Posted on 09/28/2001 7:03:50 AM PDT by mafree
In the aftermath of the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, which may have killed close to 7,000 people, flag waving and public displays of patriotism can be seen all over the country. At baseball games, fans wave flags and sing "God Bless America" during the seventh inning stretch, and flags are draped outside homes and businesses.
And while historically African Americans have often felt ambivalent about expressions of patriotism, since September 11, 2001, like other US citizens, blacks have rallied around the flag and around their country.
"I think that the patriotism among black people that we are seeing is refreshing," said Jumoke Jones, a 27-year-old executive assistant at a large investment banking firm. "Some people are jumping on the bandwagon, but I think it is okay because this is the only time some people may be feeling that they are a part of the country."
For a younger generation of African Americans like Jones, now may be the first time they have felt such a level of identification and belonging in their national homeland. In the absence of national conflict, younger blacks have often felt like outsiders in America as they have had to deal with America's history of racial oppression and remnants of racial discrimination that are an everyday reality. But the terrorist attacks, which killed people of all racial backgrounds, religions and nationalities, have forced many African Americans to come to grips with their Americanness.
"Being an African American and dealing with racism from the age of nine, I never considered myself an authentic American, whatever that is," said Adisa Banjako, a hip-hop journalist. "As I learned more about my African heritage and my religion, which is Islam, I felt even more alienated from whatever the essence of what America is. But I realized that on the day of the bombing, had I been on the plane, my blackness and Islamicness were negated and I would have been just as dead as everyone else."
While still a critic of some US policies, Banjako said he has become a full-fledged American as a result of the attack, a transformation shared by countless other blacks who may have grudges against American policy, but who have decided to bury their antagonism for the good of the country.
"It has been rather refreshing for people to put aside differences and for people to rally around things we have together, such as family and faith," said Kweisi Mfume, head of the NAACP on Fox News. "It has united all of our country."
While the national crisis has united most Americans, some African Americans have questioned America's commitment to freedom and justice in light of its historic mistreatment of blacks and some of its foreign policies. And many blacks who take pride in their nationality and pledge to defend their country have expressed reservations about America's march towards war. Congresswoman Barbara Lee (D-CA) cast the lone congressional vote against granting the President backing in the war effort, and prominent African American writer Michael Eric Dyson has said that while he supports bringing those responsible for the attacks to justice, "declaring war on Afghanistan is as corrupt as the original act of aggression."
And in one Florida County, three black firefighters were suspended when they expressed reservations about displaying an American flag on their truck. "What the flag means to white America is totally different from what it means to myself," one of the firefighters told a local newspaper. "As a black man in the country, as someone being subjugated, as my ancestors who have been mistreated so, of course I have reservations about the American flag." Though their reasons for objecting to displaying the flag are disputed (they say the flag was obstructing their view), the three firefighters have been ostracized and threatened because of their objections.
"You have freedom here as long as it goes along with the program," lamented one.
Some African Americans, like Boots of the rap group The Coup, attribute many African Americans' uncritical embrace of patriotism to the emotional fervor of this specific moment in American history, when Americans reeling from the worst terrorist attack in US history are standing united in a passionate display of patriotism that may ultimately be fleeting.
"For the first time in my life and I didn't expect to see this...Black people standing on the overpass on one of the freeways in Oakland waving the American flag," said Boots. "It's because of all of this hype."
However, the wave of patriotism sweeping across the black community is not new. In fact, blacks have patriotically rallied behind America during every war and crisis in its history. Crispus Attucks, a black patriot, was the first to die in the Boston Massacre of 1770, one of the first battles in the war for American independence, and more than 5,000 -- both free blacks and slaves -- ultimately joined the Continental Army, while many others served in local militias. And although blacks were initially barred from armed service, and America's armed forces remained segregated until the 1940s, black soldiers have fought and supported every major American military campaign.
"During America's wars, black protest has always given way to black patriotism," writes syndicated columnist Dr. Earl Ofari Hutchinson. "During World War I, black scholar and activist W.E.B. Du Bois, in a Crisis magazine editorial, rallied blacks to the flag with a call to close ranks and forget their racial grievances. They flocked to a segregated army in droves. Patriotic fever among blacks soared during World War II."
Throughout World War II, black newspapers led the "Double V" campaign, which called for Victory against fascism abroad and racism at home. Blacks supported the war by joining the military and by buying millions of dollars of war bonds, which helped fund the war. And while black soldiers returning from abroad still had to contend with segregation and racism at home, African American willingness to serve and die in America's wars helped to reinforce the calls for the rights of full citizenship and an end to Jim Crow.
More recently, with the ending of official segregation and the removal of many of the racial barriers that blacks have faced in America, younger blacks like Jumoke Jones do not have any problem wearing their patriotism on their sleeves.
Jones, who has lived outside of the United States in Europe for a time, has come to peace with America. She said that despite the racial problems and attitudes black people have to deal with, "most black people don't realize how great a country we live in."
Columnist and essayist Stanley Crouch agrees. "America is one of the greatest countries in the world in terms of the possibilities that are available to the people in its society," said Crouch. "You got people who advocated the violent overthrow of the United States in the 1960s, who are now tenured college professors at American universities. Do you think that anyone who would have advocated the violent overthrow of China or Cuba 20 years ago would be teaching in those countries now?"
While acknowledging America's history of injustice towards blacks, Crouch said that black Americans should not have any shame in being patriotic, especially since many social movements that improved the country have been led by African Americans. "A good deal of what makes America great, black people were a part of that," said Crouch. "Including the winning of the Civil War that brought chattel slavery to a halt."
He said that blacks' actions been a powerful force for progress. "I am 56 years old, and we are talking about a country in which black people made it possible for us to have an Oprah Winfrey," said Crouch. "This did not come by luck. This was the result of blacks changing America."
Dennis Rahim Watson, president of the National Black Youth Leadership Council, agrees that patriotism is a positive, but he worries that the current wave of black patriotism is a "false form of patriotism."
"A flag is a symbolic gesture if there isn't any follow-through," said Watson. "The genuine patriots are the people who do all the work all of the time."
He cited groups such as the 100 Black Men and others, and said that he hopes that the current waves of charity and volunteerism will continue after people finish dealing with the grief of the terrorist attacks.
The one positive side effect of the terrorist attacks on America, many say, might be a renewed sense of community, solidarity and empathy.
"This will bring America closer because we were all affected," said Banjako. "We are all in mourning."
It will take some awhile to come around. Maybe they just need to spend some time on FR.
Exactly. There are so many advantages to being an American and it's a shame that so many who could use them to get somewhere in life don't.
(BTW, heard you on the radio with AnnaZ and Mercuria. It was nice)
I've tried hard to develop a "neighborly" relationship but he insists on seeing everything through the eyes of a victim (even though both he and his wife have M.A. degrees from a major university paid for by the government, hold nice middle-class jobs, own three brand-new automobiles, live in a $400,000 home, take frequent and expensive vacations, etc.) The only thing he really seems interested in is nursing his grievances. The mailman once put his mail into my box by mistake and it consisted mainly of Black-oriented publications like "Ebony," where I suspect a "party line" is promulgated.
In discussing the WTC tragedy he made it clear, as he has on many other occasions, that "White Europeans" are the cause of all of the world's problems, including this one. Being an American of white European extraction, I take that personally. He refuses to accept any expression of neighbor-like friendship even though we have frequent over-the-fence conversations. I once asked him if he'd be kind enough to collect my newspaper for me while I was on vacation and he let me know he interpreted it as a master/slave relationship even though I've offered to do the same for him on several occasions. He loves to play race-baiting games. Once when a neighbor and I were chatting with him while he was weeding his flower beds, a door-to-door salesman headed down the sidewalk toward us. My neighbor said: "He'll go for you two; he'll think I'm just doing your stoop labor." That remark angered me to the point I've barely been able to talk with him since.
Why does this attitude persist? What can be done to change it? If blacks and whites can't live harmoniously together as patriotic Americans-in-common, is separatism the only answer? I don't feel there's a lot of time left for this question to be answered.
I won't pretend that every black person is a flag-waving, hard-working, moral citizen but nor are we all drug-addled, semi-literate, lawbreaking cretins.
I appreciate your sharing this Bernard.
Unfortunately, some blacks are going to always feel like victims no matter what they attain materially or otherwise. A price tag can't be placed on what black people have experienced, and that is why you will see attitudes like what your neighbor has displayed. Success does not obliterate the feeling that whitey's out to get you.
From what I've seen and experienced, many "successful" blacks will hold on to victim status for several reasons:
1. They know no better.
2. They feel somewhat guilty about their success when so many other blacks are "poor and oppressed" and embracing victimology is their way of identifying with the black "masses."
3. Many blacks who have attained educational and material success still experience racism, especially if their living, working and/or social arrangements bring them around lots of whites. They don't know any other way to respond other than paranoid victimology.
To sum it up, blacks who are "successful" experience the double-consciousness of being Black and American more acutely than lower-class blacks do. This is why your neighbor can fly a US flag on the one hand and act as if you're trying to oppress him on the other hand. He holds obviously contradictory attitudes.
Mostly, blacks themselves have to change the perpetual victim attitude. Nobody can make them stop acting like victims. Some will change if they have enough positive interactions with whites; religion changes many; others may change as they see the illogic of many of the beliefs they have held so dear.
Some blacks feel that separation is the solution- your neighbor may not be one of them or else he wouldn't live in your neighborhood. At the same time, a lot of blacks who would like to separate or return to Africa do live in houses that cost six figures or more.
I'd advise you to keep treating your neighbor the way you would like to be treated and otherwise, don't worry about him. If you're doing nothing wrong you have nothing to feel guilty for so don't let him put you in that position.
We have been and always shall be Americans (no need for hyphenated ethnicity)
Love your profile!!
My flag flies everyday, and it's brings me so much pride every morning as I walk out to the garage!!
Malice aforethought. I think, therefore I am.
That's what I've come to, but I can't see many signs in the Black community that point in that direction. I see increasing hostility (Maxine Waters, a Representative from a nearby area, is a case in point). Barbara Lee didn't do the concept of unity a lot of good, either, and neither do the Black Congressional Caucus, Jesse Jackson, the NAACP and other influential Black organizations that focus mainly on divisive issues.
There's an old science fiction notion that an invasion of Earth by space aliens would unify all the peoples of the world against a common enemy. I had hoped that one good result of this attack on the U.S. would be the unification of all Americans against a common threat: Americans of all colors died in this tragedy. Jesse Jackson's attempt to carry out what can only be interpreted as a separatist "Black" foreign policy in opposition to that of the administration's, is a nasty symbol and very worrisome to me. I'll give him the benefit of the doubt and wait to see the final result -- if he rescues Christian hostages that would be wonderful -- but the racial and political overtones of his venture are unmistakable and do not appear to be unifying.
The American dream is, perhaps uniquely, the special heritage of black Americans and other groups, such as immigrants, that have faced great challenges in gaining the external respect of American society. The American dream is, and has always been, about freedom. That fact has been distorted over the years.
It is refreshing to see that some black Americans are beginning to realize that we all have a stake in the outcome of this American experiment!
God bless.
Fantastic observation. Does that mean the idea of reparations goes by the wayside????
Freegards.
That's just it...most blacks are good,decent, hardworking people. Hell, I don't have to tell you that... But unless you work or live with these folks, you don't get to see it. There are many whites who don't see it (and in some case refuse to see it). In some cases its just a matter of exposure. There are wonderful, intelligent, men and women of color who are attacked by other blacks as being "Uncle Toms" or traitors to their race because they are educated, articulate, well read, (in some cases, conservative) and have succeeded in the "white man's world". People like Thomas Sowell and Walter Williams...Condoleza Rice and Colin Powell...Clerance Thomas. Why are they vilified? Because they don't toe the party line. They don't see themselves as victims. And in particular, they don't see themselves as helpless. They succeeded entirely on their own, from their hard work and initiative. They weren't going to allow themselves to be victims.
The biggest enemy of the black American is the white liberal. The liberals have managed to convince many blacks that they are, in fact, helpless and can't survive without the generousity and benevolence of white liberals. Then there are the self appointed black leaders, like Jackson and Sharpton, who don't care about the plight of blacks, they care only about what they can get out of it. Besides sports figures and par artists, look at the blacks who have succeeded in our society. They are to the last one, men and women of integrity, with a desire to succeed, and a willingness to actually work to get there. Their parents gave them a sense of pride in themeselves and their families. They tought them right from wrong and gave them the moral conviction to allow them to pick themselves up off the ground when they got knocked down, and not get sidetracked. These people are role models for ALL Americans, especially young black Americans, but, they are often accused of betraying their race, of "acting white."
Yet, they are not acting white, or selling out. They are living the American Dream. They are Americans. They have siezed the brass ring, and have taken the initiative to work for what they want, regardless of what obstacles stand in their way. Racism exists and there are still those who will stand in the way of blacks trying to succeed. Yet, these determined men and women do it anyway. Where many blacks fail it is the direct result of their willingness to accept failure. I've seen it first hand. Bright kids, who could have the world with some hard work, resign themselves to a life of poverty because too many older blacks tell them they can't do it. And those that try are ridiculed by other blacks for not "being black."
I know that I've rambled on quite a bit, and propbably have gone way off topic here. Being a white male, I can't speak from personal experience as to what blacks must face. I can speak to what I have observed. What I have observed is the slow destruction of blacks in this country. Much of the damage has been done by whites, whether the avowed racists who hate blacks, or by the bigoted, benevolent racists who are convinced (and have convinced many blacks) that blacks just can't make it on their own and won't survive unless nice white people help them. Some of the blame rests on the heads of those so-called leaders who are nothing more than poverty pimps who earn a living off of keeping blacks in poverty and under-educated. The best thing that blacks can do is to recognize what their grandparents recognized 50 years ago. They can not only get by, but excell if they just ignore the sh*t and get on with living their lives the way that they want, and not let every single obstacle stop them. The only thing that will keep blacks from living the American Dream is their own lack of will to try. More and more, blacks are begining to see that they can succeed inspite of all the "help" from their benefactors. All they have to do is try.
Hope I haven't crossed any lines here with anyone. Having reread what I posted above, and in this post, it seemed a bit arrogant and may rub some folks the wrong way. Wasn't my intent.
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