The blacker-than-thou paradox divides

St. Petersburg Times ^ | February 13, 2002 | BILL MAXWELL

[Cincinatus' Wife]

When I entered college in 1963, the term "black power" was becoming popular on campuses with black students.

At first, it was used as an ideological umbrella under which so-called nationalists, culturalists and pluralists of all stripes were grouped. Gradually, we students used the term to convince ourselves that by uniting as one people, by loving our history and traditions, by pooling our vast resources, we could become a powerful bloc that could influence -- if not change -- the basic nature of the United States and thus improve our status as citizens.

I remember those days well, a heady time when African-Americans took education for granted as the sure route to self-improvement and the subsequent uplifting of the whole race.

On my tiny Texas campus of fewer than 1,000 students, only fools refused to read and study diligently. Only fools destroyed their brains with drugs. Only fools physically hurt their brethren. In fact, "being smart" was in. We called it being "heavy." We even expected jocks to be heavy. All musicians, especially the jazz types, were heavy.

Black power meant just that: being black and powerful, being armed with education and the drive to improve our lot in a hostile environment where the very concept of racial egalitarianism was still alien to most white Americans. Black power meant sharing the good and eliminating the bad.

In time, the concept of black power changed. Instead of being a sentiment that united us, it became a source of deep division. Those who followed Martin Luther King and his nonviolent movement, for example, were not as black as those who followed, say, Malcolm X's philosophy or that of the fearless Black Panthers.

No longer bringing us together, black power had become a negative litmus test for one's degree of "blackness." We had entered the "Blacker than Thou" era. On campuses nationwide, black students separated themselves into enclaves.

Groups whose members adopted African-sounding names, perhaps wore dashikis and other African garb and spouted words by the likes of Huey Newton and Eldridge Cleaver were blacker than those who majored in business and talked of Wall Street.

If you could quote from Frantz Fanon's book The Wretched of the Earth: The Handbook for the Black Revolution That Is Changing the Shape of the World, you were one black brother or sister.

And if you had an African name, wore a dashiki, sported a huge Afro, followed the Socialist Workers Party, talked like a Trotskyite, peppered your speech with Marxist aphorisms, majored in black studies and planned a trip to Africa, you were the essence of blackness.

The ultimate blacker-than-thou paradox occurred on traditionally black campuses. Nearly all of these campuses had parallel student government organizations. One was the legitimate body elected by the entire student population and was usually called the Student Government Association. It had the blessings of the administration and faculty.

The other was a self-appointed organization, usually called the Black Student Union. Assorted radicals belonged to it. In other words, the BSU was blacker than its duly elected counterpart, the SGA. I was president of the BSU at Bethune-Cookman College and founder and editor of the BSU newspaper.

These divisions -- who is black enough and who is not -- were not isolated to college campuses. The phenomenon defined black life at all levels in black communities nationwide.

When I lived in South Florida during the early 1980s, the supporters of beleaguered U.S. congressmen Alcee Hastings were the blackest of the black. Any black who thought Hastings was a crook was labeled an Uncle Tom or a sell out.

Here in St. Petersburg, Omali Yeshitela and his minions set the bar for blackness during the 1960s. Since then, if selected blacks disagree with him or choose to live a mainstream life, they immediately become something less than black or less African.

As a rule, then, only Uhuru members and the supporters of their ideas and programs are truly black. Everyone else is a "Negro."

Believe me when I say this situation helped shape the character of south St. Petersburg. Most blacks are reluctant to oppose the Uhurus publicly. Preachers hold their tongues when they should challenge a questionable philosophy. Blacks running for public office often dodge the nitty-gritty issues because they do not want to be labeled less-than-black. Who wants to be called an enemy of his or her own people?

Such blacker-than-thou nonsense should be packed away with other relics of a bygone era. Black History Month is the perfect time to do so.

[Cincinatus' Wife]

We have no leaders to save our black men-- "I was astonished recently when I read a study about a city's school system where out of nearly 6,000 African-American males in its high school, only 135 earned a B average or higher. Yet, we black people seem paralyzed to act, to mobilize -- to be outraged! We have failed miserably in addressing, for lack of a better description, "self-destruction of the black man.' Today . . . women head 70 percent of black households! Now you tell me, how are young black boys going to learn how to be men? Folks, what we have . . . is a national crisis -- demanding the highest attention of civic, business and government leaders. I am proposing that communities across the country initiate and start a "Save the Black Man Project.'

_________________________________________________________________________________________

There are a lot of issues in the Black community.
And it's good to see them publicly addressed.
In time, who knows, maybe we'll all be closer to getting along.
Black or White, introspection is a good place to start.

[Neets]

Here in St. Petersburg, Omali Yeshitela and his minions set the bar for blackness during the 1960s. Since then, if selected blacks disagree with him or choose to live a mainstream life, they immediately become something less than black or less African.

Wonder who those selected black are??? Anyone maybe who is taking steps to stop bringing the black man down????

[Cincinatus' Wife]

It's an interesting column. I'd like to think Maxwell is pointing to Blacks who constantly divide to hold onto a power base, not caring about the general state of Blacks. Interesting to me too was the two student unions. I wonder if the Black Caucus and things like the Black Firefighters' Associations are leftovers from a time when Blacks didn't want their views sanctioned by predomininently White organizations. I hope this is a sign we're starting to move away from this.

[Neets]

I hope so too CW..I really do. I wish there were more Maxwell's out there.

[Red Jones]

bump

[Cincinatus' Wife]

Bump!

[Dales]

I like how he points out that the blackest tended to be involved in the Socialist Worker's Party.

Our good friend Mr. Clark has an affinity for them.

[Neets]

Wonderful observation....you must have had more coffee than I this morning!!!!

[Wurlitzer]

If this article was re-written by replacing every reference to Black or Africa with White or Europe it never would have seen the light of day, nor should it have.

Many other visible minorities that have been subjected to stupid racism, have managed to do very well in this country.

Could it be because they were more concerned with achieving the AMERICAN dream than their blackness?

[Cincinatus' Wife]

I think that is an underlying problem. I know every immigrant group had hardships. Many were indentured if not outright slaves. But instead of rehashing the past, I'm hoping this heralds the sane return to strong families and respect for a good education--those things that ground us all and instill pride and prosperity. Those things were lost in the dependence trap of government handouts.

[another cricket]

I wish there were more Maxwell's out there.

It takes a great deal of courage to even think that the Emperor has no clothes. Much less say it and in public.

What they need is a Rush Limbaugh type. He made it fun to be conservative and also banished the feeling of "I am the only one who feels this way. There must be something wrong with me.

We are, after all, pack animals at heart.

A. Cricket

[Frumious Bandersnatch]

spouted words by the likes of Huey Newton and Eldridge Cleaver were blacker than those who majored in business and talked of Wall Street.

Interesting that Eldridge Cleaver (who fled the U.S.) ultimately came back to the U.S. and basically recanted his entire anti-white philosophy.

[Cincinatus' Wife]

The pendulum may be coming back to the middle.

[Cincinatus' Wife]

What they need is a Rush Limbaugh type. He made it fun to be conservative and also banished the feeling of "I am the only one who feels this way. There must be something wrong with me.

Excellent idea. He'd be demonized by Big media and elites but just think how nice it would be
to have another forum for people who think, "am I the only one who feels this way?"

[js1138]

All this is the result of marxist divide and conquer tactics. Not to mention the simple fact that it is easier and quicker to achieve power by stirring up hate than by developing competence.

[Cincinatus' Wife]

You can say that again!

[Cincinatus' Wife]

Liberal black leaders need new targets for their outrage*** But you can't say that in America these days. That's "blaming the victim." Or, using Belafonte's bizarre analogy, it's blaming the field slaves still suffering oppression on the plantation. It's much easier to criticize movie producers, directors, writers and actors. It's much better, psychologically speaking, to bash Bush and Powell. It's just no fun suggesting that the black parents of those hoodlums act like parents. Residents of that Milwaukee neighborhood spoke out in several news stories. One man said the same gang of thugs attacked him and some white friends two years ago. Another said the parents of those boys let them run in the streets at all hours of the night.

It might occur to astute observers that Powell is not the daddy of any of those boys in that Milwaukee mob. Nor is Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, or any other black conservative who arouses the dudgeon of Afro-America's depressingly liberal leadership. If every black conservative in America disappeared tomorrow, absolutely nothing would change for the better in communities like that one in Milwaukee. That's why blacks on the liberal/left side of the political spectrum need to find new targets for their ire. They can start by unzipping their lips and going to Milwaukee to confront the parents of the accused, to ask them just what kind of parents they are and to demand where they were the night of Sept. 29. Then they can head here to Baltimore, hit those drug corners and finish the job Angela and Carnell Dawson so courageously started.***

[Cincinatus' Wife]

White teachers flee black schools *** Critics see the exodus as a new form of segregation, encouraged by court rulings that no longer enforce racial diversity. But teachers say that cultural and economic barriers, not racial ones, are fueling the trend in a region where more than 40 percent of the public school population is black. At the very least, the growing shortage of white educators is creating a dilemma for black schools from Picayune County, Miss., to Decatur, Ga. Right now, there aren't enough black teachers to go around, either. "All the stars are aligned for white teachers to leave," says Gary Orfield, an education professor at Harvard University in Cambridge, Mass. "It's a combination of poverty and racial segregation, added to cultural differences, that all makes it tough for suburban teachers to figure out the black and Latino cultures."***

[Cincinatus' Wife]

Speaking Truth With Power ~ John Fund*** Black leaders who focus on racial divisions are too often showered with media attention and, what is worse, given a free pass on demagoguery. Presidential candidate Al Sharpton, handled with kid gloves by other White House contenders, comes to mind. At the same time, leaders such as Clarence Thomas, J.C. Watts, civil-rights leader Roy Innis and even Colin Powell and Condoleezza Rice are often called "sellouts," or worse, for not viewing every issue through a racial prism.

Nonetheless, a growing number of black officials are breaking ranks by calling for a more honest approach to race relations. The latest is David Clarke, the elected sheriff of Milwaukee County, Wis., who accused other black elected officials of practicing a "cult of victimology" instead of making "real efforts to better the lives of black people." His critics claim that the 46-year-old Democrat is pandering to whites, but his message has struck a chord among voters of all races and could catapult him into higher office.

………….. Sheriff Clarke will have none of that. "We're not targeting a population. We're targeting neighborhoods," he told the Journal-Sentinel. "The majority of people arrested for violent crimes, they're black males. Why should we kid ourselves . . . they're ravaging the lives of other black individuals." "I'm result-oriented, and our neighborhoods will never prosper if we don't keep criminals from victimizing families," Sheriff Clarke told me. He is heartened by the reaction he is getting from ordinary black citizens. "They agree that our community will only be strong if we reject low expectations and failure on everyone's part. A new generation of leaders think it's time for a fresh message and more honesty."

A 24-year veteran of the Milwaukee police force, Sheriff Clarke was appointed county sheriff last year by a Republican governor. He promptly disappointed the GOP by winning a full four-year term as a Democrat, albeit one who openly admires Clarence Thomas and Colin Powell. He says his blue-collar parents taught him "not to use race as an excuse," and he mourns that today "playing the race card is done as if it were some kind of sport." He has called for crackdowns on truant students after a mob of boys as young as 10 bludgeoned a man to death.***

[Movemout]

"What they need is a Rush Limbaugh type. He made it fun to be conservative and also banished the feeling of "I am the only one who feels this way. There must be something wrong with me.

We are, after all, pack animals at heart. "

I think Jesse Peterson, Walter Williams, and Thomas Sowell hit the mark well. I also think they are having an impact. Educated black people have claimed their spot in the middle class and are well on their way to claiming their place in the upper class. It is only a matter of time before these leaders will get rid of the Dimocrapic plantation and being "heavy" will be back in vogue.