THE
UNIQUENESS OF AMERICAN SLAVERY
A prophetic utterance from the Lord, June 12, 2004
“Yes, many of your people are
behaving ‘economically,’ when the marginal dollar1
they can gain for working at an economic wage2
is not worth what they can get through government programs for not working,
saith the Lord. But what the
economists don’t understand is that the removal of the government programs
still will not produce the jobs or an economic wage that one can meet his or her
needs in the market place, much less those of a family.
So, how do other races achieve and
accumulate wealth in the face of adversity, saith the Lord?
The other races are raised up from childhood and taught that hard work,
and diligence, and banding together will achieve for them as individuals who are
part of a group, in spite of disadvantages of language and national origin.
Education for the children is seen as a way out, and the society does not
discriminate against members of the ethnic minority because of their membership
in that ethnic minority. In other
words, racism is not a factor that must be contended with—perceived or
real—day-by-day, or moment-by-moment, saith the Lord.
Other ethnic minorities are not taught since childhood that the color of one’s skin matters for anything, and they can achieve as individuals or as part of a group if they persevere. Many black people have no such teaching, and what teaching they do have is not consistently and daily reinforced by the negative aspects of racism, whether real or imagined.
So, how are some blacks, as
individuals or in families, overcoming and rising up the ladder of success?
Somewhere along the way the ‘I can’t’ has been replaced with a ‘I
can,’ in spite of the adversaries, and in spite of the remaining vestiges of
racism in the society, whether real or imagined.”
The War of Opportunity Must Be Waged
”So, what are the answers?
There is no single answer, but the war of
opportunity must be waged on
many fronts, not just on one or two. Disincentives
for not working, if removed, will be far worse than if nothing were done,
because, if their progressive removal is not tied to an economic recovery where
the marginal dollar for working is not greater than the layered social programs
which are in place for those who don’t work, or who can’t work at an
economic wage, even if a job were found.
Unemployment takes 75 cents out of
every dollar earned3, so
that the recipient only sees 25%of what he or she actually earns.
If a wage earner is present in the home, as an individual or even more so
as a couple trying to raise children to become productive, welfare benefits are
cut, Section 84 is
affected, one becomes ineligible for public housing, but can’t afford private
housing. Food stamps are cut, but the additional income [from working]
can’t buy the same food, and disincentive after disincentive is layered onto a
society with many vestiges of racism remaining—whether real or imagined—so,
many individuals are prone to give up…just give up…rather than fight a war
on so many different fronts, saith the Lord.”
:
Reconstruction Was a Failure
“Although an individual or family
has no excuse for blame shifting, and for not working through all and whatever
obstacles—including racism, real or imagined—that remain in the face of
overcoming the cycle of poverty5,
and generations caught up in the cycle of poverty, this nation as a nation must
come to grips with the failed promises of
Reconstruction, a century and a half ago.
This nation reneged
on the promises of social and economic recovery of Reconstruction,
once the going got a little tough, and the names and faces, and sometimes
parties of the politicians changed. The
infrastructure of Afghanistan is being rebuilt.
The infrastructure of Iraq is being rebuilt, and we know that bloodshed
will inevitably follow if this nation, the United States of America, does not
enfranchise, equip, train, arm the people of good will in these nations, to be
and become self-sufficient and self-governing within a democratic political
framework.
How do we in every nation that we
have fought against equip that nation to become economically and politically
viable, competitive, and a part of the family of nations?
We do this by-in-large by equipping the
males of the nation to rise up and take the leadership in rebuilding the
infrastructure—political, social and economic—of the nation to
become productive in all areas of national existence.”
We Must Awaken the Sleeping Giant of America—the Black Male
“The primary failure of
Reconstruction is that neither the national leaders nor the local leaders,
or the families and people themselves, had the foresight nor the courage to
rebuild and equip and even arm for self-determination the sleeping giant of
the South, which has become the sleeping
giant of America—the black male.
We would not
pull the troops out of Afghanistan nor Iraq until the males of those nations
were ready and equipped to govern and prosper.
And, although we have destroyed and infrastructure of these two nations,
as well as Japan, Germany, much of Europe, Korea, Vietnam, and many other
nations, in none of these nations did we destroy or even dent the family
structure of the people of these nations.
And, herein lies the “uniqueness of
American slavery,” for which much of Black America has yet to
recover.”
The Uniqueness of American Slavery
“American slavery is unique
in the history of the world in that slaves from a multitude of African cultures
were thrown together in a new land and their native languages destroyed, and
much of the uniqueness of the individual uprooted from a tribal nation destroyed
with it.
The role of the black male in this
nation became a labor chattel and a stud, and not a father and leader of the
family and home. Dad
could be here today and sold tomorrow, and mom of necessity became head of the
family, with numerous ramifications, many of which remain today.
Is America bold enough today to
make good of the failed promises of Reconstruction? Is America ready to enfranchise its sleeping giant—the
black male—and equip him for leadership and economic competitiveness that
comes from a meaningful and realistic opportunity to become part of the fabric
of society apart from race?
Is America ready for the kind of affirmative
action of ‘Trading Places’,
the marvelous Eddie Murphy movie, where a street brother full of ‘game’ through
an affirmative action program
became a sophisticated and very creative Wall Street stockbroker?
(One very inept at ‘playing the dozens6’
can also learn to ‘play the market.’)
So, how do we
begin? By a decision to ‘admit it
and quit it!’ The ‘how’ is
not as important as the ‘what’: black
males wherever we find them must be encouraged and equipped for leadership in
the family, in the home, as full-time husbands, and fathers, on the job, and in
every aspect of society.
Well, you say,
‘They can do that now’, and many are. Yes,
but why are so many not, and what is to be their fate, as economic forces are at
work to recover the urban cities of America7.
Those not equipped for whatever reason will be forced out.
Government funded redevelopment programs were or have been used over the
last 40 years to revitalize core cities by pushing blacks off of prime urban
property, and the marketplace8 is poised all over urban America to
finish the job.
It takes both
money and vision to stay, and ‘Where there is no vision, the people parish,’
and Black America simply does not have a vision for itself, and neither does the
authors of Reconstruction9,
nor does the political-social-economic apparatus of this nation have an answer
as to ‘whether to or how to enfranchise and equip the black male of the
streets for leadership and economic competitiveness,’ saith the Lord.”
Endnotes:
1 A marginal dollar is the last dollar someone will work for before choosing to not work at all.
2 An economic wage is a wage supported by the marketplace, what an employer will pay for a job that workers will work for.
3 In California, if one has a weekly eligibility of $300.00 per week in unemployment benefits, and works while still on unemployment, the benefits are cut by 75% of what the wage earner makes. This is a major disincentive to working while on unemployment, irrespective of race.
4 Section 8 is federal government assistance to rent or lease private housing for low-income residents.
5 The cycle of poverty is poverty that passes from one generation to the next.
6 Playing the dozens is a somewhat viscous ghetto game where on the fly two or more people will see how fast they can think and say nasty things about one’s relatives.
7On June 23, 2005, the United States Supreme Court, in a 5/4 decision in Kelo vs. City of New London (545 US (2005), held that local governments can use the power of eminent domain under the public benefit clause of the 5th Amendment to the Constitution, to take private property for development by private commercial enterprises, so long as development has an economic benefit to the community, and the property’s taking was part of a master zoning and development plan. If this decision is not overturned by further litigation or by the Congress, it will become the “city fathers” final solution to their black problem—that is to rid their cities of the mostly poor blacks who occupy (but don’t own) the prime urban land across the United States abandoned by whites in the 1950’s, 1960’s and 1970’s for suburbia, and who now want the land back, because these blacks are no longer needed to chop cotton or work in war industries, and there is money to be made...lots of it!
8Gentrification (which is removal from the cities of America anything and anybody that cannot pay the market price for staying) is now poised to and will remove most blacks and all poor people from the cities, with homelessness growing in epidemic proportions as the safety-net of programs are cut—housing subsidies, cash grants for subsistence, medical services and the forthcoming ax on social security—all of which will have a lasting affect on America.
9The Republican Party is unquestionably the author of Reconstruction.
© 2005 Walter J. Taylor, Walter James Taylor