Where we stand

By R. L. Harris

After the passing of Proposal 2, many African Americans will be left standing in the cold. How long will that last? As long as African Americans do not liberate themselves from the slave mentality, where one of us moves up, while another of our brethren assumes their demise.
This may be the swift kick in the butt for many African Americans who assume leadership roles, but they need to help advance the struggle for equality and progress our community forward into the 21st century.

When adversity comes, we must seek the opportunity to gain strength, knowledge, and wisdom through whatever trials we encounter. We as an African American community must not seek the shelters of white compassion, yet, we shall galvanize the interest of the youth and equip them by “any means necessary” to compete in a tumultuous American society.

Let us first assess our challenges before we move on to the competitive phase of our advancement. We endure widening disparities among minorities in education. This is the most pervasive of challenges for us, because education is paramount with regards to mobility in the socio-economic stratum in America. If our school systems have failed us, then we must circumvent their inadequacies by creating strong support networks outside of the school system that advance the learning of youth using creative, innovative, and stimulating techniques. Yes, I said stimulating.

Anyone familiar with Marshall McCluen knows that we are currently in an age of hot media, and that the media we interact with are very hands-on and increasingly stimulating to the user or consumer. We must not ignore this when it comes to our youth. In regards to education, we must make the adjustment and realize that sitting a child in a seat for eight hours, starring at a chalkboard, may no longer be the most effective means of connecting our children with new information.

We must also find a way to incorporate civic engagement into the curriculum. This equips our youth with the political skills to navigate the changes they see necessary for their advancement, rather than being subject to policies of partisan politics in today’s political culture. Democracy cannot survive without such civic engagement from all its partakers.

I would also issue this challenge to every black man in our community: step up! If an opposing army were to attack a village, their first target would be the women and children. They can only attack when there are no men present. Black men, step up! If you are a father, a husband or even single, black male, take leadership. Not just for your own family, but also assume leadership for your entire community. Young boys, watch your every move whether you are a 25-year-old going to the library, or a 45-year-old going to the liquor store. You are responsible for raising the young boys and girls of our community. Recognize the significance of your involvement in the community.

We must also not ignore our strengths. We are a very creative and resourceful people coming from a strong heritage, stemming back to the mother continent of Africa. Despite the ongoing perception, there exist a thriving business community among African Americans. This potential currently has been underdeveloped. The reason for this trend is blacks, for many reasons, have not spent their money wisely in their own community.

In the Jewish community, their dollar circulates fifteen times. That means Jews buy Jewish products when they can, not just when it is convenient. Black business must also engage the community and not seek to gouge as the outsiders do. We must realize the nature of capitalism and not become victims of its stifling appendages, greed, materialism, lust for power, and mindless consumption of unnecessary entities. It is up to the black business community to educate its own people about how the system works and how it is currently used against the black community due to their lack of knowledge. No one from outside the community is going educate us because it will negatively affect their interests, which are bottom line profit margins. We must understand that it is not overt racism that hinders our progress; it is an intricate system that thrives in a small group owning the majority of the capital in this country and abroad holding us back.

We are not competing against whites as we once thought. We are competing against the influence of global capitalism. We must band together as an African American community, and we must network with other minorities and whites who see the issues of social justice being the foremost important ideal for the creation of better society in the United States and abroad. There are many holistic changes needed within the black community in order for us to successfully utilize this expansive network of social justice alliances.

From what I have mentioned, we should have a strategy for how to accomplish this divinely appointed task. Through our faith and our trust in one another, we have hope but we must move quickly in order to survive this barrage of attacks on our human dignity.