It’s that time of year again when Helen Keller’s famous quote, “Philanthropy is a tragic apology for wrong conditions,” is brought to mind. I suppose the recipients of all of those turkeys, meals and warm coats (as well as the other demonstrations of the milk of human kindness) are appreciative of the largess the “haves” bestow upon them, the “have-nots” of society. Nonetheless, it never ceases to aggravate me that we are all too willing to treat the results of poverty while continuing to ignore its causes.
Please excuse me if I sound like an ingrate on this issue, but I can’t help thinking that many of the same folks that organize such charity drives would not want the recipients of their magnanimous efforts living next door to them. Theirs is an “arms-length” form of liberalism.
Further, I can’t help but suspect that a certain segment of the population is purposely kept poor — via a lack of commitment of the requisite funding to create quality schools and support systems that would effectively end poverty — so that another segment can feel good each year by supposedly “helping” them via charity. It’s the old adage about giving a man a fish versus teaching him to fish.
All of which brings me to my main point — the uplifting of my black race.
We American blacks are truly almost amazing people. In the span of 154 years, we have lifted our race out of the worst (and perhaps longest) bondage the world has ever witnessed, to the point that two-thirds of us are in the middle-class — albeit some tenuously — and one of our own was elected president a decade ago. By any measure, considering the obstacles constantly thrown in our path to freedom and complete citizenship, this is an absolutely amazing (actually, astounding) accomplishment, something no other race of people have ever managed in history.
And we have had solid assistance on our journey from many whites and Jews of good will and I personally truly appreciate their often unstinting efforts. Additionally, I hope and pray for their continued support as we journey forward.
But the reason I state we are “almost” amazing as a race is due to the fact that we have yet to fully take up the challenge given to us by W.E.B. Du Bois who stated over a hundred years ago (and I’m paraphrasing here) that races advance by those who have made it out of poverty reaching back and “lifting … his duller brethren slowly and painfully to his vantage ground.” I painfully submit that we black folk have not done enough of that heavy lifting.
This is due to a myriad of reasons, one being the feeling that government at all levels is responsible for the abject condition one-third of our race finds itself mired in — and that is an absolutely true and accurate assessment. We didn’t put our race in this position (even the blacks that are in the middle-class only has a dime of family wealth compared to the dollar white families have), something horrible was done to us. And we’ve known for years who did this to us, how they did it, and, most importantly, why.
But here’s the diabolical part: Even though we are owed as a race for our prodigious work in building this great nation, reparations will not be forthcoming any time soon. While we are constantly being given lip service in regards to governmental efforts at eliminating poverty and alleviating the other social ills that plague us, we have to fully realize that certain elements of American society want to keep us down, and those elements have devised deviously clever ways to accomplish their goal of thwarting our progress — and to make it all sound very legitimate via specious, onerous and crippling laws.
No, the salvation of our race will not come about via governmental efforts; from this point on it will have to be via our own efforts. It is up to us — those of us who have achieved middle-class status (no matter how tenuously) to reach back and assist those of our race that are still mired in poverty, low goals and crime. I don’t know about you my brethren, but I’m weary of hearing and reading about the lost souls of our race killing each other wantonly, with seeming alacrity.
So instead of simply handing out turkeys this holiday season, I beseech you to also make a vow to hand out some real assistance in the coming year — some hope for a better future for black folks. Volunteer at a school, tutor a child, mentor a teen — but do something. The uplifting of our race is dependent upon us and we simply cannot continue to depend on the goodwill of others.
Certainly, some of us are doing our part; others, shamefully, are not. All they do is complain and try to tear the race down, not realizing this form of self-hatred is a holdover from the days of slavery. They only see the negatives in our race, not our greatness. And allow me to be brutally honest: You haters know who you are and what you are not doing.
When it comes to the uplifting of our black race, “If not us, then who? If not now, then when?”
From CoolCleveland correspondent Mansfield B. Frazier mansfieldfATgmail.com. Frazier’s From Behind The Wall: Commentary on Crime, Punishment, Race and the Underclass by a Prison Inmate is available in hardback. Snag your copy and have it signed by the author at http://NeighborhoodSolutionsInc.
One Response to “MANSFIELD: Almost Amazing”
Laura Varcho
TRUTH!! And it goes for ALL of us. Stop waiting for government to do it for us. We must do it ourselves and reach out every day to help others and right wrongs and just do the right thing. True independence means taking the situation in our own hands. Excellent article and exhortation in the right direction!