Here’s what Fife said at a recent town meeting: “I’m gonna go hard, 110%, to fight for people like you, and for people who have less than you. That’s what I was put on this planet to do. And I will say, when you’re trying to shift systems, especially systems that are intended to not work for people like you, it is like moving a mountain.”
We can glimpse some of Fife’s psychological derangement in this statement. For one thing—as I’ve pointed out before—Fife is one of those fanatics who believes that she was “put” here on earth. Who did the “putting,” she does not tell us, but we can infer the answer: God.
We’ve seen this kind of magical thinking many times in the sad, sordid history of humankind, from the sadists of the Taliban to the cruelties of the Christians who burnt “witches”. Indeed, some of the worst brutalities in history have been caused by such true believers. As George Bernard Shaw pointed out, “The whole problem with the world is that fools and fanatics are always so certain of themselves, and wiser people so full of doubts.” Or, as Churchill himself noted, “A fanatic is one who can't change his mind and won't change the subject.”
Fife is, by that definition, a fanatic. She can’t stop being obsessed with race. She sees racism everywhere, in every word, every law, every policy, every reality, every action, every commonplace. A Black man is shot by police while attempting to escape? Racism. A Black woman is evicted for non-payment of rent? Racism. A Black student is thrown out of school for violent behavior? Racism. A Black couple can’t afford to buy a house? Racism. A Black shopper feels disrespected by a cashier? Racism.
Fife’s statement also illustrates the paranoia that undergirds her false beliefs. “Systems that are intended to not work…”. What “systems” is she talking about? Judging from Fife’s past record, we know that she racializes every “system” that keeps our country running. Banking. Real estate. Justice. Driving laws. Taxation. Schools. In other words, pretty much nearly everything that society is and does. Carroll Fife, a racist by any definition, wants to burn everything down—which not so coincidentally is the title of a Mother Jones magazine story about her. The article appeared shortly after Fife made national news by illegally squatting in that vacant Oakland house. Using phrases such as “housing for all,” she became the face of an anarchic movement that claimed the right to live where it wants because, well, “housing is a human right.” This same perceived “right” also was used by Fife to exonerate homeless people who put up encampments across the city, swamping sidewalks, parks and freeway underpasses.
Are our systems “intended not to work”? We have to analyze this strange statement. Who “intended” them not to work? The Founding Fathers? Every President and congressman who ever serve the U.S.? Our state legislatures, city councils and other governing bodies? Our courts? The free market? Our religious institutions? This is the sign of paranoid conspiracy theory: bizarre fantasies of evil forces conspiring to crush their opponents. Carroll Fife sees the dysfunction in her own Black community, but somehow she manages to excuse it by alleging it’s the result of sinister forces, imposed on the Black community from outside.
We see this infantile reasoning in Fife’s not caring about the epidemic of shoplifting that is forcing so many stores in Oakland to close. She seems to be saying: This is not inappropriate behavior; it’s merely the justifiable redistribution of wealth, and thus should be understood, if not encouraged. We see the same infantilism in the thinking pattern of Fife’s friend, Pamela Price, who argues that Black men who are repeat offenders aren’t really criminals, but misunderstood individuals on the margins, who have suffered from systemic racism and White supremacy. Price, too, is a fanatic. Watching her, you can’t help but feel that her philosophy is, “Anything a Black criminal does is excusable. Anything a police officer does is indictable.” To have individuals like Price and Fife actually have power is frightening and unnatural.
It’s good that the public is finally catching on to Fife and Price. I’d wager that neither could be elected today, after what we’ve come to learn about them. I’d wager, also, that both are headed toward a political fall: impulsive and rigidly ideological, both are destined to do really stupid stuff that will arouse the people to indignant fury, and make them wonder why they voted for these incompetent radicals in the first place. Neither of them has the public’s greater interests in mind: the minor agenda of both is to stoke racial resentment and keep us all in a constant state of ferment and argument. Only by dividing us can they hang onto their slender thread of power.
Steve Heimoff