The Hard Truth — You can only be ‘too’ Black
15th August 2011 · 0 Comments
By Min. J. Kojo Livingston
absolutely guaranteed loans Contributing Columnist
Part II
Let’s play a game called “Fool the white folk.” Let’s identify ourselves as “minority,” “inner city,” “urban,” “disadvantaged,” “multicultural” or any of another dozen labels used to avoid saying “Black.” Then let’s hope that nobody notices who we are really trying to help.
Oh, that’s right. We do that already.
This version of the name game has failed us, primarily because it was given to us to discourage us from openly seeking our own group self-interest.
The result? The white wives/sisters/daughters/girlfriends of rich white men became “minorities” and therefore got most of whatever benefits Blacks should have gotten. Jews and others jumped on the bandwagon and as always, we brought up the rear. We get the last and smallest piece of the pie, fight over that and then are the first to lose it.
Every time we play their games we lose. Like every other ethnic group, we are at our best when we are clear, honest, and determined about uplifting our people and enjoying our share of the wealth and other benefits this world has to offer. That, my friend, gets you the respect and the results you deserve. Others may never like you but if you love yourself that won’t matter as long as you are treated fairly and are self-sufficient.
It is interesting to observe how far backward we have moved since the movement for desegregation mutated into an imperative for physical proximity to whites. We’ve lost so many businesses, institutions, tracts of land and even our effective ways of handling things by trying to assimilate into that which is installment loan indian reservation not healthy for us. No other group does this. No other group is moving backward as rapidly as we.
As we begin to actually love our Black selves, our history, our features, our culture, and even the land of our ancestors we will become more powerful than we could ever imagine. In fact we are already more powerful than we imagine. Other people see this and hope that we don’t catch on. It’s like the abusive husband who keeps telling his victim that she is ugly or stupid and that no other man will want her. This is to make her think she has no other life options and continue to tolerate the abuse.
For example, we routinely use our power to elect politicians whose first act of office is to tell us not to expect anything from them. The same Black politicians would never dare tell that to the white community. They bow to them and insult us…that is, until next election time.
But, like the battered woman, we do have other options. But being “too” Black has never been the problem. It’s not using Black cultural, economic, spiritual and political power that keeps us down.
In many areas such as businesses we suffer from not being Black enough.
Nationally, most Black business organizations focus on seeking contracts with large white businesses or the government, not a bad thing in and of itself. But you may notice that most Black businesses can’t play ball with the “big boys.” So what they really wind up pursuing is the crumbs (subcontracts) that the major players get. (Reminds me of “the big getting quick money house.”)
How did most of the major players become major? They started small. But most of the other ethnic groups that came to this country generated their initial wealth either from criminal pursuits or from exploiting the Black community. We make lots of millionaires; it’s just that few of them are Black.
Most credible estimates put Black spending at about $1 trillion per year. Most of that money goes directly to white businesses. If Black business, church and other leaders made a concerted effort to re-direct just one percent of that trillion dollars we would have $10 billion dollars per year to enrich our own communities. Some call this leverage. That one percent could help hundreds of Black businesses become major players instead of subcontracting scavengers whose idea of “balling” is living off table scraps.
To accomplish will require a massive re-education/marketing effort to impact the values of the masses. It will also require a drive to change in our often triflin’ Black business culture.
Many Black businesses ignore the potential wealth in our own communities because we’ve been trained to look outside of ourselves for the answers to our predicament.
Our Creator has given us the ability and the responsibility to fix all of our problems. But we must face them like real men and real women. And we must get past the silly notion that in this, of all nations, it’s even remotely possible to truly become “too Black.”
Now, Whatchagonna DO?
This article was originally published in the August 15, 2011 print edition of The Louisiana Weekly newspaper
