had wormed their way into Black civic and

political organizations, colleges, universities, and churches. According to Johnson, white Communists only pretended to be allies who wanted to help Blacks gain

civil rights. What they really wanted was to divide and weaken America so that they could swoop in and take control.

Between 1947 and 1950, Johnson was a government witness in dozens of hearings

on Communist activities in the United States. In 1958 he published a book titled,

Color, Communism, and Common Sense. The book is free online, and I encourage

you to read it. In it, Johnson described how the Communists used the legitimate

grievances of Blacks, particularly those in the South, to sow discord. When I read the book, I understood the genesis of today’s racial conflict. The Communists of his

time are today’s leftist progressives, and they are executing the plan Stalin set in

motion almost 100 years ago.

Please understand that I am not accusing ALL progressives of being disciples of Karl Marx. Still, the ones in positions of power and influence are interested in

something other than preserving the foundations of our constitutional republic or

capitalism. They want to upend our social order, and their primary tactic is to use the plight of Blacks to demand widespread cultural and political change. The parallels between what Johnson described decades ago and the actions and rhetoric we see from the left today cannot be denied.

Please understand that I am not accusing ALL progressives of being disciples of

Karl Marx. Still, the ones in positions of power and influence are interested in

something other than preserving the foundations of our constitutional republic or

Weaponizing Racial Incidents

For example, according to Johnson, the Communists orchestrated situations that

would cause racial bitterness and violence. He said that editorial writers, columnists, news commentators, and analysts were going overboard to give top news coverage to racial incidents.

Does this sound familiar? It has become commonplace for the left to turn

interracial incidents of white-on-Black violence into headline news. This is especially true in rare fatal encounters between a Black suspect and a white police officer. Leftist politicians and pundits press the narrative that racist cops are hunting down and killing Black people. The person killed could have been armed and resisting arrest, yet there will still be a rush to judge the police as guilty of a racially motivated attack. Even if the officers involved are Black, the left blames racism. We saw this earlier this year when five Black Memphis police officers caused the death of Tyre Nichols. Progressives claimed that the officers’ internalized racism led to Nichols’s death.

Other examples of leftists sensationalizing race-related stories include the Jussie

Smollett case and the incident involving the student from Covington High School. The media covered those stories in the most negative, racially charged manner possible. Though the Smollett story proved to be a hoax and the facts in the Covington matter turned out to be different than initially presented, the left hyped those stories to fan the flames of racial animus.

Promoting Victimhood

Johnson revealed that Blacks acting as “tools” for Moscow tried to place all the

ills of Black people at the door of white leaders. The idea was to get Blacks to see

themselves as perpetual victims, leading them to develop a persecution complex. If Blacks believed that the white man’s prejudices, system, and government were “responsible for everything,” that attitude would create the hate the left could use to accomplish their ends.

Is it any wonder that leftists insist that all racial disparities are caused by white

privilege and systemic injustice? By ignoring the possibility of other causes within our control, Blacks are absolved of all responsibility. Bitter and defeated, Blacks are ripe for Marxist indoctrination.

The left is also careful to downplay incidents where a white person is a victim

in an altercation with a Black person. Case in point, the whites who were killed by a

Black man who drove into a Christmas parade in Waukesha, Wis. The limited coverage and measured tone of the reporting were in keeping with the left’s desire to make it seem that Blacks are always victims and never perpetrators.

Unreasonable Demands

Johnson claimed that the left planned to make demands that were so unrealistic

that they would generate conflict. The demand for reparations fits that strategy. What could be more unrealistic than demanding that people who never owned slaves pay millions of dollars to people who were never slaves?

Such demands ignore that many people in this country are descended from people who came to America after slavery ended. It ignores that over 300,000 white soldiers died fighting to end slavery. It also ignores the millions of dollars already spent on government programs that benefited low-income Blacks.

When you factor in the difficulty of determining who would be eligible for payments and developing the infrastructure for disseminating payments, the idea of paying reparations is highly unrealistic. The discussion leaves many Blacks and whites angry and resentful.

Suppressing Opposition

In another section of the book, Johnson provided evidence that “cancel culture” is

not a recent phenomenon. He explained that everybody who disagreed with the left was attacked as either “reactionaries, fascists, Ku Kluxers among whites and Uncle Toms among Negroes.” Johnson wrote, “The awesome spectacle of the array of forces in all walks of life, potent and with ample money, coldbloodedly and efficiently going about the job of destroying the reputation and influence of those designated as enemies of Communism keep

many in line and enforce silence.”

Time after time, we have seen progressives attack anybody who dares criticize

their narrative. Public figures are doxed, insulted, de-platformed, fired, and even

banned from social media. Every day citizens remain silent, unwilling to face the

abuse the intolerant left heaps on dissenting voices. Censorship and self-censorship have served and continue to serve the left well. The degree to which their toxic worldview has taken hold, even though facts do not support it, bears witness to their success in controlling and silencing the public.

Where Has All the Money Gone?

Another interesting allegation made by Johnson was that the Communists had

used racial tensions to raise millions of dollars but had not used the funds to

help Black people. He called out the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, which he renamed the “National Association for the Agitation of

Colored People.” Scathingly he remarked, “Millions for agitation; not one cent for those things that win the respect and acclaim of other races and national groups.”

History repeats. The same accusations can be leveled against the Black Lives

Matter (BLM) organization. Although BLM has collected millions of dollars,

there is no evidence that the donations have benefited Black lives apart from the lives of the founders, who are self-professed trained Marxists.

Wanted: Courageous Citizens

Manning Johnson’s writings clearly show that he was a man of deep faith who loved his country. When he realized he had been duped, he stepped forward bravely to sound the alarm about the left’s plans. Unfortunately, he was discredited by the Communists, who claimed that he had perjured himself. Then, a year after he published Color, Communism, and Common Sense, he suffered an untimely death. His message disappeared into the memory hole.

But the truth has a way of coming out, and concerned citizens have rediscovered

Johnson’s exposé. Knowledge is power, which makes Color, Communism, and

Common Sense an invaluable resource. It is the left’s blueprint. It shows us how

vital it is for them to manufacture conflict and how much they need us divided and silent to make their scheme work.

Having studied Marx’s philosophies, the left knows they cannot have a revolution without conflict. That is why they have kept open a wound that was starting

to scab over. At one point in the book, Johnson commented that they deliberately

obscured the improvements in race relations and the progress that Blacks had

made. They are still doing it. Quietly and with dogged determination, they are working to develop the conditions needed to bring about America’s downfall.

“Millions for agitation; not one cent for those things that win the respect and acclaim of other races and national groups.”

The left does not want to end racism; they do not want strong Black families

or families of any race. They do not want people to have strong faith. And they

certainly do not want us to have honest conversations about race. They know that

hopeful, happy people are not interested in revolution. Forceful and sustained rebuttals would expose the sham nature of their narrative. They invest so much energy in cancel culture because their lies cannot withstand scrutiny.

Shortly before his death, Johnson issued a call to arms in a speech at the Broadway Tabernacle in Seattle, Wash. You can find the address on YouTube. In

it, he said, “Beneath all of the racial unrest, at the root of all racial unrest in the

country, is the clammy, cold, bloody hand of communism. We must arrest it, and we must try to bring America back to sanity.”

It is up to us to answer his call. We owe it to the people who came before us and

put their lives on the line for America. Let us have the courage of our convictions. I

am calling on everyone who wants to preserve our way of life to use their God-given spirit of power, love, and sound mind to spread the truth and counter the lies.

The Center for Biblical Unity