Frederick Douglass, the ORIGINAL Black Republican
Posted on 09/07/2005 7:46:48 AM PDT by Sam Cree
"...The American people have always been anxious to know what they shall do with us. Gen. Banks was distressed with solicitude as to what he should do with the Negro. Everybody has asked the question, and they learned to ask it early of the abolitionists, "What shall we do with the Negro?" I have had but one answer from the beginning. Do nothing with us! Your doing with us has already played the mischief with us. Do nothing with us! If the apples will not remain on the tree of their own strength, if they are wormeaten at the core, if they are early ripe and disposed to fall, let them fall! I am not for tying or fastening them on the tree in any way, except by nature’s plan, and if they will not stay there, let them fall. And if the Negro cannot stand on his own legs, let him fall also. All I ask is, give him a chance to stand on his own legs! Let him alone! If you see him on his way to school, let him alone, don’t disturb him! If you see him going to the dinner table at a hotel, let him go! If you see him going to the ballot- box, let him alone, don’t disturb him! [Applause.] If you see him going into a work-shop, just let him alone,--your interference is doing him a positive injury. Gen. Banks’ "preparation" is of a piece with this attempt to prop up the Negro. Let him fall if he cannot stand alone! If the Negro cannot live by the line of eternal justice, so beautifully pictured to you in the illustration used by Mr. Phillips, the fault will not be yours, it will be his who made the Negro, and established that line for his government. [Applause.] Let him live or die by that. If you will only untie his hands, and give him a chance, I think he will live..."
The rest of the speech can be read at the URL, or almost anywhere, for that matter.
He'd get slammed by black liberals (like Bill Cosby did) for saying that today!
I thought this was going to be a thread about Earl Butz.
Frederick Douglass, the ORIGINAL Black Republican
"What the Black Man Wants "
Atlanta has people of all different races. If there is any consistency in "What the Black Man Wants " it seems to be to just wanting to be treated like a regular person but not be attacked or treated "less than" because they are black.
It's not really different from Irish people or Jewish people or women or just about anybody.
At least that is the impression I got from going to school together and working together and living in diverse neighborhoods.
On the other hand, if you only watch black leaders on TV you get a very different point of view.
It is not what the black man wants -- it boils down to :
What will the black man do to raise himself from the depths of modern slave pens called the welfare-state?
Many have already freed themselves - just as did Justice Douglas over a hundred years ago all the way to the present time - but the power of the democrat slave machine keeps them down and powerless.
It has to be an individual effort or NOTHING is learned or earned. If it is not earned - it is definitely not respected.
That one sentence sums everything up. It's exactly what the Democrats don't want, as they may no longer be able to count on the votes once the hands are untied.
No wonder they don't teach much about him in pulik skool.
Although there are many who genuinely need help, a problem with the welfare state is that it discourages initiative and personal responsibility. It specifically discourages folk from lifting themselves out of poverty. Clearly Douglass understood this very well.
The welfare state was a government takeover and subsidy of the slave economy. Instead of cotton and such, the currency is votes.
That's a great quote.
"The welfare state was a government takeover and subsidy of the slave economy. Instead of cotton and such, the currency is votes"
It is important to remember that that the welfare state did not immediately follow the slave state. There were almost 100 years where blacks did not have equal access to public schools, good jobs and in some states it was hard for them to vote.
While a majority do indeed stand on their own two feet, a too large minority want a free lunch and more.
I think the North won the war and then lost the peace when Jim Crow laws were enacted.
"I think the North won the war and then lost the peace when Jim Crow laws were enacted."
I would agree with you if I thought the war was really about slavery. I think it was about power.
Let him live or die by that. If you will only untie his hands, and give him a chance, I think he will live..."
Wonderful attitude. This needs to be circulated. Great find.
p.
Or maybe his brother Harry...
I don't give a damn what the black man "wants" because I ain't giving it to him. He can go out and make a life for himself in this country like everyone else.
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