Black people the world over face similar issues. Wherever you find people of the darker hue, they end up subservient to what we call white people. Why is this? What is really happening, and is there anything that can be done about it?
The challenge in answering this question will garner vitriol from many Black people if there is a suggestion, however remote, that part of the problem lies within our own behavior. All of the blame for community ills is basically placed on white people.
In conjunction with the placement of blame placed outside of the community, there is a strong reluctance to address violence within the community. It is so ubiquitous that people take issue with the term “Black-on-Black” crime, yet an effective counter-term has not been forthcoming. The bottom line is that more than 70% of Black children are raised in single parent households, with many of them having scant access to the absent parent.
This family dysfunction leads to community dysfunction, which is most likely a contributing factor to the notion that more Black people meet their demise at the hands of other Blacks than from the Ku Klux Klan.
One of the most popular excuses for community dysfunction is the lack of jobs. But if you look all around the world, Black people are in the same position, even in resource-rich Africa, which now seems in the throes of neo-colonization by the Chinese. Basically, nowhere on the planet, with the exception of small isolated pockets, are Black people doing really well in their own communities.
PTSS, or Post Traumatic Slavery Syndrome, can certainly be blamed for part of the problem in America, but what about our brethren on the African continent who have continually allowed interlopers to come in, take resources, and then succumb to oppression? This has happened repeatedly.
It can arguably be said that one of the biggest contributors to our collective situation is a seeming disdain for education. Actually, Blacks who place a value on it usually do much better than those who don’t. And for those who say this is not true, ask why African Blacks have to leave home in order to attain a world class education.
A well-known Black scholar recently opined that immigration adversely impacts the Black community because they take jobs that would otherwise be filled by Black people. Why are we always seeking the lowest common denominator in jobs? Lack of education is one reason.
We seem to be perpetually fighting a battle against white people’s opinions and perception of us. Our collective consciousness is forever mired in complaining about what is happening to us, and we take no responsibility for our own condition.
We’d rather fight the monster of racism than unify in order to pull ourselves out of this debased condition. Our art disproportionately focuses on our oppressed present and past rather than on ideas for a successful future. We ridiculously refer to each other as n*ggas, hoes, b*tches, etc. while expecting others to see us in a more positive light. This just does not make sense!
Something has got to change. What has become apparent is that in spite of what happens, we will have to save ourselves.
One of the definitions of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result. Ironically, in a time that feels like impending Civil War with police killing Blacks with impunity, Black people seem more and more divided.
Anyone who tries to address problems are attacked by Blacks and whites alike. Advocates of Black Lives Matter, Black Girl Magic, the Colin Kaepernick fiasco, and more, are soundly criticized by Black people. This has got to change!
After all of this time, we must realize that struggle is a given in a world dominated by growth that results from the interplay of opposites.
We must develop a plan, a “blackprint,” i.e., a black blueprint, for liberation that can help us strategically rise above a perpetual sense of inferiority so that we can unify. And we must also realize that we have allies – all white people are not devils and all Blacks are not saints.
Most of all, we must seek assistance from those Blacks who, in spite of obstacles, have used their wit and intelligence to rise to success, and we must do this without the knee-jerk reaction to call them sell-outs! A Luta Continua.
