Posted on 11/12/2002 7:47:14 AM PST by H8DEMS
Remember the e-mail that posed the question, “What would this world be without Black people?” It was really a history lesson on all of the things Black people invented, and suggested that if Black people had not been here, our traffic lights would disappear, many of the machines we depend upon would not work and many other conveniences we enjoy everyday would not be here. It was a nice reminder of the importance of Black people to this country. However, even though Black people invented a great deal of the items we use today, with a few exceptions of course, they could not get patents on them or they were simply relieved of their inventions by White people.
Now, let’s take a look at what Black people would do without White people. First of all, some of us would simply throw up our hands in exasperation and call it a day—no, we would call it a life. Some of us would feel so bad, so lonely, so dispossessed, so depressed that we would not know where to turn. “What are we going to do now?” some would ask. Others would lament the loss of all of those stores and all of those products and services they are so use to purchasing. Some would cry, “Where will we buy our clothing, our cars, our houses and our food?” “For whom will we work? What about our jobs?” Others would just go insane trying to figure out how they would get their banquet tables sold for their annual dinners and soirees. What a sad day it would be for many Black folks.
On the other hand, rather than complaining and crying, some Black folks would immediately get to work on those issues. Some would say, “Let’s do for ourselves.” Others would rally the people and call for new businesses and new products and services and efforts to support our people. Some Black folks would even have the audacity to think they really could run major corporations, industrial farms, airports, states, and even this country. But then, what other choice would we have?
What would you do without White people? Would you suffer from a lack of the essentials of life? Would you wilt under the pressure of having to figure out this thing called life all by yourself? Could you successfully navigate through the swirling waters of life’s uncertainties? Could you survive? Marcus Garvey told us we are living on borrowed goods, and we must get something of our own. So instead of us wondering what this country would do without Black people, just imagine what we would do without White people.
Suppose they closed all of their supermarkets to us, could we feed ourselves? Imagine them denying us the right to use their banks, would we pool more of our money and start more Black banks? If Whites said we would no longer be allowed in their department stores, would we create our own? You get the picture, I am sure. What would we do?
It’s nice to call for “Black Out Days” and “Stay Home From Work Days” and “Don’t Spend Any Money Days,” and all of the rest of the Black absentee efforts we hear about. But what would we do if there were a “White Out Day?” Maybe even a “White Out Month?” Would we panic? Or, would we finally start doing more for ourselves? Would we finally start preparing an economic future for our children, the same way other groups in this country are doing for their children?
You know, sometimes I wish it were so. Maybe if White folks stopped doing what they are doing for us, we’d be more inclined to do more for ourselves. Maybe if they would back off a bit and we would step up a bit, better relationships would exist between the two groups, because there would be more reciprocity, more leverage available to Black people, and a greater likelihood of positive responses from White folks when we really do need their support. Maybe, if Black people get our economic act together by recycling our dollars, supporting our own businesses, and building income-producing infrastructure, maybe Whites would be knocking on our doors asking to play ball with us.
What would we do without White folks? The same thing our fathers and mothers did before integration; that’s what we’d do. We would develop economic enclaves second to none in this country.
But a similar question was probably asked by some of the Children of Israel about Pharaoh. While Moses was telling Pharaoh to “Let my people go,” he should have also told the people to “Let Pharaoh go.”
James E. Clingman, an adjunct professor at the University of Cincinnati’s African-American Studies department, is former editor of the Cincinnati Herald Newspaper and founder of the Greater Cincinnati African American Chamber of Commerce. He hosts the radio program, ''Blackonomics,'' and is the author of the book, “Economic Empowerment or Economic Enslavement–We have a Choice.” He can be reached at (513) 489-4132, or by e-mail at jclingman@blackonomics.com.
The tone of the standard freeper response bothers me. We are giving in to the racists and accepting their terms. Why is it bad to say "I want my people (blacks, whites, Alabamians, Irish, Engineers, janitors, Christians...to succeed." We have accepted the liberal view and tried to turn it against them. We don't need to accept their world view.
I am all for someone taking on the task of motivating a group, such as blacks or car salesmen, to self-improvement. There is nothing racist about that.
But, the black vote for the R's is estimated at 11-26%, I don't know the real #'s and every time I hear the % moves like quicksand.
I believe I get your drift.
Other ethnic groups in America, particularly in cities, have formed largely self-sufficient enclaves or populations and no one thinks twice about it. Many cities have their chinatowns, or little koreas, or their Jewish neighborhoods where a fairly diverse range of businesses exist which are owned and operated by members of that ethinic group, and whose customers are mostly members of that ethnic group.
But for some reason (maybe many reasons) the black experience is different. Apparently it wasn't always that way. I have read accounts of Harlem in the early 1900s, of how vibrant it was, of the intact mother-father families that predominated there. Things changed. Black family structure disintegrated, blacks were housed in "the projects" which became crime-ridden and decrepit. Many blacks became more dependent, less self-sufficient. I believe government deserves the most (but not all) blame. Lingering racism is also partly to blame. Whatever the cause, there is no excuse for it to continue.
That's my white outsider's view anyway.
Yes, both are factors but mostly, Blacks wanted to be part of American society so much that the minute that became attainable most of the parts of the Black community that contributed to that self-sufficiency bolted.
Unfortunately, a thriving, self-reliant community that helps its members become truly part of America was not much of a priority to the brand of Black leadership that seemed to dominate the scene, starting with WEB Du Bois. Especially after the civil rights movement.
Just my dime's worth.
My first response is that your statement is kind of condescending to the "Black audience", on further thought I think you may be right and that if true it's pretty sad.
I love how it's horribly wrong and evil for whites to generalize about all blacks because of a few black criminals. Yet all it takes is for one black somewhere to be called "N*gger", and suddenly every white person is blamed. Blaming all blacks for the crimes of a few is horrible, evil, ignorant racism. Yet blaming all whites for the actions of a few is enlightened, wise, and proper.
What a pile of crap.
Translation: I wish white folks would hate us so we could have an angry black nationalism instead of semi-comfortably fitting in with America.
Of course, most blacks would disagree vehemently with this idiot.
And how do distinguish this from argument for separatism?
Yes, maybe if Democrat liberals would stop buying the black vote by creating social programs and entitlements that ultimately consign blacks to the status of a permanently dependant under-class....
.....they might be more inclined to do for themselves.
Haven't Republicans and conservatives been saying this all along?
Send them all to Zimbabwe, and let them find out.
I'll buy the first ticket.
When does that excuse run dry? Let's see about some other post colonial societies that are hellholes? America? Canada? Australia? Singapore? Hong Kong? New Zealand? The only country in Africa with a 1st World economy (at least until recently) was South Africa and it was the most recently de-colonized - if you consider Apartheid a continuation of colonization.
Colonization is not an excuse, period.
To me, it is more like "Get in the Game, Boys," than "Take our Ball and Go Home."
The migration of Negroes from the South to the North was the biggest movement of a people in history to thatdate ... with perhaps even more impact on the country than the waves of more or less "orderly" immigration from Europe.. It happened very fast.
Some black scholars have theorized that this wave somehow wiped out the progress made by the established black communities because of cultural differences and the white backlash caused by the upheaval. If one looks at a photograph of Harlem in the 1920s, and then lays it down next to one of the same street in the 1960s, the idea behind the theory is clear.
The mass migration of illegal aliens might well have the same effect on all of us eventually. It has definitely harmed the black community already.
America started out as a colony too, though.
Just last week the head of the Black Studies program on our campus gave a talk in which he said that black conservatives will have to "face Jesus" one day and explain why they sold out their own people. (He's a Catholic priest, so he says.) He's also said that Powell and Rice "don't speak from a black cultural perspective." He totally dissed John McWhorter's book LOSING THE RACE but admitted upon questioning that he'd never read it. He's a nut. He's convinced that the local police follow him home, but he's such an effeminite, lip-pursing drama queen the only reason the cops might ever follow him would be to make sure he doesn't break into someone's house and redecorate it.
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