Robinson argues that recent
racial slights by White media figures, such as Don
Imus and Bill O’Reilly, stem from the fact that
America doesn’t understand that there is a “different”
Black America, unrelated to all the “thug life”
depicted on television and in music videos. However,
Robinson fails to address why it is the obligation
of African Americans to have to prove their
dignity and integrity to the same media that enjoys
defiling the Black image and trafficking racial buffoonery
as normal African American behavior.
Moreover, Robinsion assumes
that class nullifies culture, in that as African Americans
move up the socio-economic ladder, they will be, in
essence, “less Black.” Therefore, economic
attainment will cause African Americans to lose concern
for any of the social and political issues that were
important to the Black community under harsher economic
constraints.
Tacitly, Robinson assumes
that African American culture is a culture of poverty
that will be shattered as more Blacks enter the middle
class. Robinson’s position belies the long tradition
of Black upper middle class social organizations and
institutions that did not separate their politics
from the Black poor, but sought to create a unified
political front with the Black poor, in order to fight
oppression.
And They Can Use
Silverware, Too?
Fox News contributor,
Juan Williams, blames the poor condition of the African
American community on a combination of the low quality
of Black leadership, a constant concentration on racism
as opposed to personal accountability, and an unwillingness
to publicly chastise the dysfunctional behavior of
the Black poor.
There is truth to much
of William’s position. African Americans need
to motivate individual achievement in environments
that foster none, they must exercise prudent judgment
in communities where such examples do not exist, and
they must show responsibility in communities that
encourage dangerous risk and foolish behavior.
Yet those of Juan Williams’
ilk never seem to explain how human capital, needed
to become a model citizen, is obtained in communities
where 70% of the children are born out of wedlock
and 25% of the population lives below the poverty
line. Furthermore, when Juan Williams stood as an
enabler to the racist insults of Bill O’Reilly,
while he acted shocked that African Americans actually
ate like civilized people, Williams lost significant
credibility and caricatured himself as a self-hating
negro who joys at laughing it up with the white folk
at the expense of those “ignorant jigs.”
In conclusion, the revenge
of the “Good” Blacks seems to be rearing
its head more and more in America, as the
racial climate in the country heats up.
In the past, it would
be rare to hear so many African Americans publicly
savage their less advantaged brethren in such times
of dire circumstances. Unfortunately, many African
Americans have short memories and cannot remember
a time when a nice house in a black suburb, or a quality
education didn’t stop the possibility of you
being called a nigger…or worse.
Thought Merchant
describes himself as a believer, political thinker,
social critic,
and student of history with a profound intellectual
curiosity and uses his blog
to indulge it. Click
here to contact Thought Merchant.